Finnish
Rough Notes
Some general notes:
- Finnish does not use articles (e.g. "a","the" in English)
- Finnish has no gender masculine or feminine (e.g. "un", "une" in French)
Below is spoken Finnish (puhekieli), which is totally different from (the more formal) written Finnish (kirjakieli).
- Yes: Joo
- No: Ei
- Hi: Moi, Hei, Terve, Moro
- Bye: Moi moi, Hei hei, Terve, Moro, Moido, Moikka
- How are you?: Mitä kuuluu?
- (When asked how you are) Good: Hyvää (hu-varh)
- Nice to meet you: Hauska tavata
- (Come) Here: Tänne
- There is no please in Finnish, instead one could say kiitos which means thank you.
- No thankyou: Ei kiitos
- (When at a cafe to order) One (black) coffee: Yks kahvi
- (If for e.g. you bump into someone accidentally) Excuse me: Anteeksi (not often used)
- What's your name?: Mikä sun nimi on?
- My name is _: Mun nimi on _ (Written version: Nimeni on _)
- (If for e.g. you see a cute dog on the street) Adorable (dog): Ihana/Söpo (koira)
- (Probably most useful word in Finnish) To let the other person know you are listening to them: Nii, nii nii, nii joo, nii just (yust) / To ask someone to tell you more in a demanding way: Nii-iiy? / To agree in a somewhat powerful expression: Nii-i
- Okay: Okei
- (If you were not paying attention/not interested in the topic but the person expects your input) Really nice: Tosi kiva
- Nice guy: Kiva tyyppi (thoohppi)
- When you want someone to stop doing something annoying: Älä (abruptly) / No way/Seriously?: Älä (stretch first letter a bit, like arhla)
- Zero, one, two, three: nolla, yksi (uksi), kaksi, kolme
- Shall we go to the sauna?: Mennäänkö saunaan?
- Cheers: Kippis
- (If someone sneezes) For you health: Terveydeks
- Have fun!: Pidä hauskaa!
Some vocabulary:
- Cake: Kissa
- Salmon: Lohi
- Herring in vinegar: Hilli
- Rice porridge: Riisipuuro
- Ginger bread (house): Piparkakku(-talo)
- Snow: Lumi
- Snowman: Lumiukko
- Snowflake: Lumihiutale
- Sweden: Ruotsi
- Denmark: Tanska (Changed D to T since D is not used in Finnish)
- Germany: Saksa
- France: Ranska (Dropped F from Franska since F is not used in Finnish)
- French people: Ranksalainen/Ranskalaiset (Ranskalaiset also means french fries)
- Austria: Itävalta (literally translates to Itä: East, Valta: Power)
- Netherlands: Alankomaat (literally translates to Alla:Low, Maat:Lands)
- Switzerland: Sveitsi (Veitsi means knife)
- Poland: Puola
- Countries ending with "land" change to "lanti"
- China: Kiina