Tampere
Hölkynkölkyn!
A brief introduction to the Finnish language
by Terhi Davies
Finnish – can anybody
really learn this strange
sounding language? Well,
Finnish children, at least,
manage to learn it as their
mother tongue.
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here are about 5.1 million native
T speakers of Finnish and an
increasing number of non-natives
are tackling a language which probably
sounds unlike any other language they
know. Let’s take the word ‘telephone’ as
an example since Finland is the land of
Nokia: ‘le téléphone’ in French, ‘en tele-
fon’ in Swedish, ‘el teléfono’ in Spanish.
But in Finnish puhelin. As you can see,
even basic Finnish vocabulary can be a
demanding task for beginners.
Rare relatives
The Finno-Ugrian language group con-
sists of Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian,
Lapp and several less-spoken languages in
areas of the former Soviet Union. It is not
an Indo-European language so talking to
our Swedish or Russian neighbours is not
so straightforward. Finnish speakers
don’t automatically speak or understand
either Russian or Swedish because these
languages belong to a different language
group.
Something familiar
It is thought that the Finno-Ugrian lan-
guage has been spoken in the region for
about five thousand years. The neigh-
bouring Baltic, Germanic and Slavic lan-
guages have also had a strong impact on
Finnish. And, in recent decades, English
has exerted its influence on Finnish as
well. When Finns apologise, for example,
the word sori, derived from the English
‘sorry’, is nowadays commonly used as an
alternative to the Finnish word anteeksi.
Reasonably new loan words are also easy
to recognise: auto ‘ a car’, tomaatti ‘a
tomato’, kahvi ‘coffee’, viini ‘wine’, televisio
‘a television’, idiootti ‘an idiot’.
Long words
From a first encounter it might seem that
Finnish is an extremely difficult language.
However, the truth is that it is just a bit
different. For example, the long words
might be off-putting for foreign learners.
This is because Finnish is an agglutinative
language, in which grammatical markers
and endings are joined to a word stem.
Take the word talo meaning ‘a house’. The
basic form of the word grows longer as
the phoneme a. The vowels a, o and u are
pronounced in the back part of the
and illnesses. That’s not to say that
Finnish small talk doesn’t exist. As in
mouth and ä, ö and y in the front of the many countries, a safe topic is always the
mouth. Neutral vowels e and i are pro-
nounced in the middle. According to the
weather: if you can see a little bit of sun,
you can say Hieno ilma! ‘Nice weather’.
Finnish system, there are no front and Finns are also passionate about sport so
back vowels in the same word (except in this too is a fruitful topic for conversa-
endings are added: talossa ‘in the house’, A short guide to pronunciation compound words). tion. Conversation also flows more easily
taloissa ‘ in the houses’, taloissani ‘in my
houses’, taloissanikin ‘in my houses, too’,
taloissanikinko ‘in my houses, too?’ In the
The main stress is always on the first syl-
lable. Also, every grapheme corresponds
to one phoneme and is always pro-
a aamu (morning), as in English
banana
o olen (I am), as in English Bob
after a beer or two, so it might be worth
learning the Finnish word for ‘cheers’:
Hölkynkölkyn!
Finnish language , objects, ideas and nounced in the same way. There are no u ulos (out), as in English too
actions are expressed by modifying stem silent sounds. Finnish consonants can be ä älä (don’t), as in English fat Terhi Davies works in the Language Centre
words. For example, the word for a book roughly pronounced according to the fol- ö mökki (cottage), as in English the at the University of Tampere
is kirja. From this stem a host of new lowing list. Those letters in brackets are indefinite article a
words are derived: kirjasto ‘a library’, not originally Finnish sounds and they y pysyä (to stay), as the German ü,
kirjallisuus ‘literature’, kirjallinen ‘literary, occur only in loan words or foreign München
kirjailija ‘a writer’. In Finnish one word names. e ei (no), as in English bet
goes a long way. (b) banaani (a banana), as in English i ilman (without), as in English this
One tendency with the Finnish language banana or bus Both vowels and most consonants can be Survival kit: vocabulary
is the creation of new words for things by (c) cocktail (a cocktail), as in English short or long as in the name Häkkinen hi! hei
making compound words. For example cocktail with its double k. The length is a distinct- good day päivää
tietokone ‘a knowledge machine’ = a com- d Daavid, as in English David ive feature. When pronouncing a double goodbye näkemiin
puter, ammattikorkeakoulu ‘profession- (f) filosofia (philosophy), as in English sound, just imagine thet there are three good morning huomenta
high-school’ = polytechnic or sateensuoja philosophy or more of the same sounds in a row. Try thank you kiitos
‘a rain cover’ = an umbrella. The word (g) guru (a guru), as in English guru or pronouncing the words tuli, tulli, tuuli sorry anteeksi
mustaviinimarjamehupullo ‘a bottle of gate ‘fire, customs, wind’ or kuka, kukka ‘who, see you later nähdään
blackcurrant juice’ is still one word, albeit - g also occurs in the combination of -ng a flower’. A classic example of short and how much is this? paljonko tämä maksaa
a long one. and it is pronounced as in English long sounds are in the sentences Minä enjoy your meal hyvää ruokahalua
sing tapaan sinut/Minä tapan sinut, the first I’m a vegetarian olen kasvissyöjä
Systematic grammar ng Englanti ‘England’ meaning ‘I’ll meet you’ and the latter ‘I’ll coffee kahvi
Once a learner has got acquainted with h hattu (a hat), as in English hat or he kill you’. A Finnish lady called Riitta will tea tee
the nature of the Finnish language, then j joo (yes), as in English yes or you look really surprised if you call her Riita beer olut
it is time to take a look at the grammar. k kuka (who), as in English cute or key, meaning ‘a quarrel’. But a short sound is wine viini
Finnish grammar is complex but system- but without aspiration vital when a foreigner greets a Finnish orange juice appelsiinimehu
atic. Finnish has no prepositions but it l lasi (a glass), as in English last or late friend called Vesa. Were one to say Hei, bottle pullo
makes up for this by having 15 different m metri (a metre), as in English metre Vessa, it would mean ‘Hello, toilet’… glass lasi
case endings. Some students say that or me butter voi
studying Finnish appeals to mathemat- n nuori (young), as in English nest or Talkative as a Finn bread leipä
icians – a lot af little pieces to put togeth- nose Finnish people have a reputation for milk maito
er and, if you are lucky, you get the right p penni (penny), as in English penny, being rather quiet and shy. A Finnish salt suola
answer – a grammatical Finnish sentence. but without aspiration company director once informed his pepper pippuri
But there are some easy bits too. Finnish r rakastaa (to love), the Finnish r is a English teacher that he wanted to learn fish kala
pronunciation is relatively easy, because rolled one as in Italian Roma some small talk. When he was asked what meat liha
of the phonetic spelling system. There is s suuri (big), as in English sun or sit kind of small talk he had in mind, he chicken kana, broileri
no gender (the pronoun hän denotes t tämä (this), as in English tea, but answered: “The smaller the better.” Finns knife veitsi
both he and she) and there are no art- without aspiration are also known for being honest and fork haarukka
icles. Better still, Finns provide a very v vasen (left), as in English very or vicar straightforward. That’s why they prefer spoon lusikka
encouraging audience for foreigners try- Finnish has eight vowels: a, e, i, o, u, y, ä speaking only when they really have menu ruokalista
ing to speak a few words of their lan- and ö. The confusing ones are probably something important to say. There are the bill please lasku, kiitos
guage. They know how tricky it is. those with dots as in the name Häkkinen. numerous stories about foreigners who I would like to pay haluaisin maksaa
However, there is a reason behind the politely inquire Mitä kuuluu? ‘How are on the right oikealla
Mika Häkkinen or Mika Hakinen? dots, the phoneme ä is not the same as you’ and are treated to a long list of woes on the left vasemmalla
The rally driver Mika Häkkinen is known where is the toilet? missä on vessa?
everywhere, but only a few foreign sports I’m lost olen eksynyt
journalists can pronounce his name cor- Some say that studying Finnish appeals help apua
rectly. To put this right here are some of police poliisi
to mathematicians – a lot of little pieces
the basics about Finnish pronunciation. hospital sairaala
to put together and, if you are lucky, doctor lääkäri
you get the right answer I don’t speak Finnish en puhu suomea
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