Voit rentoutua kävelemällä rauhallisesti pitkin jokea.

You can relax by walking calmly along the river.

Breakdown of Voit rentoutua kävelemällä rauhallisesti pitkin jokea.

• sinä: you
• kävellä: to walk
• voida: can
• rentoutua: to relax
• joki: the river
• rauhallisesti: calmly
• pitkin: along
• -mällä: by

Questions & Answers about Voit rentoutua kävelemällä rauhallisesti pitkin jokea.

What does voit mean here, and why is there no separate word for you?

Voit is the 2nd person singular present tense of the verb voida (to be able to, can).

• voit = you can / you are able to
• The subject sinä (you) is not written, because in Finnish the verb ending already shows the person:
  • minä voin – I can
  • sinä voit – you can
  • hän voi – he/she can

In everyday Finnish, the subject pronoun is often dropped when it’s clear from context, so Voit rentoutua... naturally means You can relax...

Why is the verb rentoutua in that form, and what exactly is it?

Rentoutua is the basic dictionary form (1st infinitive) of the verb that means to relax.

• It appears in this form because it is the complement of voit:
  • voit + infinitive → voit rentoutua (you can relax)
• Structure:
  • vo(i)da (can) + infinitive (what you can do)
  • e.g. voin syödä – I can eat
    voimme nukkua – we can sleep

So rentoutua is not conjugated for person or tense here; voit carries that information (you, present tense).

What is kävelemällä, and how does it work in this sentence?

Kävelemällä literally means “by walking”.

Grammatically, it is the 3rd infinitive in the adessive case of kävellä (to walk):

• kävellä → stem kävele- → kävele + mä + llä → kävelemällä

This form is often used to express manner or means:

• Opin suomea lukemalla. – I learn Finnish by reading.
• Lihaksia saa juoksemalla. – You get muscles by running.

In the sentence Voit rentoutua kävelemällä..., it answers the question:

• How can you relax? → by walking.

So the core meaning is “You can relax by walking...”.

What is the difference between kävelemällä and something like kun kävelet?

Both can relate relaxation to walking, but the nuance is slightly different:

• kävelemällä = by walking, as a method/means

  • Stresses that walking is the way you achieve relaxation.
  • Voit rentoutua kävelemällä. – You can relax by walking.

• kun kävelet = when you walk / while you walk

  • Stresses time: relaxation happens at the same time as the walking.
  • Rentoudut, kun kävelet. – You relax when you walk / while you walk.

In many contexts they are close in meaning, but kävelemällä feels more like “use walking as a method to relax”.

What does rauhallisesti mean, and how is it formed?

Rauhallisesti means calmly, peacefully, in a relaxed/slow manner.

It’s an adverb formed from the adjective rauhallinen (calm, peaceful):

• rauhallinen (calm) → rauhallisesti (calmly)

This follows a very common pattern in Finnish:

• hidas (slow) → hitaasti (slowly)
• selvä (clear) → selvästi (clearly)
• tavallinen (usual) → tavallisesti (usually)

In the sentence, rauhallisesti modifies kävelemällä:

• kävelemällä rauhallisesti = by walking calmly / in a peaceful way.

What does pitkin mean, and why is jokea in that form?

Pitkin is a postposition meaning along (the length of something).

It usually takes a noun in the partitive case:

• pitkin + partitive → pitkin jokea – along the river
• pitkin tietä – along the road
• pitkin rantaa – along the shore

Jokea is the partitive singular of joki (river).
Forms of joki:

• Nominative (dictionary form): joki – river
• Genitive: joen
• Partitive: jokea

So pitkin jokea literally means “along (the length of) a/the river”.

What is the base form of jokea, and how does it change to that form?

The base (dictionary) form is joki (river).

Declension:

• Nominative: joki – river
• Partitive singular: jokea – (some/part of) river, a river as an indefinite amount

The stem used for the partitive is joke-, so:

• joke + a = jokea

This is a regular pattern for many -i nouns like joki:

• järvi (lake) → järveä (partitive)
• sieni (mushroom) → sientä (partitive, different pattern but same idea: stem changes + a/ä)

So you need jokea because pitkin requires the partitive.

Is rentoutua reflexive, like “to relax oneself” in English?

Finnish does not use a separate reflexive pronoun here.

Rentoutua is an intransitive verb meaning simply “to relax” (become relaxed):

• Haluan rentoutua. – I want to relax.
• Voit rentoutua. – You can relax.

You don’t say anything like “rentouttaa itsesi” for relax yourself in this context.
For causing someone else to relax, there is a different, transitive verb rentouttaa:

• Hieronta rentouttaa sinut. – The massage relaxes you / makes you relaxed.

Can the word order be different, for example Voit rentoutua rauhallisesti kävelemällä pitkin jokea?

Yes. Finnish word order is quite flexible, especially with adverbs.

All of these are grammatical, with only slight changes in emphasis:

• Voit rentoutua kävelemällä rauhallisesti pitkin jokea.
• Voit rentoutua rauhallisesti kävelemällä pitkin jokea.
• Voit rentoutua kävelemällä pitkin jokea rauhallisesti.

Placing rauhallisesti earlier (Voit rentoutua rauhallisesti...) can make the whole mood (calmly, in a calm way) more prominent, whereas keeping it next to kävelemällä keeps it tightly connected specifically to the manner of walking.

All still clearly mean something like:
You can relax by walking calmly along the river.

Could you also say jokea pitkin instead of pitkin jokea?

Yes. Pitkin can appear before or after its noun:

• pitkin jokea
• jokea pitkin

Both mean “along the river” and are correct in standard Finnish.

The version where pitkin comes after the noun (jokea pitkin) is historically the more “typical” postposition order, but pitkin jokea is very common and completely natural as well. The difference is mostly stylistic, not in meaning.