Breakdown of Minä uin uima-altaassa rauhallisesti ja kuuntelen samalla omaa hengitystäni.
Questions & Answers about Minä uin uima-altaassa rauhallisesti ja kuuntelen samalla omaa hengitystäni.
Uida is the basic dictionary (infinitive) form: uida = to swim.
In the sentence you need a conjugated verb for I swim / I am swimming, so you use the 1st person singular present tense:
- uida → stem ui-
- add the 1st person ending -n → uin (I swim / I am swimming)
So uin is simply uida conjugated for minä in the present tense.
Yes. In everyday Finnish, the subject pronoun is usually dropped because the person is clear from the verb ending:
- Minä uin → perfectly correct, slightly more explicit or emphatic
- Uin → equally correct, more typical in natural speech and writing
Your full sentence could very naturally be:
- Uin uima-altaassa rauhallisesti ja kuuntelen samalla omaa hengitystäni.
Finnish does not have a special continuous form like English am swimming.
The simple present uin can mean both:
- I swim (regularly / habitually)
- I am swimming (right now)
Context usually tells you which meaning is intended. In your sentence (with uima-altaassa, rau hallisesti, etc.), it clearly means I am swimming (now).
Uima-allas is a compound noun:
- uima = swimming (from uida)
- allas = basin, tank, pool
Together: uima-allas = swimming pool.
Finnish often uses a hyphen in compounds where the first part ends with -a/-ä or is an infinitive stem; uima-allas is a standard dictionary form with a hyphen.
In your sentence, uima-altaassa is uima-allas in the inessive case (-ssa), meaning in the swimming pool.
The base word is allas, and Finnish applies consonant gradation and case endings:
- Nominative singular: allas (strong grade -ll-)
- Genitive singular stem: alta- (weak grade -lt-)
Inessive (in-something) adds -ssa to the stem:
- alta-
- -ssa → altaassa
- alta-
Then you put this after uima-:
- uima
- allas → uima-allas
- uima-allas (inessive) → uima-altaassa = in the swimming pool
So uima-allasessa would be grammatically wrong; the correct form is uima-altaassa.
Uima-altaassa is in the inessive case. The inessive ending is:
- -ssa (after back vowels: a, o, u)
- -ssä (after front vowels: ä, ö, y)
It typically means in, inside:
- talossa = in the house
- kaupungissa = in the city
- uima-altaassa = in the swimming pool
So uima-altaassa answers the question: missä? (where?) → in the swimming pool.
Rauhallinen is an adjective: calm, peaceful (describes a noun).
- rauhallinen ihminen = a calm person
- rauhallinen uinti = calm swimming
To describe how you do something (an adverb), Finnish usually adds -sti to the adjective stem:
- rauhallinen → rauhallisesti = calmly, peacefully
In your sentence, rauhallisesti describes how you swim:
- uin rauhallisesti = I swim calmly / peacefully.
Basic meaning stays the same: you are calmly swimming in a pool. However, word order in Finnish affects emphasis and information flow a bit.
Some natural options:
- Minä uin uima-altaassa rauhallisesti…
– neutral, describes location first, then manner. - Minä uin rauhallisesti uima-altaassa…
– slightly more focus on how you swim, then adds where. - Uima-altaassa uin rauhallisesti…
– emphasizes in the pool (not somewhere else).
All are grammatically correct; you mainly choose based on what you want to highlight.
Samalla literally means at the same time / simultaneously.
In this sentence:
- kuuntelen samalla omaa hengitystäni
= I listen to my own breathing at the same time.
Its usual position is before the part it modifies, often before the object or near the verb:
- Samalla kuuntelen omaa hengitystäni.
- Kuuntelen samalla omaa hengitystäni.
Both are natural. Putting samalla right before omaa hengitystäni is very typical and smooth.
You actually could say minun hengitystäni, but omaa adds the nuance my own (as opposed to someone else’s).
Comparison:
- minun hengitystäni = my breathing
- omaa hengitystäni = my own breathing
In Finnish, oma is often used instead of a possessive pronoun when talking about things clearly belonging to the subject. It emphasizes self and sounds very natural here, because of the idea of focusing inward on one’s own breathing.
Hengitys = breathing.
In your sentence:
- hengitystäni is:
- in partitive singular (hengitystä)
- with 1st person possessive suffix -ni → hengitystäni = my breathing (partitive)
The verb kuunnella (to listen to) normally takes its object in the partitive case, because listening is an ongoing, unbounded activity:
- kuuntelen musiikkia = I listen to music
- kuuntelen lintujen laulua = I listen to birds’ singing
- kuuntelen omaa hengitystäni = I listen to my own breathing
Partitive here reflects that you are not listening to a completed, countable thing; it’s continuous. Hengitykseni would be more like my breathing as a complete entity, and with kuunnella it is not the natural choice.
The -ni ending is the 1st person singular possessive suffix: my.
So:
- hengitys = breathing
- hengitystä = breathing (partitive)
- hengitystäni = my breathing (partitive)
With possession in Finnish, you can use:
Just the possessive suffix:
- hengitystäni = my breathing
A possessive pronoun:
- minun hengitystäni
Oma
- possessive suffix, for own:
- omaa hengitystäni = my own breathing
In your sentence, omaa (own) + -ni (my) together strongly anchor the breathing to the speaker. That combination is very natural and idiomatic.