Tahti oli nopea, mutta tanssimme silti.

Here tahti most naturally means tempo, rhythm, or pace.

In this sentence, it probably refers to the pace of the music or dance, so a natural English idea is:

• The tempo was fast
• The rhythm was fast
• The pace was fast

The exact best translation depends on context, but tempo is often a very good choice.

Oli is the past tense of olla (to be).

• on = is
• oli = was

So:

• Tahti on nopea = The tempo is fast
• Tahti oli nopea = The tempo was fast

Because the sentence talks about a past situation, Finnish uses oli.

Because nopea is an adjective, while nopeasti is an adverb.

Here, nopea describes the noun tahti:

• tahti = tempo
• nopea = fast

So Tahti oli nopea literally means The tempo was fast.

If you used nopeasti, that would mean quickly/fast in an adverb sense, usually describing an action:

• Tanssimme nopeasti = We danced quickly

So in this sentence, nopea is correct because it describes what the tempo was like, not how someone danced.

Tanssimme is the 1st person plural form of tanssia (to dance), meaning we dance or we danced.

This is one of those Finnish forms that can be ambiguous by itself:

• tanssimme can mean we dance
• tanssimme can also mean we danced

In this sentence, because the first clause is in the past (oli = was), the natural interpretation is:

• mutta tanssimme silti = but we danced anyway

So here tanssimme is understood as past from the context.

Because Finnish usually does not need a subject pronoun when the verb ending already shows the person.

• tanssin = I dance
• tanssit = you dance
• tanssimme = we dance / we danced

The ending -mme already tells you the subject is we, so me is often omitted.

You could say me tanssimme, but that would usually add emphasis, for example:

• Me tanssimme silti = We danced anyway / We were the ones who danced anyway

Without emphasis, just tanssimme is perfectly normal.

Silti means still, all the same, or anyway in the sense of despite that.

So the idea is:

• The tempo was fast, but we danced anyway.

It shows contrast: even though something might have made dancing difficult or unexpected, they did it.

In this sentence, silti is what gives the second clause that despite that feeling.

Both silti and kuitenkin can often mean something like still, nevertheless, or however, but their feel is slightly different.

Very roughly:

• silti = despite that / even so / anyway
• kuitenkin = however / nevertheless / after all

In many contexts they overlap, and sometimes both are possible. In this sentence, silti sounds very natural because it highlights the idea:

• the tempo was fast
• despite that, we danced

So mutta tanssimme silti is a very idiomatic way to say but we danced anyway.

Yes, Finnish word order is fairly flexible, and silti could appear in other positions too.

For example:

• Mutta tanssimme silti.
• Mutta silti tanssimme.
• Silti tanssimme.

These are all possible, but the emphasis changes a little.

In your sentence, mutta tanssimme silti is a very natural order. Putting silti at the end makes it feel like the final contrastive point: we danced anyway.

So the end position is normal and idiomatic here.

Because mutta means but, while vaikka usually means although / even though.

Your sentence has two coordinated clauses:

• Tahti oli nopea
• mutta tanssimme silti

So the structure is:

• The tempo was fast, but we danced anyway.

If you used vaikka, the sentence structure would change, for example:

• Vaikka tahti oli nopea, tanssimme silti.
• Although the tempo was fast, we danced anyway.

So mutta is correct for a but sentence, while vaikka would create an although sentence.

Because Finnish does not have articles like English a/an and the.

So:

• tahti can mean a tempo or the tempo
• the exact meaning comes from context

In this sentence, English naturally uses the:

• The tempo was fast, but we danced anyway.

But Finnish simply says Tahti oli nopea... without any article.

This is very normal in Finnish, and learners have to get used to relying on context instead of articles.

In Finnish, double consonants are pronounced longer than single consonants. This difference is important.

For example:

• muta = mud
• mutta = but

So mutta has a clearly longer tt sound.

Likewise in tanssimme, the ss is held longer than a single s would be.

A few helpful pronunciation points:

• Stress is usually on the first syllable: TAH-ti, NO-pe-a, MUT-ta, TANS-sim-me, SIL-ti
• Double consonants are genuinely longer, not just stronger
• Finnish pronunciation is usually very regular compared to English

So if you say mutta too quickly, it may sound like a different word.