Learn Hardcore Finnish: Opettaja rohkaisee myös muita opiskelijoita puhumaan ääneen ilman häpeää. - The teacher also encourages the other students to speak out loud without shame.

Muita opiskelijoita is the object of the verb rohkaisee, and it appears in the partitive plural because of the verb pattern being used.

The verb rohkaista typically takes:

Object in the partitive
MA-infinitive for the action encouraged

Pattern: rohkaista jotakuta tekemään jotain
= to encourage someone to do something

So here:

muita opiskelijoita = object in partitive plural
- muita = partitive plural of muu (other)
- opiskelijoita = partitive plural of opiskelija (student)

If you said muut opiskelijat, that is nominative plural and would normally act as a subject or a complete, definite object, like “the other students (all of them)”.
With muita opiskelijoita, the partitive makes it feel more indefinite/open: “(also) other students” rather than “all the other students as a complete group”.

Why is it puhumaan and not the basic infinitive puhua?

Puhumaan is the -MA infinitive in the illative case (often called the 3rd infinitive, illative).

The pattern is:

rohkaista jotakuta tekemään jotain
- rohkaista = to encourage
- jotakuta = someone (object, often partitive)
- tekemään = 3rd infinitive illative of tehdä

Here:

puhumaan = “to (start/continue) speaking”
- base: puhua (to speak)
- 3rd infinitive stem: puhu-ma-
- illative ending: -an → puhumaan

This structure rohkaista + object + MA-infinitive expresses “encourage someone to do something”.
Using plain puhua would not be idiomatic Finnish in this pattern; you need the MA-infinitive with this kind of verb.

What exactly is ääneen, and why not just ääni?

Ääneen is a case-form of the noun ääni (sound, voice), specifically the illative singular:

ääni (nominative) → ääneen (illative singular)

Illative often corresponds to “into / to / towards” something. Historically, ääneen means roughly “into (one’s) voice/sound”, but in modern Finnish it’s a fixed expression meaning:

ääneen = aloud, out loud, audibly

So:

puhua ääneen = “to speak aloud / out loud”

You can’t use ääni in the base form here; puhua ääni would be incorrect. Ääneen functions almost like an adverb in this idiomatic phrase.

Why is it ilman häpeää and not ilman häpeä?

Because the preposition ilman (without) always requires the partitive case.

ilman + partitive

Here:

häpeä (shame) → häpeää (partitive singular)

So:

ilman häpeää = “without shame”

Using häpeä in the nominative (ilman häpeä) would be grammatically wrong.
Any noun after ilman must be in the partitive, e.g.:

ilman rahaa – without money
ilman syytä – without reason
ilman ystäviä – without friends

What does myös do here, and where can it go in the sentence?

Myös means “also / too”.

In this sentence, it indicates that in addition to someone already implied (probably one student), the teacher also encourages other students.

Normal placement:

Opettaja rohkaisee myös muita opiskelijoita…
→ “The teacher also encourages the other students…”

You can move myös around, but you change what is being emphasized:

Opettaja myös rohkaisee muita opiskelijoita…
→ Emphasis that the teacher also (in addition to doing other things) encourages them.
Opettaja rohkaisee muita opiskelijoita myös puhumaan ääneen…
→ Could suggest: the teacher encourages them to do other things, and also to speak aloud.

The safest, most neutral way to say “also the other students” is exactly as in your sentence:

rohkaisee myös muita opiskelijoita

Can I change the word order, for example put ilman häpeää earlier in the sentence?

Finnish word order is fairly flexible, and you can move things, but the most natural/formal order is usually:

[Subject] [verb] [object] [infinitive phrase] [adverbials]

Your sentence:

Opettaja (subject)
rohkaisee (verb)
myös muita opiskelijoita (object)
puhumaan ääneen (infinitive phrase)
ilman häpeää (adverbial phrase)

Some variants that are still acceptable:

Opettaja rohkaisee myös muita opiskelijoita ilman häpeää puhumaan ääneen.
→ Slightly different focus, feels a bit less natural, but understandable.
Opettaja rohkaisee muita opiskelijoita myös puhumaan ääneen ilman häpeää.
→ Now myös leans more towards “also to speak aloud”, rather than “also other students”.

The given word order is the clearest and most neutral. As a learner, it’s good to stick close to that pattern.

What is the difference between muita opiskelijoita and muut opiskelijat?

Grammatically and semantically they differ:

muita opiskelijoita
- partitive plural: muita (other), opiskelijoita (students)
- typically object here
- more indefinite/open: “(some) other students”
muut opiskelijat
- nominative plural: muut (the other), opiskelijat (students)
- would normally be subject or a definite whole object
- suggests all the other students as a complete group: “the other students”

Example contrast:

Opettaja rohkaisee myös muita opiskelijoita…
→ The teacher also encourages other students (in addition to someone else).
Opettaja rohkaisee myös muut opiskelijat…
→ This would not be normal Finnish; you’d expect rohkaisee myös muut opiskelijat puhumaan only in a different structure where muut opiskelijat is subject or a total object (and the verb form might change depending on the exact structure).

For the pattern rohkaista jotakuta tekemään, the object is most naturally in the partitive → muita opiskelijoita.

Why is there no “the” or “a” before opettaja and opiskelijoita in Finnish?

Finnish has no articles (no words like a, an, the).
Definiteness or indefiniteness is usually understood from:

context
word order
case endings
modifiers like tämä (this), se (that), etc.

So:

Opettaja can mean “a teacher” or “the teacher”
opiskelijoita can mean “(some) students” or “the students”, depending on context

In your sentence, an English speaker would most naturally read it as:

“The teacher also encourages the other students to…”

But Finnish does not mark that difference with articles; the listener relies on context.

What is the form rohkaisee exactly (tense and person), and how does rohkaista conjugate?

Rohkaisee is:

present tense
3rd person singular (he/she/it)

The verb is rohkaista (to encourage, to embolden).

Present tense conjugation (active):

minä rohkaisen – I encourage
sinä rohkaiset – you encourage
hän rohkaisee – he/she encourages
me rohkaisemme – we encourage
te rohkaisette – you (pl) encourage
he rohkaisevat – they encourage

Past tense (preterite) of 3rd person singular:

hän rohkaisi – he/she encouraged

So in your sentence:

Opettaja rohkaisee… = The teacher encourages…

Why is it puhumaan ääneen ilman häpeää and not something like etteivät he häpeä (“so that they don’t feel ashamed”)?

Finnish has more than one way to express this idea.

Your sentence uses a compact, non-finite construction:

rohkaista jotakuta puhumaan ääneen ilman häpeää
→ encourage someone to speak aloud without shame

That keeps everything in a single clause with infinitive and preposition.

You could use a full että-clause, but it would sound a bit heavier or more explicit, for example:

Opettaja rohkaisee myös muita opiskelijoita, jotta he puhuisivat ääneen ilman häpeää.
→ “The teacher encourages the other students so that they would speak aloud without shame.”

Or with ettei:

Opettaja rohkaisee muita opiskelijoita, ettei heidän tarvitsisi hävetä puhuessaan ääneen.
→ “...so that they wouldn’t need to be ashamed when speaking aloud.”

These are more complex. The original version with puhumaan ääneen ilman häpeää is short and natural, and it’s the most typical structure after rohkaista.

Could I omit myös or muita? How would the meaning change?

Yes, you can omit them, but the nuance changes:

Opettaja rohkaisee opiskelijoita puhumaan ääneen ilman häpeää.
- No myös, no muita
- Simply: “The teacher encourages (the) students to speak aloud without shame.”
- No explicit contrast with anyone else.
Opettaja rohkaisee myös opiskelijoita puhumaan ääneen ilman häpeää.
- With myös, but no muita
- “The teacher also encourages students to speak aloud…”
- Implies the teacher also does something else, or also encourages some other group.
Opettaja rohkaisee muita opiskelijoita puhumaan ääneen ilman häpeää.
- With muita, but no myös
- “The teacher encourages other students to speak aloud…”
- There is a sense of ‘other students’ (besides some main group), but the “also” emphasis is gone.

The original myös muita opiskelijoita clearly highlights “also other students (as well)”.

What is the difference between rohkaista and kannustaa in this kind of sentence?

Both are often translated as “to encourage”, but there are nuances:

rohkaista
- literally “to make brave / to give courage”
- can imply reducing fear, increasing confidence
- suits emotional/supportive contexts: helping someone not to be shy, afraid, etc.
kannustaa
- literally related to “to spur on” (like with a horse)
- often implies motivating, urging someone to put in effort or to try harder
- common in sports, performance, achievement contexts

In your sentence:

Opettaja rohkaisee… = The teacher is helping them feel brave enough, less ashamed, more confident.

You could also say:

Opettaja kannustaa myös muita opiskelijoita puhumaan ääneen ilman häpeää.

That’s still correct and natural, just with a slightly more “cheering them on” nuance. Rohkaisee fits especially well because of ilman häpeää (without shame).

How should I pronounce the long vowels in ääneen and häpeää?

Finnish distinguishes short and long vowels, and the difference is meaningful, so it’s important here.

ääneen
- syllables: ää-neen
- both ää are long: hold the ä sound roughly twice as long
- if you shorten them, you risk it sounding like a different word form
häpeää
- syllables: hä-pe-ää
- the first ä is short (hä-), the last ää is long
- pronounce the final ää with a clear lengthening

A rough timing guide:

short vowel: like the vowel in English hit
long vowel: like you’re slightly doubling it: hiit

So keep in mind:

ää = long [æː]
ä = short [æ]

Correct length is just as important as correct consonants for being understood naturally in Finnish.