Opettaja sanoi kuulemma, että kuka tahansa saa kysyä tunnilla, vaikka kysymys olisi helppo.

Kuulemma is a reportative/evidential adverb meaning something like apparently / reportedly / I hear that. It signals that the speaker is passing on information they learned from someone else rather than stating it as their own direct knowledge.

Grammatically, it’s an adverb that often sits near the finite verb it relates to (here sanoi), but it can be placed in several positions depending on emphasis.

Että introduces a content clause (a “that”-clause) after verbs of saying/thinking/knowing, like sanoa.

So Opettaja sanoi …, että … corresponds to The teacher said (that) …. In Finnish, että is very common and usually not omitted in neutral style.

Kuka tahansa means whoever / anyone (at all). It’s formed from:

• kuka = who
• tahansa = “ever / at all / any”, a free-choice element

So kuka tahansa is a “free-choice” expression: it removes any limitation on the person.

You’ll see the same pattern with other question words:

• mikä tahansa = anything
• missä tahansa = anywhere
• milloin tahansa = anytime

No—here it’s not a real question. In Finnish, question-word forms (like kuka) can also function in free-choice expressions such as kuka tahansa (anyone) or in embedded questions.

A quick test: the clause is not asking for an answer; it’s stating permission. That’s why it’s followed by saa (“is allowed to / may”).

Saada literally can mean to get/receive, but it also commonly expresses permission:

• saa + infinitive = may / is allowed to

So saa kysyä means may ask / is allowed to ask. This is a very normal Finnish way to express permission.

Because saa takes a basic infinitive (the A-infinitive), which is the dictionary form:

• saa kysyä = “may ask”
• voi kysyä = “can ask”
• haluaa kysyä = “wants to ask”

So kysyä is simply the required complement form after saa.

Tunnilla is the adessive case (-lla/-llä). With time/event contexts, adessive often means during / at (a lesson, meeting, class).

Here:

• tunnilla ≈ “in class / during the lesson”

Compare:

• tunnissa (inessive) could mean “in a lesson” in some contexts, but tunnilla is the idiomatic choice for “during class”.

Vaikka introduces a concession clause: even if / even though.

Finnish often uses the conditional mood in such clauses to express a hypothetical or general concession:

• vaikka kysymys olisi helppo = “even if the question were easy” / “even if the question is easy”

Using olisi makes it less tied to one specific real situation and more like a general principle.

Both can occur, but they feel a bit different:

• vaikka kysymys on helppo: more direct, more “real-world present” (even though it is easy).
• vaikka kysymys olisi helppo: more general/abstract and concessive, like “even if it happened to be easy” or “even if it were easy”.

In many “permission/encouragement” contexts, Finnish prefers the conditional in the vaikka-clause.

Because helppo is a predicate adjective with olla (“to be”). Predicate adjectives typically appear in the nominative (basic form) and agree with the subject in number:

• kysymys on helppo (singular)
• kysymykset ovat helppoja (plural often uses partitive in this type of predicative construction)

Here the subject is singular (kysymys), so helppo is nominative singular.

It’s basically:

1) Main clause: Opettaja sanoi kuulemma, …
2) Content clause introduced by että: … että X
3) Inside X:

• Main idea: kuka tahansa saa kysyä tunnilla
• Concession: vaikka kysymys olisi helppo

So you have a reported statement + a “that”-clause + an “even if”-clause.

Yes, Finnish word order is flexible and used for emphasis/topic-focus. For example:

• Opettaja kuulemma sanoi, että … (emphasis on the reported nature early)
• … saa tunnilla kysyä, vaikka … (slight emphasis on “in class”)
• … saa kysyä vaikka kysymys olisi helppo. (dropping tunnilla changes the setting)

But the given order is very natural and neutral: sanoi kuulemma + the clause content, with tunnilla placed near kysyä because it modifies the asking.