Laki sallii minun ilmaista mielipiteeni rauhallisesti.

The law allows me to express my opinion calmly.

Breakdown of Laki sallii minun ilmaista mielipiteeni rauhallisesti.

• minä: I
• minun: my
• mielipide: the opinion
• rauhallisesti: calmly
• ilmaista: to express
• laki: the law
• sallia: to allow

Questions & Answers about Laki sallii minun ilmaista mielipiteeni rauhallisesti.

Why is it minun ilmaista and not minä ilmaisen?

In Finnish, some verbs (like sallia, “to allow”) are often followed by a genitive + infinitive structure:

• Laki sallii minun ilmaista …
  literally: The law allows my to-express …

Here:

• minun is genitive (my as a subject of the infinitive).
• ilmaista is the infinitive (to express).

Using minä ilmaisen would make a full finite clause and would need a different structure, e.g.:

• Laki sallii, että minä ilmaisen mielipiteeni rauhallisesti.
  “The law allows that I express my opinion peacefully.”

So minun ilmaista is the standard way to say “to allow me to express” after sallii (and also after verbs like haluan ilmaista, “I want to express”).

Why is it minun (genitive) and not minä or minua?

In constructions like X sallii Y:n tehdä jotain (“X allows Y to do something”), Finnish uses:

• Y in the genitive case (here: minun)
• followed by an infinitive (ilmaista)

So:

• Laki sallii minun ilmaista…
  = “The law allows me to express…”

You cannot use:

• minä ilmaista – mixing nominative with an infinitive in this pattern is ungrammatical.
• minua ilmaista – partitive is used for different roles, not for the subject of the infinitive here.

So genitive (minun) is required because it functions as the “logical subject” of the infinitive ilmaista.

What exactly is the form ilmaista here?

Ilmaista is the (first) infinitive of the verb ilmaista (“to express, to state”). The dictionary form and the infinitive look the same.

In English terms, this infinitive corresponds to “to express”:

• minun ilmaista ≈ “for me to express / me to express”
• haluan ilmaista ≈ “I want to express”

After verbs like sallia, voida, haluta, aikoa, etc., Finnish normally uses this infinitive instead of a finite verb form.

Why is it mielipiteeni and not just mielipide?

Mielipiteeni is mielipide (“opinion”) + the possessive suffix -ni (“my”).

• mielipide = opinion
• mielipiteeni = my opinion

So the sentence literally has:

• minun ilmaista mielipiteeni
  “(for) me to express my opinion”

If you said just mielipide, it would be “an opinion” (no owner), not clearly “my opinion”.

Isn’t minun mielipiteeni like saying “my my opinion”? Why have minun and -ni?

Here minun and -ni have different jobs:

• minun: the logical subject of the infinitive ilmaista
  → “for me to express…”
• mielipiteeni: “my opinion” (possessor inside the object noun)

So the underlying structure is:

• Laki sallii [minun] [ilmaista [mielipiteeni]]

You are not doubling the possessor of the same noun; you are:

• marking who is doing the expressing (minun)
• marking whose opinion is expressed (-ni on mielipide)

You could, in another context, say minun mielipiteeni (“my opinion”), but here minun belongs syntactically with ilmaista, not with mielipiteeni.

Why is it mielipiteeni and not something like mielipidettäni?

Both are possible but mean slightly different things:

• mielipiteeni (nominative/genitive, total object here):
  suggests the opinion as a whole, e.g. “to express my opinion completely/fully”.
• mielipidettäni (partitive, partial object):
  would suggest expressing some of your opinion, or your opinion to some extent.

In everyday speech, mielipiteeni is the default for a full, complete “opinion” in this kind of sentence, which is why it’s used here.

What does rauhallisesti mean exactly, and why this form?

Rauhallisesti is an adverb formed from the adjective rauhallinen (“calm, peaceful”) with the suffix -sti:

• rauhallinen = calm, peaceful (adjective)
• rauhallisesti = calmly, peacefully (adverb)

So ilmaista mielipiteeni rauhallisesti = “to express my opinion peacefully / in a calm way”.

Compare with:

• rauhassa = “in peace, without disturbance” (locative expression, “in peace”)

  You could also say ilmaista mielipiteeni rauhassa, but that focuses more on being left in peace while expressing it, whereas rauhallisesti focuses on the calm manner of expression.

Could you leave out minun and just say Laki sallii ilmaista mielipiteeni rauhallisesti?

Yes, that is grammatically correct:

• Laki sallii ilmaista mielipiteeni rauhallisesti.

Finnish often drops pronouns when they’re clear from context. Here, mielipiteeni already shows -ni (“my”), so it’s fairly clear whose opinion and likely who is expressing it.

However, including minun makes it explicit that the law allows me (as a person) to do it, not just that such expression is allowed in general. In many contexts both versions would be understood the same.

Can I say this using että instead, like in English “allows that I express…”?

You can, but it changes the structure:

• Laki sallii minun ilmaista mielipiteeni rauhallisesti.
  = “The law allows me to express my opinion peacefully.” (infinitive construction)

• Laki sallii, että voin ilmaista mielipiteeni rauhallisesti.
  = literally “The law allows that I can express my opinion peacefully.”

The että + finite verb version is grammatical but more clumsy and less typical here. The genitive + infinitive pattern (minun ilmaista) is the natural, concise Finnish way after sallii in this meaning.

What form is sallii, and could I replace sallia with another verb?

Sallii is the 3rd person singular present form of sallia (“to allow, to permit”):

• (minä) sallin – I allow
• (sinä) sallit – you allow
• (hän / laki) sallii – he/she/the law allows

You can replace it with antaa luvan (“give permission”) with a small change in structure:

• Laki antaa minulle luvan ilmaista mielipiteeni rauhallisesti.
  “The law gives me permission to express my opinion peacefully.”

But sallia plus genitive + infinitive is more compact:

• Laki sallii minun ilmaista mielipiteeni rauhallisesti.