Opettaja pyytää minua lukemaan uuden sanan ääneen.

The teacher asks me to read the new word aloud.

Breakdown of Opettaja pyytää minua lukemaan uuden sanan ääneen.

• uusi: new
• lukea: to read
• minä: me
• ääneen: aloud
• sana: word
• opettaja: teacher
• pyytää: to ask (someone to do something)

Questions & Answers about Opettaja pyytää minua lukemaan uuden sanan ääneen.

Why is minua in the partitive, not minut?

Because the verb pyytää (to ask/request) typically takes the person being asked as a partitive object: pyytää jotakuta.
So pyytää minua = ask me. Using minut would sound unusual here and is not the normal pattern for “ask someone to do something.”

What is lukemaan grammatically, and why isn’t it just lukea?

lukemaan is the 3rd infinitive illative form of lukea. It’s commonly used after verbs like pyytää, mennä, tulla, jäädä, etc., to mean “(in order) to do / into doing.”
So pyytää minua lukemaan literally feels like “ask me into reading,” i.e. “ask me to read.”

How do you form lukemaan from lukea?

For many verbs, you form the 3rd infinitive with -maan / -mään (vowel harmony).

• lukea → stem luke- → lukemaan
  The long aa is part of the -maan ending.

Why is it uuden sanan and not uusi sana?

Because uuden sanan is the object of the reading action inside the infinitive clause (to read the new word), and it’s marked as a total object (often genitive-looking in singular):

• uusi → uuden (genitive/accusative form)
• sana → sanan (genitive/accusative form)
  So uuden sanan = “the new word” as a complete, specific item to be read.

Could it be uutta sanaa instead?

Yes, but it changes the nuance. uutta sanaa (partitive) would suggest something less bounded, for example:

• reading some new word / an unspecified new word, or
• focusing on the process rather than completing a specific item.
  In many classroom contexts, uuden sanan sounds natural because it’s a specific word to read aloud.

What case is ääneen, and why does it mean “aloud”?

ääneen is historically an illative form related to ääni (sound/voice). In modern Finnish it functions like an adverb meaning aloud / out loud.
It’s a fixed, common expression: lukea ääneen = read aloud.

Why is there no word for “to” (as in “to read”)?

Finnish often expresses “to + verb” using infinitive forms and cases instead of a separate “to.”
Here, the “to” idea is carried by lukemaan (3rd infinitive illative).

What is the basic structure of the sentence?

• Opettaja = subject (The teacher)
• pyytää = main verb (asks)
• minua = person being asked (partitive object of pyytää)
• lukemaan = “to read” (3rd infinitive illative)
• uuden sanan = object of lukemaan (the new word)
• ääneen = adverb (aloud)

Can the word order be changed?

Yes. Finnish word order is flexible, and changes mainly affect emphasis. For example:

• Opettaja pyytää minua lukemaan uuden sanan ääneen. (neutral)
• Minua opettaja pyytää lukemaan uuden sanan ääneen. (emphasizes me)
• Uuden sanan opettaja pyytää minua lukemaan ääneen. (emphasizes the new word)

Is pyytää present tense here? How do we know?

Yes. pyytää is the 3rd person singular present form: “(he/she/the teacher) asks.”
The dictionary form is also pyytää, but the subject opettaja tells you it’s “the teacher asks.”

Why does pyytää have ää while ääneen has ää too—any pronunciation tips?

Both have long vowels:

• pyytää has yy and ää (both long)
• ääneen starts with long ää and has a long-ish vowel sequence ee sound in the middle (ää-nee-n)
  Length matters in Finnish, so try to keep long vowels clearly longer than short ones.