Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava.

In my opinion, space is interesting.

Breakdown of Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava.

• olla: to be
• kiinnostava: interesting
• minusta: I think
• avaruus: the space

Questions & Answers about Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava.

What does minusta mean here, and why isn’t it just minä?

Minusta is the elative case of minä (I). Literally it means “from me”.

In this structure:

• Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava.
  ≈ “From me, space is interesting” → “I think space is interesting.”

So:

• minä = I (basic form, nominative)
• minusta = from me (elative)

Finnish often uses the pattern:

• X
  • -sta/-stä
    • [thing] on [adjective]
      to express an opinion:
      Minusta tämä on hyvä. = “I think this is good.”

It’s not about physical motion “from me” here; it’s an idiomatic way to say “in my opinion / to me.”

How is Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava different from Minä pidän avaruudesta?

Both convey that you like / are interested in space, but the structure and nuance differ:

1. Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava.

   • Literally: “From me, space is interesting.”
   • Focus: your opinion or evaluation of space.
   • Pattern: [person in -sta/-stä] + [topic] on [adjective]

2. Minä pidän avaruudesta.

   • Literally: “I like space.”
   • Verb: pitää (jostakin) = to like (something in the elative case).
   • Focus: your personal liking, not so much an evaluative statement.

They overlap in meaning, and in many contexts you could use either, but:

• Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava sounds more like a judgment / opinion.
• Minä pidän avaruudesta foregrounds your personal preference.

Can I also say Minun mielestäni avaruus on kiinnostava? Is that the same?

Yes, that’s very close in meaning:

• Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava.
• Minun mielestäni avaruus on kiinnostava.

Both mean roughly “I think space is interesting.”

Details:

• minusta = from me (short, very common in speech)
• minun mielestäni = “in my opinion” (literally: “in my mind’s opinion”)

Nuance:

• Minusta... is shorter and very natural in everyday Finnish.
• Minun mielestäni... can sound a bit more explicit / formal, or used if you really want to stress that this is your opinion.

You will also hear simply:

• Mielestäni avaruus on kiinnostava.
  (my opinion is that space is interesting — the minun is just omitted)

What is the function of avaruus in this sentence, and why is it in the basic form, not avaruudesta or avaruutta?

In Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava, the word avaruus is:

• the subject of the sentence
• in nominative singular (basic form)

The structure is:

• [Person in elative] + [subject in nominative] + on + [predicative adjective in nominative]
• Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava.
  (From me, space is interesting.)

Why not avaruudesta or avaruutta?

• avaruudesta = from/about space
  That would be used with verbs like puhua avaruudesta (to talk about space), not as subject here.
• avaruutta = partitive; could appear in a different construction like:
  Minua kiinnostaa avaruus / avaruutta.
  (Space interests me / I am interested in space (to some extent).)

Here we have a simple subject + copula + adjective pattern, so avaruus stays in the nominative as the subject.

Why is it kiinnostava and not kiinnostavaa or kiinnostunut?

Three related forms:

1. kiinnostava (present active participle, from kiinnostaa)

   • Means “interesting” (that which causes interest).
   • Used as a describing adjective:
     • Avaruus on kiinnostava. = Space is interesting.

2. kiinnostavaa (partitive form of the same adjective)

   • Used in certain patterns, e.g. with a partitive subject or when talking about something in an unbounded / general sense, or in some existential-like sentences:
     • Avaruus on kiinnostavaa.
       ≈ “Space is an interesting thing / It is interesting to study space.”
       This can sound a bit more abstract or general.

3. kiinnostunut (past participle, used like an adjective for a person)

   • Means “interested (in something)”:
     • Olen kiinnostunut avaruudesta. = I am interested in space.
   • Here the person is interested; the person is the subject.

So:

• Avaruus on kiinnostava.
  Space is interesting (space = interesting thing).
• Avaruus on kiinnostavaa.
  Space is (something) interesting / Space is an interesting field (more abstract).
• Olen kiinnostunut avaruudesta.
  I am interested in space (the interest is in you, not in space).

Can I change the word order, like Avaruus on minusta kiinnostava or Avaruus on kiinnostava minusta?

You can change the word order, but naturalness changes:

1. Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava.

   • Very natural and common; explicitly “In my opinion, space is interesting.”

2. Avaruus on minusta kiinnostava.

   • Also fine and quite natural.
   • Still means “Space is interesting, in my opinion.”
   • The focus starts with avaruus (space), then adds minusta as your stance.

3. Avaruus on kiinnostava minusta.

   • Grammatically possible but sounds a bit less typical; many Finns would reorder it.
   • Usually you’ll hear either Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava or Avaruus on minusta kiinnostava.

As a rule, Finnish allows fairly free word order, but the most neutral versions here are:

• Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava.
• Avaruus on minusta kiinnostava.

Is minusta always “in my opinion,” or can it mean something else in other contexts?

Minusta is the elative form “from me”, and its meaning depends on context:

1. Opinion / evaluation:

   • Minusta tämä on hyvä.
     = In my opinion this is good.
   • Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava.

2. Literal “from me”:

   • Ota kirja minusta vasemmalle.
     = Take the book (that is) to my left.
   • Pallo lähtee minusta poispäin.
     = The ball goes away from me.

3. With verbs that require -sta/-stä:

   • Tykkäätkö sinä minusta?
     = Do you like me?
     (here minusta is “of me / about me,” not really “in my opinion”)

So in this sentence, minusta = “in my opinion, to me,” because it’s followed by [topic] on [adjective]. In other structures it can carry the more literal “from me / of me / about me.”

How does this compare to saying Olen kiinnostunut avaruudesta or Avaruus kiinnostaa minua?

All three are related but not identical:

1. Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava.

   • Focus: evaluation of space:
     “In my opinion, space is interesting.”

2. Olen kiinnostunut avaruudesta.

   • Literally: “I am interested in space.”
   • Focus: your state of being interested.
   • Structure: olla + kiinnostunut + elative
   • Very common to say you personally are interested in a topic.

3. Avaruus kiinnostaa minua.

   • Literally: “Space interests me.”
   • Subject: avaruus; object: minua (partitive).
   • Focus: the effect space has on you (it causes interest in you).

Typical uses:

• Talking about your general opinion of space:
  Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava.
• Talking about your personal interest as a hobby / field:
  Olen kiinnostunut avaruudesta.
• Slightly more descriptive, “space as a topic grabs my interest”:
  Avaruus kiinnostaa minua.

Why is there no pronoun minä in the sentence? How do we know it’s “I think” and not someone else?

The “I” is built into the form:

• minä (I) in elative case → minusta.

So minusta already tells you:

• person: first person singular
• case: elative (-sta)

Because Finnish uses case endings to encode roles, you don’t also need minä:

• Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava.
  = From-me space is interesting → I think space is interesting.

If you said Minä minusta avaruus on kiinnostava, that would be ungrammatical / nonsense.

Finnish often drops separate subject pronouns where English requires them, especially when person is clear from verb endings or case forms. Here, the case form of minä (minusta) carries the meaning.

How would I pronounce Minusta avaruus on kiinnostava? Where is the stress?

Pronunciation points:

• Primary stress in Finnish is always on the first syllable of each word.

So:

• MI-nus-ta A-va-ruus on KII-nos-ta-va

Details:

• Mi- in minusta is stressed; -nusta is unstressed.
• A- in avaruus is stressed; -va-ruus follow.
• KII- in kiinnostava is stressed; -nos-ta-va follow.
• Long ii in kiinnostava: it should be clearly longer than a short i.
• Double consonants (like nn if present) are also held slightly longer in Finnish; here we mainly have nn inside kiin-nos-.

Spoken smoothly, with no strong secondary stresses, just a clear stress on the first syllable of each word.