En osta kaikkea uutena, vaan etsin ensin alennusmyyntejä ja käyn kirpputorilla etsimässä käytettyjä vaatteita.

Finnish negation works differently from English:

• The negative verb (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät) carries the person and tense.
• The main verb appears in a special connegative form (basically the stem without a personal ending).

So for ostaa (to buy):

• Affirmative: (minä) ostan = I buy
• Negative: (minä) en osta = I do not buy

En ostan is wrong because both en and ostan would then be marked for person, which Finnish does not allow.

The subject pronoun minä is optional, because the person is already clear from en. You can say:

• En osta kaikkea uutena. (neutral)
• Minä en osta kaikkea uutena. (emphasizes I specifically)

Kaikkea is the partitive form of kaikki (all, everything).

In Finnish, objects in negative sentences are normally in the partitive case, even if you mean “the whole thing”.

Compare:

• Ostan kaiken uutena.
  I buy everything new.
  → Affirmative, total object → kaiken (accusative).

• En osta kaikkea uutena.
  I don’t buy everything new.
  → Negative → object goes into partitive → kaikkea.

So:

• kaikki – nominative (dictionary form)
• kaiken – accusative (total object in affirmative)
• kaikkea – partitive (here: object in a negative sentence)

Uutena is the essive case of uusi (new). Essive often expresses a state, role, or “as something”:

• opettajana – as a teacher
• lapsena – as a child / when (I was) a child

So:

• en osta kaikkea uutena
  literally: “I don’t buy everything as new / in a new state”
  → I don’t buy everything brand-new; some things I buy used.

If you say:

• En osta kaikkea uutta.

that more naturally means:

• “I don’t buy all the new things” / “I don’t buy everything that is new.”

So:

• uutena = as new, in new condition (describes the state in which you buy it)
• uutta = partitive of uusi, could mean “some new stuff” or “(all) the new things” depending on context

In this sentence, uutena is the natural choice because the focus is on the condition in which things are bought.

Finnish has two common words translated as but:

• mutta – but (general contrast)
• vaan – but rather, but instead (typically after a negation)

When you correct or replace a negated statement, you use vaan:

• En osta kaikkea uutena, vaan etsin ensin alennusmyyntejä.
  I don’t buy everything new, but instead I first look for sales.

Other examples:

• En juo kahvia, vaan teetä. – I don’t drink coffee, but (rather) tea.
• Se ei ole vaikeaa, vaan helppoa. – It’s not difficult, but easy.

Mutta is more neutral contrast and doesn’t have that “instead / rather” flavor:

• Ostan paljon uutta, mutta etsin myös alennusmyyntejä.
  I buy a lot of new things, but I also look for sales.

In this sentence, because we have en osta… and then an alternative, vaan is the correct and natural choice.

Yes, both are grammatically correct:

• Etsin ensin alennusmyyntejä.
• Ensin etsin alennusmyyntejä.

The difference is mostly about emphasis and rhythm, not meaning.

• With etsin ensin, the verb comes first; normal, neutral word order.
• With ensin etsin, you emphasize ensin (“first”), a bit like stressing first in English:
  “First, I look for sales (and only then do something else).”

Finnish word order is fairly flexible, especially for adverbs like ensin, but putting it right after the verb is very common and neutral.

The word alennusmyyntejä is:

• stem: alennusmyynti (sale, discount sale)
• case: partitive plural: alennusmyyntejä

Reasons:

1. Verb + partitive for “seeking / wanting”
   The verb etsiä (“to look for”) very often takes the partitive when the object is something you do not yet have or is unspecified:

   • Etsin työtä. – I’m looking for work.
   • Etsin avainta. – I’m looking for the key / a key.
   • Etsin alennusmyyntejä. – I’m looking for (some) sales.

2. Plural because there are many possible sales
   You’re not after a single specific sale, but sales in general, possibly several. That naturally leads to plural.

What about the other options?

• alennusmyyntiä (partitive singular) – could work if you think of “a sale” as a more general phenomenon: “I’m looking for a sale / for discounted stuff.”
• alennusmyynnit (nominative/accusative plural) – would sound more like you are referring to a specific, known set of sales and you intend to find all of them, which is not what is meant here.

So alennusmyyntejä nicely expresses some (any) sales, not a fixed set, and fits well with etsin.

Both involve going somewhere, but they’re not interchangeable in all contexts:

• mennä + illative (-lle / -lle / -hVn): menen kirpputorille
  → “I go to the flea market” (focus on the movement towards the place).

• käydä + inessive/adessive (-ssa / -lla): käyn kirpputorilla
  → literally “I visit the flea market / I go to the flea market (and come back).”
  → often used for short visits or regularly going there.

In this sentence, käyn kirpputorilla suggests habitual behavior:

• “I (regularly) go to the flea market (as part of my routine) to look for used clothes.”

You could say menen kirpputorille etsimään…, but that would describe a specific act of going somewhere, rather than a general habit.

Kirpputori (flea market) ends with -tori, which is like tori (market square). For many places that are open areas, squares, or surfaces, Finnish uses the adessive case -lla/-llä to express “at”:

• torilla – at the market square
• pihalla – in the yard
• asemalla – at the station

So:

• kirpputorilla = at the flea market

Kirpputorissa (inessive -ssa) would literally mean “inside the flea market” (as a closed space), and could be used if you think of a flea market inside a hall or building, but the common, neutral expression is kirpputorilla.

Etsimässä is the 3rd infinitive in the inessive case of etsiä:

• infinitive stem: etsi-
• 3rd infinitive marker: -mä
• inessive ending: -ssä
  → etsimässä

After verbs of motion or visiting (like käydä, mennä, tulla), this form is used to express purpose, “go/come to do something”:

• Käyn kaupassa ostamassa ruokaa.
  I (regularly) go to the store to buy food.
• Menin kirjastoon lukemaan.
  I went to the library to read.

So:

• käyn kirpputorilla etsimässä käytettyjä vaatteita
  ≈ “I go to the flea market to look for used clothes.”

If you said only käyn kirpputorilla, it would just mean “I go to the flea market,” without specifying what for.

You cannot put käytettyjä vaatteita directly after käyn kirpputorilla without a verb; Finnish requires a verb form to connect the object to the action.

• käyn kirpputorilla – I go / I visit the flea market
• käytettyjä vaatteita – (some) used clothes (needs a verb)

The structure käydä + verb in -massa/-mässä + object is a fixed and very common pattern:

• Käyn salilla treenaamassa. – I go to the gym to work out.
• Käyn postissa hakemassa paketteja. – I go to the post office to pick up packages.

So etsimässä is necessary here; there’s no way to just “attach” käytettyjä vaatteita to käyn kirpputorilla without such a form.

We have the phrase:

• etsimässä käytettyjä vaatteita

Breakdown:

• vaatteita – partitive plural of vaate (garment, piece of clothing)
• käytettyjä – partitive plural of käytetty, agreeing with vaatteita

Reasons for the partitive here:

1. Indefinite amount / “some” clothes
   You’re not looking for a known, countable, complete set of clothes; just some used clothes in general. That calls for partitive plural.

2. With “etsiä”, the thing you’re looking for is normally partitive
   Because you don’t yet have it and it’s not a completed, definite object:

   • Etsin työtä. – I’m looking for (some) work.
   • Etsin ystäviä. – I’m looking for friends.
   • Etsin käytettyjä vaatteita. – I’m looking for (some) used clothes.

Compare:

• Ostan käytetyt vaatteet.
  I (will) buy the used clothes.
  → Definite, known set → käytetyt vaatteet (not partitive).

So käytettyjä vaatteita = “some used clothes (non-specific)” and the adjective käytettyjä must match the noun’s case and number.

Käytettyjä is the partitive plural of käytetty, which is the past passive participle of the verb käyttää (to use).

• käyttää – to use
• käytetty – used (literally: “been used”)
• käytettyjä – partitive plural form

As an adjective, käytetty has come to mean second-hand, not new when used with items:

• käytetty auto – a used / second-hand car
• käytetty kirja – a used book
• käytettyjä vaatteita – used clothes

So the literal idea is “clothes that have been used.”

Yes. Finnish uses the same present tense form for:

• things happening right now
• regular or habitual actions
• general truths

In this sentence:

• En osta kaikkea uutena, vaan etsin ensin alennusmyyntejä ja käyn kirpputorilla etsimässä käytettyjä vaatteita.

the natural interpretation is habitual:

• “I don’t (in general) buy everything new, but instead I first look for sales and (regularly) go to the flea market to look for used clothes.”

If you wanted to express a one-time, specific situation, you would typically add time expressions (like tänään, tällä kertaa, nyt), but the bare present like this is very suitable for describing your usual way of doing things.