Learn Hardcore Finnish: Kerro minulle, miltä tämä päivä tuntuu.

Finnish usually drops the subject pronoun sinä in the imperative, so you just say Kerro minulle = Tell me. Adding sinä (Sinä kerro minulle) is possible but sounds emphatic or a bit irritated, like You tell me (not someone else).

Why is it minulle and not minua or minut?

Minulle is the allative case of minä (I), and it often corresponds to English to me / for me.

minä = I (nominative)
minua = me (partitive)
minut = me (accusative)
minulle = to me / for me (allative)

In this sentence, you’re telling something to someone, so Finnish marks the recipient with the allative:

Kerro minulle = Tell me (literally: Tell to me).

Using minua or minut here would be ungrammatical, because they don’t express the idea of a receiver.

What exactly does miltä mean, and what case is it?

Miltä is the ablative case of the question word mikä-series (more precisely: the mi- question stem + -lta/-ltä).

It’s used with verbs like tuntua (to feel, to seem) to ask what something feels like:

Miltä tuntuu? = How does it feel? / What does it feel like?
Miltä tämä päivä tuntuu? = How does this day feel (to you)?

Literally, miltä is something like from what (surface / perspective), but in modern Finnish with tuntua it’s just the standard way to ask about a feeling or impression.

Why is it miltä and not miten?

Both can be translated as how, but they’re used differently:

miten = how in the sense of in what way / by what method
- Miten opiskelet suomea? = How do you study Finnish?
miltä with tuntua = how something feels / what it feels like
- Miltä tämä päivä tuntuu? = How does this day feel?

So:

Miten tämä päivä on mennyt? = How has this day gone? (in what way, what has happened)
Miltä tämä päivä tuntuu? = How does this day feel? (emotionally / subjectively)

For feelings, miltä + tuntua is the normal pattern.

Why is there a comma before miltä?

The sentence has two parts:

Kerro minulle – main clause (Tell me)
miltä tämä päivä tuntuu – content clause (what you should tell)

In Finnish, you usually put a comma between a main clause and a following subordinate/content clause, even when there is no word like että (that) in between.

So:

Kerro minulle, miltä tämä päivä tuntuu.
≈ Tell me how this day feels.

The comma marks the boundary: first the command (tell me), then what to tell.

Why does the second part look like a question (miltä tämä päivä tuntuu) if it’s not a direct question?

This is an indirect question (a reported / embedded question). In Finnish:

A direct question:
- Miltä tämä päivä tuntuu? (with a question mark, spoken as a question)
An indirect question inside another sentence:
- Kerro minulle, miltä tämä päivä tuntuu. (same word order, but no question intonation)

Key points:

Finnish keeps the question word order (miltä at the beginning).
There is no -ko/-kö question suffix in an indirect question.
The sentence ends with a period, because the main clause is an imperative, not a question.

What is the subject of tuntuu here? Is it tämä päivä?

Yes. In miltä tämä päivä tuntuu, the subject is tämä päivä (this day).

tämä päivä = this day (nominative singular)
tuntuu = 3rd person singular (he/she/it feels, or it feels)

So literally:

tämä päivä tuntuu = this day feels (…like something)

Finnish does not need a separate word for it; tämä päivä itself is the subject, and tuntuu matches it in the 3rd person singular.

Why is it tuntuu and not tuntee?

Tuntua and tuntea are two different verbs:

tuntea = to feel (physically), to know someone/something
- Tunnen hänet. = I know him/her.
- Tunnen kipua. = I feel pain.
tuntua = to feel / to seem (from someone’s perspective)
- Se tuntuu hyvältä. = It feels good.
- Miltä tämä päivä tuntuu? = How does this day feel?

Here, we are talking about how the day feels, so we must use tuntua, not tuntea.

tuntuu is the 3rd person singular form of tuntua (present tense).

Can the word order in the second part change, like Kerro minulle, miltä tuntuu tämä päivä?

You can say miltä tuntuu tämä päivä, and it’s grammatically possible, but it sounds less neutral and a bit more marked or poetic.

The most natural, everyday order is:

miltä tämä päivä tuntuu

Typical word order in such indirect questions is:

[question word] + [subject] + [verb]

Changing to miltä tuntuu tämä päivä puts extra emphasis on the verb or makes the rhythm more stylistic, which is usually not needed in normal speech.

Could you also say Kerro minulle, miten tämä päivä tuntuu?

You can hear miten tämä päivä tuntuu, and it is understandable, but for feelings with tuntua, miltä is strongly preferred and sounds more natural.

Subtle difference:

miltä tämä päivä tuntuu – standard, idiomatic way to ask how this day feels / what it feels like.
miten tämä päivä tuntuu – feels a bit off or less idiomatic; some speakers might accept it, but many would still prefer miltä.

For learning purposes, stick with miltä + tuntua.

How would this sentence look as a direct question instead of a command?

Direct question:

Miltä tämä päivä tuntuu? = How does this day feel?

Command / request (original):

Kerro minulle, miltä tämä päivä tuntuu. = Tell me how this day feels.

So, to turn it into a question, you:

Remove Kerro minulle,
Keep miltä tämä päivä tuntuu
Use question intonation and a question mark.

Is there any difference between Kerro minulle and Kerro mulle?

Mulle is the colloquial spoken form of minulle.

Kerro minulle – standard, written Finnish; neutral and correct in all contexts.
Kerro mulle – informal, everyday speech; used with friends, in casual conversation, in text messages, etc.

Meaning is the same (Tell me). The choice is mainly about register:

Writing an essay, email to a teacher: use minulle.
Talking with friends: mulle is very common.