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

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