When you want to say that someone has something in Finnish, you need the ending -lla, -llä and the word on (is).
For the personal pronouns the forms are:
Minulla on. I have
Sinulla on. You have.
Hänellä on.He/she has.
Meillä on. We have.
Teillä on. You have.
Heillä on. They have.
Minulla on koira. I have a dog.
Sinulla on tuoli. You have a chair.
Hänellä on kaksi poikaa. She/he has two boys.
Meillä on vain yksi tyttö. We have only one girl.
Teillä on äiti ja isä. You have mother and father.
Heillä on kaikki. They have everything.
Onko sinulla jo koira? Do you already have a dog?
Onko minulla hyvä äiti? Do I have a good mother?
Onko hänellä kaksi vai kolme euroa? Does she have two or three euros?
Onko meillä kaikki hyvin? Do we have everything well = are we all right?
Onko teillä jo tämä kuva? Do you already have this picture?
Onko heillä kello? Do they have a clock?
The next lesson:
13. Revision
Thursday, August 16, 2018
11. Numbers 1-19
Here are the numbers from one to 10 in Finnish:
1 yksi
2 kaksi
3 kolme
4 neljä
5 viisi
6 kuusi
7 seitsemän
8 kahdeksan
9 yhdeksän
10 kymmenen
The numbers from 11 to 19 are formed by adding -toista to the end:
1 yksi, 11 yksitoista
12 kaksitoista
13 kolmetoista
14 neljätoista
15 viisitoista
16 kuusitoista
17 seitsemäntoista
18 kahdeksantoista
19 yhdeksäntoista
When you count things in Finnish, you always have to add the ending -a or -ä at the end.
How do you know which ending to use? Here we have the simple rule:
If the word has A, O or U in it, the ending is -a.
If the word has none of these vowels, the ending is -ä.
yksi kissa one cat
kaksi kissaa two cats
kolme kissaa three cats
yksi koira one dog
kaksi koiraa two dogs
kolme koiraa three dogs
yksi äiti one mother
kaksi äitiä two mothers
kolme äitiä three mothers
yksi poika one boy
kaksi poikaa two boys
kolme poikaa three boys
yksi tyttö one girl
kaksi tyttöä two girls
kolme tyttöäthree girls
yksi kuva one picture
kaksi kuvaa two pictures
kolme kuvaa three pictures
yksi kirja one book
kaksi kirjaa two books
kolme kirjaa three books
yksi kello one clock
kaksi kelloa two clocks
kolme kelloa three clocks
neljätoista kelloa fourteen clocks
yhdeksän kissaa nine cats
kaksitoista tyttöä twelve girls
viisi poikaa five boys
seitsemän isää seven fathers
kymmenen äitiä ten mothers
kuusi elämää six lives
kahdeksantoista omenaa eighteen apples
kolmetoista numeroa 13 numbers
yksitoista tuolia 11 chairs
yhdeksän sanaa 9 words
With numbers the singular form of the verb is used.
Koira istuu. The dog is sitting.
Koirat istuvat. The dogs are sitting.
Kaksi koiraa istuu. Two dogs are sitting.
Like this movie:
Kaksi tyttöä ja poikaystävä
Two girls and a boyfriend
Or this book:
Kaksi tyttöä ja Maija
Two girls and Maija
Or this blog post:
Yksi, kaksi ja kolme koiraa
One, two and three dogs
Like this book and the movie with the same name:
Neljä tyttöä ja maagiset farkut
Four girls and magical jeans
maksaa to pay, to cost
Maksan. I pay.
Maksat. You pay.
Hän maksaa. He/she pays.
Se maksaa. It costs.
Me maksamme. We pay.
Te maksatte. You pay.
He maksavat. They pay.
Ne maksavat. They cost.
Tämä omena maksaa vain kaksitoista senttiä. This apple costs only 12 cents.
Kaksi äitiä puhuu ja kaksi isää istuu. Two mothers are talking and two fathers are sitting.
Viisitoista tuolia on paljon. Fifteen chairs is a lot.
Kuinka monta kissaa sinä muistat? How many cats do you remember?
Tämä tuoli maksaa yhdeksäntoista euroa. This chair costs nineteen euros.
Kello on kaksi. It is two o'clock.
Onko kello jo viisi? Is it already five o'clock?
Tämä on jo kymmenen euroa. This is already ten euros.
Yksi poika istuu mutta kolme ei istu. One boy is sitting but three boys are not sitting.
Mitä kahdeksantoista euroa sanoo? What do 18 euros say?
Kuinka monta euroa sinä maksat? How many euros do you pay?
Kuinka paljon minä maksan? How much do I pay?
Kuinka monta sanaa me sanomme? How many words do we say?
Kuinka monta : how many
Kuinka paljon: how much
Next lesson:
1 yksi
2 kaksi
3 kolme
4 neljä
5 viisi
6 kuusi
7 seitsemän
8 kahdeksan
9 yhdeksän
10 kymmenen
The numbers from 11 to 19 are formed by adding -toista to the end:
1 yksi, 11 yksitoista
12 kaksitoista
13 kolmetoista
14 neljätoista
15 viisitoista
16 kuusitoista
17 seitsemäntoista
18 kahdeksantoista
19 yhdeksäntoista
When you count things in Finnish, you always have to add the ending -a or -ä at the end.
How do you know which ending to use? Here we have the simple rule:
If the word has A, O or U in it, the ending is -a.
If the word has none of these vowels, the ending is -ä.
yksi kissa one cat
kaksi kissaa two cats
kolme kissaa three cats
yksi koira one dog
kaksi koiraa two dogs
kolme koiraa three dogs
yksi äiti one mother
kaksi äitiä two mothers
kolme äitiä three mothers
yksi poika one boy
kaksi poikaa two boys
kolme poikaa three boys
yksi tyttö one girl
kaksi tyttöä two girls
kolme tyttöäthree girls
yksi kuva one picture
kaksi kuvaa two pictures
kolme kuvaa three pictures
yksi kirja one book
kaksi kirjaa two books
kolme kirjaa three books
yksi kello one clock
kaksi kelloa two clocks
kolme kelloa three clocks
neljätoista kelloa fourteen clocks
yhdeksän kissaa nine cats
kaksitoista tyttöä twelve girls
viisi poikaa five boys
seitsemän isää seven fathers
kymmenen äitiä ten mothers
kuusi elämää six lives
kahdeksantoista omenaa eighteen apples
kolmetoista numeroa 13 numbers
yksitoista tuolia 11 chairs
yhdeksän sanaa 9 words
With numbers the singular form of the verb is used.
Koira istuu. The dog is sitting.
Koirat istuvat. The dogs are sitting.
Kaksi koiraa istuu. Two dogs are sitting.
Like this movie:
Kaksi tyttöä ja poikaystävä
Two girls and a boyfriend
Or this book:
Kaksi tyttöä ja Maija
Two girls and Maija
Or this blog post:
Yksi, kaksi ja kolme koiraa
One, two and three dogs
Like this book and the movie with the same name:
Neljä tyttöä ja maagiset farkut
Four girls and magical jeans
maksaa to pay, to cost
Maksan. I pay.
Maksat. You pay.
Hän maksaa. He/she pays.
Se maksaa. It costs.
Me maksamme. We pay.
Te maksatte. You pay.
He maksavat. They pay.
Ne maksavat. They cost.
Tämä omena maksaa vain kaksitoista senttiä. This apple costs only 12 cents.
Kaksi äitiä puhuu ja kaksi isää istuu. Two mothers are talking and two fathers are sitting.
Viisitoista tuolia on paljon. Fifteen chairs is a lot.
Kuinka monta kissaa sinä muistat? How many cats do you remember?
Tämä tuoli maksaa yhdeksäntoista euroa. This chair costs nineteen euros.
Kello on kaksi. It is two o'clock.
Onko kello jo viisi? Is it already five o'clock?
Tämä on jo kymmenen euroa. This is already ten euros.
Yksi poika istuu mutta kolme ei istu. One boy is sitting but three boys are not sitting.
Mitä kahdeksantoista euroa sanoo? What do 18 euros say?
Kuinka monta euroa sinä maksat? How many euros do you pay?
Kuinka paljon minä maksan? How much do I pay?
Kuinka monta sanaa me sanomme? How many words do we say?
Kuinka monta : how many
Kuinka paljon: how much
Next lesson:
10. NOT
In Finnish, the word not is inflected like a verb.
Minä en I don't
Sinä et You don't (one person)
Hän ei He/she doesn't
Me emme We don't
Te ette You don't (2 or more people)
He eivät They don't
And just like with verbs, the words minä, sinä, me and te can be dropped.
En I don't
Et You don't (one person)
Hän ei He/she doesn't
Emme We don't
Ette You don't (2 or more people)
He eivät They don't
When there is a verb next to the word not, the verb has no ending. There is only the word stem. For example:
istua to sit
istu sit
En istu. I don't sit
Et istu. You don't sit.
Hän ei istu. He/she doesn't sit.
Emme istu. We don't sit.
Ette istu. You don't sit.
He eivät istu. They don't sit.
sanoa to say
sano say
En sano. I don't say
Et sano. You don't say.
Hän ei sano. He/she doesn't say.
Emme sano. We don't say.
Ette sano. You don't say.
He eivät sano. They don't say.
muistaa to remember
muista remember
Minä en muista I don't remember
Sinä et muista You don't (one person) remember
Hän ei muista He/she doesn't remember
Me emme muista We don't remember
Te ette muista You don't (2 or more people) remember
He eivät muista They don't remember
Here is an article from YLE News website:
Analyysi: Eurooppa ei sano tervetuloa
Analysis: Europe doesn't say welcome
This article is from a Finnish Christian website;
Jos usko sanoo kyllä, Jumala ei sano ei
If faith says yes, God doesn't say no
The verb to be, olla becomes ole:
Minä en ole I'm not
Sinä et ole You are not (one person)
Hän ei ole He/she is not
Me emme ole We are not
Te ette ole You are not (2 or more people)
He eivät ole They are not
Minä en puhu ruotsia. I don't speak Swedish.
Te ette sano nyt niin. You don't say so now.
Poika ja tyttö muistavat mutta eivät sano. The boy and the girl remember but don't say.
Kuningas ei puhu niin. The king doesn't talk like that.
Jan ja Susan puhuvat englantia, mutta he eivät puhu suomea. Jan and Susan speak English but they don't speak Finnish.
Kuka ei istu nyt? Who is not sitting now?
Kuka ei istu huomenna? Who will not sit tomorrow?
Kuka ei muista, mikä vuosi nyt on? Who doesn't remember, what year it is now?
Li ja Antonio eivät tanssi, mutta Jaakko tanssii. Li and Antonio are not dancing, but Jaakko is dancing.
Helsinki ei ole maa. Helsinki is not a country.
Kissa ei ole koira. The cat is not a dog.
Äiti ei muista, muistatko sinä? The mother doesn't remember, do you remember?
Minä en ole japanilainen. I am not Japanese.
Sinä et ole ruotsalainen. You are not Swedish.
Hän ei istu enää. He won't sit anymore.
Nämä koirat istuvat kun sanot "Istu!" These dogs sit when you say "Sit!"
Vain tämä koira ei istu. Only this dog doesn't sit.
Puhutko sinä, kun hän ei tanssi? Do you speak when he/she doesn't dance?
Huomenna me emme tanssi, mutta nyt me tanssimme. Tomorrow we won't dance, but now we are dancing.
Sinä et puhu venäjää, mutta puhuuko hän venäjää? You don't speak Russian but does she speak Russian?
Next lesson:
Minä en I don't
Sinä et You don't (one person)
Hän ei He/she doesn't
Me emme We don't
Te ette You don't (2 or more people)
He eivät They don't
And just like with verbs, the words minä, sinä, me and te can be dropped.
En I don't
Et You don't (one person)
Hän ei He/she doesn't
Emme We don't
Ette You don't (2 or more people)
He eivät They don't
When there is a verb next to the word not, the verb has no ending. There is only the word stem. For example:
istua to sit
istu sit
En istu. I don't sit
Et istu. You don't sit.
Hän ei istu. He/she doesn't sit.
Emme istu. We don't sit.
Ette istu. You don't sit.
He eivät istu. They don't sit.
sanoa to say
sano say
En sano. I don't say
Et sano. You don't say.
Hän ei sano. He/she doesn't say.
Emme sano. We don't say.
Ette sano. You don't say.
He eivät sano. They don't say.
muistaa to remember
muista remember
Minä en muista I don't remember
Sinä et muista You don't (one person) remember
Hän ei muista He/she doesn't remember
Me emme muista We don't remember
Te ette muista You don't (2 or more people) remember
He eivät muista They don't remember
Here is an article from YLE News website:
Analyysi: Eurooppa ei sano tervetuloa
Analysis: Europe doesn't say welcome
This article is from a Finnish Christian website;
Jos usko sanoo kyllä, Jumala ei sano ei
If faith says yes, God doesn't say no
The verb to be, olla becomes ole:
Minä en ole I'm not
Sinä et ole You are not (one person)
Hän ei ole He/she is not
Me emme ole We are not
Te ette ole You are not (2 or more people)
He eivät ole They are not
Minä en puhu ruotsia. I don't speak Swedish.
Te ette sano nyt niin. You don't say so now.
Poika ja tyttö muistavat mutta eivät sano. The boy and the girl remember but don't say.
Kuningas ei puhu niin. The king doesn't talk like that.
Jan ja Susan puhuvat englantia, mutta he eivät puhu suomea. Jan and Susan speak English but they don't speak Finnish.
Kuka ei istu nyt? Who is not sitting now?
Kuka ei istu huomenna? Who will not sit tomorrow?
Kuka ei muista, mikä vuosi nyt on? Who doesn't remember, what year it is now?
Li ja Antonio eivät tanssi, mutta Jaakko tanssii. Li and Antonio are not dancing, but Jaakko is dancing.
Helsinki ei ole maa. Helsinki is not a country.
Kissa ei ole koira. The cat is not a dog.
Äiti ei muista, muistatko sinä? The mother doesn't remember, do you remember?
Minä en ole japanilainen. I am not Japanese.
Sinä et ole ruotsalainen. You are not Swedish.
Hän ei istu enää. He won't sit anymore.
Nämä koirat istuvat kun sanot "Istu!" These dogs sit when you say "Sit!"
Vain tämä koira ei istu. Only this dog doesn't sit.
Puhutko sinä, kun hän ei tanssi? Do you speak when he/she doesn't dance?
Huomenna me emme tanssi, mutta nyt me tanssimme. Tomorrow we won't dance, but now we are dancing.
Sinä et puhu venäjää, mutta puhuuko hän venäjää? You don't speak Russian but does she speak Russian?
Next lesson:
9. Plural pronouns and verbs
So far we only learned the singular pronouns: minä, sinä, hän, tämä, se. (I, you, he/she, this, it)
All of them have a plural version too, for speaking about several people or things. Here are they:
Me We
Te You (plural)
He They (people)
Nämä These
Ne They (things)
So now we have two words for you (sinä/te) and two words for they (he/ne).
Here the rules are actually very easy: Sinä is used when talking about one (1) person.
Te is used when talking about two or more (2+) people.
He is used when talking about people.
Ne is used when talking about animals or things.
Now we have to learn how to inflect the verb in plural:
-mme is the ending for we
-tte is the ending for you (plural)
-vat is the ending for they
For example, the verb puhua
puhua to speak
puhu speak
Me puhumme. We speak.
Te puhutte. You speak.
He puhuvat. They speak.
The pronouns me or te can be dropped.
Puhumme. We speak.
Puhutte. You speak.
The pronoun he cannot be dropped, but it can be replaced with other words.
He puhuvat. They speak.
Isä ja äiti puhuvat. Father and mother speak.
Anne ja Tuomas puhuvat. Anne and Tuomas speak.
Kuvat puhuvat. The pictures speak.
Nämä puhuvat. These speak.
Ne puhuvat. They (not people) speak.
Minä (I)
Sinä (you)
Hän (He/she)
tämä (this)
me (we)
te (you)
he (they)
nämä (these)
He they, when talking about people
He ovat (They are)
He katsovat They watch
He istuvat They sit
He tanssivat They dance
He sanovat They say
All of them have a plural version too, for speaking about several people or things. Here are they:
Me We
Te You (plural)
He They (people)
Nämä These
Ne They (things)
So now we have two words for you (sinä/te) and two words for they (he/ne).
Here the rules are actually very easy: Sinä is used when talking about one (1) person.
Te is used when talking about two or more (2+) people.
He is used when talking about people.
Ne is used when talking about animals or things.
Now we have to learn how to inflect the verb in plural:
-mme is the ending for we
-tte is the ending for you (plural)
-vat is the ending for they
For example, the verb puhua
puhua to speak
puhu speak
Me puhumme. We speak.
Te puhutte. You speak.
He puhuvat. They speak.
The pronouns me or te can be dropped.
Puhumme. We speak.
Puhutte. You speak.
The pronoun he cannot be dropped, but it can be replaced with other words.
He puhuvat. They speak.
Isä ja äiti puhuvat. Father and mother speak.
Anne ja Tuomas puhuvat. Anne and Tuomas speak.
Kuvat puhuvat. The pictures speak.
Nämä puhuvat. These speak.
Ne puhuvat. They (not people) speak.
Minä (I)
Sinä (you)
Hän (He/she)
tämä (this)
me (we)
te (you)
he (they)
nämä (these)
He they, when talking about people
He ovat (They are)
He katsovat They watch
He istuvat They sit
He tanssivat They dance
He sanovat They say
Ne, they when talking about animals or things
Ne ovat (they are)
Ne katsovat (they watch)
Ne istuvat (they sit)
Ne tanssivat (they dance)
Ne sanovat (they say)
The next lesson:
8. Is doing, will do
In English, you can either say
I do (if you do it always or sometimes)
I am doing (if you're doing it now) or
I will do (if you will do it in the future)
But in Finnish, these three are the same.
So as we learned, Minä katson, means I watch
But minä katson can also mean I am watching
And minä katson can also mean I will watch.
There is no difference in Finnish. To be doing now, to do sometimes, or to do in the future: it's all the same.
I am watching now. Minä katson nyt.
I watch sometimes. Minä katson joskus.
I will watch tomorrow. Minä katson huomenna.
The cat is sitting now. Kissa istuu nyt.
The cat sits sometimes. Kissa istuu joskus.
The cat will sit tomorrow. Kissa istuu huomenna.
You are dancing now. Tanssit nyt.
You dance sometimes. Tanssit joskus.
You will dance tomorrow. Tanssit huomenna.
So a sentence like "tanssiiko hän?" can either mean:
Does he dance?
Does she dance?
Will he dance?
Will she dance?
Is he dancing?
or
Is she dancing?
The next lesson
9. Plural pronouns and verbs
I do (if you do it always or sometimes)
I am doing (if you're doing it now) or
I will do (if you will do it in the future)
But in Finnish, these three are the same.
So as we learned, Minä katson, means I watch
But minä katson can also mean I am watching
And minä katson can also mean I will watch.
There is no difference in Finnish. To be doing now, to do sometimes, or to do in the future: it's all the same.
I am watching now. Minä katson nyt.
I watch sometimes. Minä katson joskus.
I will watch tomorrow. Minä katson huomenna.
The cat is sitting now. Kissa istuu nyt.
The cat sits sometimes. Kissa istuu joskus.
The cat will sit tomorrow. Kissa istuu huomenna.
You are dancing now. Tanssit nyt.
You dance sometimes. Tanssit joskus.
You will dance tomorrow. Tanssit huomenna.
So a sentence like "tanssiiko hän?" can either mean:
Does he dance?
Does she dance?
Will he dance?
Will she dance?
Is he dancing?
or
Is she dancing?
The next lesson
9. Plural pronouns and verbs
7. The inflection of a verb
So far we learned two verbs, the verbs to be and to do.
The verb olla, to be is an irregular verb:
Minä olen I am
sinä olet you are
hän on he/she is
However, the verb puhua, to speak, is a regular verb. A lot of verbs are inflected in the same way.
minä puhun I speak
sinä puhut you speak
hän puhuu he/she speaks
The verb puhua ends in the letter -a. This is like the English word to. When we take it out, we are left with the stem of the verb.
puhua to speak
puhu speak
To inflect the verb, we add an ending to it.
The ending -n means I.
The ending -t means you.
puhun. I speak.
puhut. You speak.
The hän (he/she) ending is just to double the last vowel. Because the last vowel of puhu is an U, it becomes a double UU. This ending is used whenever the ending -s is added to a verb in English.
puhu speak
puhuu speaks
Hän puhuu He/she speaks
In the same way you can inflect many other verbs as well. For example:
sanoa to say
sano say
sanon I say
sanot you say
hän sanoo He/she says
tanssia to dance
tanssi dance
Tanssin. I dance.
Tanssit. You dance.
Hän tanssii. He/she dances.
istua to sit
istu sit
Istun. I sit.
Istut. You sit.
Hän istuu. He/she sits.
katsoa to watch
katso watch
Katson. I watch.
Katsot. You watch.
Hän katsoo. He/she watches.
Kuka tanssii? Who dances?
Tyttö tanssii ja äiti istuu. The girl dances and the mother sits.
Missä äiti istuu? Where does the mother sit?
Tyttö sanoo: "Hei, äiti." The girl says: "Hello, mother"
"Katso, kun minä tanssin!" "Watch when I dance!"
Äiti sanoo: "Minä katson, kun sinä tanssit." The mother says: "I watch when you dance."
Poika sanoo: The boy says:
"Istu, koira!" "Sit, dog!"
Koira istuu. The dog sits.
Kun koira istuu, poika sanoo: "Hyvä koira." When the dog sits, the boy says: "Good dog."
Puhuuko poika englantia? Does the boy speak English?
Ei, poika puhuu vain suomea. No, the boy speaks only Finnish.
Missä Helsinki on? Where is Helsinki?
Onko Suomi maa? Is Finland a country?
Onko nyt vuosi 2018? Is now the year 2018?
Tuomas tanssii hyvin, mutta joskus hän vain istuu. Tuomas dances well but sometimes he only sits.
Joskus vain Tiina tanssii. Myös Tiina tanssii hyvin. Sometimes only Tiina dances. Tiina dances well too.
Onko Tuomas tyttö vai poika? Is Tuomas a girl or a boy?
Tuomas on poika, mutta Tiina on tyttö. Tuomas is a boy, but Tiina is a girl.
Usually the word or is tai in Finnish, but in a question, or is always vai.
Tämä on koira tai kissa. This is a dog or a cat.
(This is not a question, that is why the word or is tai.)
Onko tämä koira vai kissa? Is this a dog or a cat?
(This is a question, so the word or is vai.)
Sinä puhut suomea tai ruotsia. You speak Finnish or Swedish.
Puhutko sinä suomea vai ruotsia? Do you speak Finnish or Swedish?
Minä olen kanadalainen tai meksikolainen. I am Canadian or Mexican.
Oletko minä kanadalainen vai meksikolainen? Am I Canadian or Mexican?
The next lesson:
The verb olla, to be is an irregular verb:
Minä olen I am
sinä olet you are
hän on he/she is
However, the verb puhua, to speak, is a regular verb. A lot of verbs are inflected in the same way.
minä puhun I speak
sinä puhut you speak
hän puhuu he/she speaks
The verb puhua ends in the letter -a. This is like the English word to. When we take it out, we are left with the stem of the verb.
puhua to speak
puhu speak
To inflect the verb, we add an ending to it.
The ending -n means I.
The ending -t means you.
puhun. I speak.
puhut. You speak.
The hän (he/she) ending is just to double the last vowel. Because the last vowel of puhu is an U, it becomes a double UU. This ending is used whenever the ending -s is added to a verb in English.
puhu speak
puhuu speaks
Hän puhuu He/she speaks
In the same way you can inflect many other verbs as well. For example:
sanoa to say
sano say
sanon I say
sanot you say
hän sanoo He/she says
tanssia to dance
tanssi dance
Tanssin. I dance.
Tanssit. You dance.
Hän tanssii. He/she dances.
istua to sit
istu sit
Istun. I sit.
Istut. You sit.
Hän istuu. He/she sits.
katsoa to watch
katso watch
Katson. I watch.
Katsot. You watch.
Hän katsoo. He/she watches.
Kuka tanssii? Who dances?
Tyttö tanssii ja äiti istuu. The girl dances and the mother sits.
Missä äiti istuu? Where does the mother sit?
Tyttö sanoo: "Hei, äiti." The girl says: "Hello, mother"
"Katso, kun minä tanssin!" "Watch when I dance!"
Äiti sanoo: "Minä katson, kun sinä tanssit." The mother says: "I watch when you dance."
Poika sanoo: The boy says:
"Istu, koira!" "Sit, dog!"
Koira istuu. The dog sits.
Kun koira istuu, poika sanoo: "Hyvä koira." When the dog sits, the boy says: "Good dog."
Puhuuko poika englantia? Does the boy speak English?
Ei, poika puhuu vain suomea. No, the boy speaks only Finnish.
Missä Helsinki on? Where is Helsinki?
Onko Suomi maa? Is Finland a country?
Onko nyt vuosi 2018? Is now the year 2018?
Tuomas tanssii hyvin, mutta joskus hän vain istuu. Tuomas dances well but sometimes he only sits.
Joskus vain Tiina tanssii. Myös Tiina tanssii hyvin. Sometimes only Tiina dances. Tiina dances well too.
Onko Tuomas tyttö vai poika? Is Tuomas a girl or a boy?
Tuomas on poika, mutta Tiina on tyttö. Tuomas is a boy, but Tiina is a girl.
Usually the word or is tai in Finnish, but in a question, or is always vai.
Tämä on koira tai kissa. This is a dog or a cat.
(This is not a question, that is why the word or is tai.)
Onko tämä koira vai kissa? Is this a dog or a cat?
(This is a question, so the word or is vai.)
Sinä puhut suomea tai ruotsia. You speak Finnish or Swedish.
Puhutko sinä suomea vai ruotsia? Do you speak Finnish or Swedish?
Minä olen kanadalainen tai meksikolainen. I am Canadian or Mexican.
Oletko minä kanadalainen vai meksikolainen? Am I Canadian or Mexican?
The next lesson:
6. How to ask a question in Finnish? (-ko, -kö)
Now we have learned how to ask a question with interrogative pronouns like what, who and where.
How do we ask a question without them, a question like:
Do you speak English?
These type of questions can be answered with a yes or a no. In English they often start with do or does or did (or other verbs.)
In Finnish these type of questions always have the question ending -ko or -kö.
Usually the ending is added to the verb: to be, to do, to speak etc.
For example:
Puhut englantia. You speak English.
Puhutko englantia? Do you speak English?
So here, we take the verb to speak (puhut) and simply add the ending to it. And so we have a question.
Sometimes The ending is used with other words as well:
Tämä. This.
Tämäkö? This?
The word with the ending -ko is always the first word of the sentence.
So when the sentence does not start with the verb, we take the verb, add the ending -ko to it, and make it the first word.
Tämä on kuva. This is a picture.
We take the verb on, add the ending -ko to it,
on -> onko,
and make it the first word.
Onko tämä kuva? Is this a picture?
Se on kello. It is a clock.
Onko se kello? Is it a clock?
Tyttö puhuu suomea. The girl speaks Finnish.
Puhuuko tyttö suomea? Does the girl speak Finnish?
A question commonly asked when a baby is born:
Onko se tyttö vai poika? Is it a girl or a boy?
Äiti puhuu venäjää. The mother speaks Russian.
Puhuuko äiti venäjää? Does the mother speak Russian?
Onko tämä unta? Is this a dream?
Onko se tyttö vai poika? Is it a boy or a girl?
-No se on demari. - Well it is an SDP supporter. (a party in Finland)
Puhutko suomea? Do you speak Finnish?
Puhutko sinä englantia? Do you speak English?
So how can you know if the ending should have the two dots or not?
Is it -ko or -kö?
Here we have the exact same rule that we had with nationalities. Do you still remember how it went?
When talking about nationalities, an ending is added to the name of the country. The ending is either
-lainen or -läinen.
If the word has A, O or U, the ending is -lainen.
If the word has none of these vowels, the ending is -läinen.
So how do you know which ending to use? Here we have the simple rule again:
If the word has A, O or U in it, the ending is -ko.
If the word has none of these vowels, the ending is -kö.
How do we ask a question without them, a question like:
Do you speak English?
These type of questions can be answered with a yes or a no. In English they often start with do or does or did (or other verbs.)
In Finnish these type of questions always have the question ending -ko or -kö.
Usually the ending is added to the verb: to be, to do, to speak etc.
For example:
Puhut englantia. You speak English.
Puhutko englantia? Do you speak English?
So here, we take the verb to speak (puhut) and simply add the ending to it. And so we have a question.
Sometimes The ending is used with other words as well:
Tämä. This.
Tämäkö? This?
The word with the ending -ko is always the first word of the sentence.
So when the sentence does not start with the verb, we take the verb, add the ending -ko to it, and make it the first word.
Tämä on kuva. This is a picture.
We take the verb on, add the ending -ko to it,
on -> onko,
and make it the first word.
Onko tämä kuva? Is this a picture?
Se on kello. It is a clock.
Onko se kello? Is it a clock?
Tyttö puhuu suomea. The girl speaks Finnish.
Puhuuko tyttö suomea? Does the girl speak Finnish?
A question commonly asked when a baby is born:
Onko se tyttö vai poika? Is it a girl or a boy?
Äiti puhuu venäjää. The mother speaks Russian.
Puhuuko äiti venäjää? Does the mother speak Russian?
Onko tämä unta? Is this a dream?
Onko se tyttö vai poika? Is it a boy or a girl?
-No se on demari. - Well it is an SDP supporter. (a party in Finland)
Puhutko suomea? Do you speak Finnish?
Puhutko sinä englantia? Do you speak English?
So how can you know if the ending should have the two dots or not?
Is it -ko or -kö?
Here we have the exact same rule that we had with nationalities. Do you still remember how it went?
When talking about nationalities, an ending is added to the name of the country. The ending is either
-lainen or -läinen.
If the word has A, O or U, the ending is -lainen.
If the word has none of these vowels, the ending is -läinen.
So how do you know which ending to use? Here we have the simple rule again:
If the word has A, O or U in it, the ending is -ko.
If the word has none of these vowels, the ending is -kö.
The next lesson:
5. How to ask a question in Finnish? (Kuka, mikä)
In Finnish, like in other languages, there are two types of questions.
1. There are questions that have an interrogative pronoun in them: what, who, where, how much etc.
2. There are yes/no questions: did you/do you/will they/can I..
The first type of questions are easy. You just take the sentence and add the question word in the beginning. For example:
Hän on. She is.
Kuka hän on? Who is she?
Unlike in English, the word order is the same both when you ask a question and when you don't, the only difference is the word in the beginning: who/what/where.. etc.
who: kuka
what: mikä
Tämä on. This is.
Mikä tämä on? What is this?
As you can see, in English the words this and is change places.
In Finnish the order is always the same.
Minä olen. I am.
Kuka minä olen? Who am I?
Olet. You are.
Kuka olet? Who are you?
Hän puhuu. He speaks.
Kuka puhuu? Who speaks?
Hän on Anne. She is Anne.
Kuka on Anne? Who is Anne?
where: missä
Sinä olet. You are.
Missä sinä olet? Where are you?
Olen. I am.
Missä olen? Where am I?
Tämä poika on. This boy is.
Missä tämä poika on? Where is this boy?
Äiti on. The mother is.
Missä äiti on? Where is the mother?
Next lesson:
1. There are questions that have an interrogative pronoun in them: what, who, where, how much etc.
2. There are yes/no questions: did you/do you/will they/can I..
The first type of questions are easy. You just take the sentence and add the question word in the beginning. For example:
Hän on. She is.
Kuka hän on? Who is she?
Unlike in English, the word order is the same both when you ask a question and when you don't, the only difference is the word in the beginning: who/what/where.. etc.
who: kuka
what: mikä
Tämä on. This is.
Mikä tämä on? What is this?
As you can see, in English the words this and is change places.
In Finnish the order is always the same.
Minä olen. I am.
Kuka minä olen? Who am I?
Olet. You are.
Kuka olet? Who are you?
Hän puhuu. He speaks.
Kuka puhuu? Who speaks?
Hän on Anne. She is Anne.
Kuka on Anne? Who is Anne?
where: missä
Sinä olet. You are.
Missä sinä olet? Where are you?
Olen. I am.
Missä olen? Where am I?
Tämä poika on. This boy is.
Missä tämä poika on? Where is this boy?
Äiti on. The mother is.
Missä äiti on? Where is the mother?
Next lesson:
4. Speaking languages
How to say Charlie speaks English in Finnish?
We know the verb puhua, to speak.
The word for the English language, is englanti.
So could we say: Charlie puhuu englanti?
No. In Finnish, we always need to add -a or -ä to the end when we talk about speaking a language.
Charlie speaks English:
Charlie puhuu Englantia.
The reason that we need to add the ending, is that Finnish has no set word order.
So instead of:
Charlie puhuu englantia.
we could also say:
Englantia puhuu Charlie
or:
Puhuu Charlie englantia.
And they all mean roughly the same thing (Charlie speaks English).
In the end, we could get confused who is the speaker and which is the language being spoken, so we add a little -a or -ä to the end of the language to avoid the confusion.
It's called the partitive ending. Here it doesn't have anything to do with parts though. The most important thing, is to add it to the end of the language.
Which ending do we add then, -a or -ä?
The same rule applies here as in the case of nationalities:
If the word has A, O or U in it, the ending is -a.
If the word has none of these three vowels, the ending is -ä.
Like this:
ruotsi: Swedish (language)
Minä puhun ruotsia. I speak Swedish.
viro: Estonian (language)
Sinä puhut viroa. You speak Estonian.
japani: Japanese (language)
Hän puhuu japania. He/she speaks Japanese.
venäjä: Russian (language)
Puhun venäjää. I speak Russian.
hindi: Hindi (language)
Puhut hindiä. You speak Hindi.
tšekki : Czech (language)
Jakub puhuu tšekkiä. Jakub speaks Czech.
For one language, though, there is an exception. The Finnish language not only gets the ending -s like all the other languages, but also a small vowel change: suomi -> suomea.
Minä puhun suomea. I speak Finnish.
Puhun suomea. I speak Finnish.
Sinä puhut suomea. You speak Finnish.
Puhut suomea. You speak Finnish.
Hän puhuu suomea. He/she speaks Finnish.
Jaakko puhuu suomea. Jaakko speaks Finnish.
So let's try this with the 10 most spoken languages in the world:
Li puhuu kiinaa.
Daniel puhuu espanjaa.
James puhuu englantia.
Saumya puhuu hindiä.
Mariam puhuu arabiaa.
Pedro puhuu portugalia.
Rafi puhuu bengalia.
Viktor puhuu venäjää.
Yui puhuu japania.
Jasmin puhuu pandžabia.
Next lesson:
We know the verb puhua, to speak.
The word for the English language, is englanti.
So could we say: Charlie puhuu englanti?
No. In Finnish, we always need to add -a or -ä to the end when we talk about speaking a language.
Charlie speaks English:
Charlie puhuu Englantia.
The reason that we need to add the ending, is that Finnish has no set word order.
So instead of:
Charlie puhuu englantia.
we could also say:
Englantia puhuu Charlie
or:
Puhuu Charlie englantia.
And they all mean roughly the same thing (Charlie speaks English).
In the end, we could get confused who is the speaker and which is the language being spoken, so we add a little -a or -ä to the end of the language to avoid the confusion.
It's called the partitive ending. Here it doesn't have anything to do with parts though. The most important thing, is to add it to the end of the language.
Which ending do we add then, -a or -ä?
The same rule applies here as in the case of nationalities:
If the word has A, O or U in it, the ending is -a.
If the word has none of these three vowels, the ending is -ä.
Like this:
ruotsi: Swedish (language)
Minä puhun ruotsia. I speak Swedish.
viro: Estonian (language)
Sinä puhut viroa. You speak Estonian.
japani: Japanese (language)
Hän puhuu japania. He/she speaks Japanese.
venäjä: Russian (language)
Puhun venäjää. I speak Russian.
hindi: Hindi (language)
Puhut hindiä. You speak Hindi.
tšekki : Czech (language)
Jakub puhuu tšekkiä. Jakub speaks Czech.
For one language, though, there is an exception. The Finnish language not only gets the ending -s like all the other languages, but also a small vowel change: suomi -> suomea.
Minä puhun suomea. I speak Finnish.
Puhun suomea. I speak Finnish.
Sinä puhut suomea. You speak Finnish.
Puhut suomea. You speak Finnish.
Hän puhuu suomea. He/she speaks Finnish.
Jaakko puhuu suomea. Jaakko speaks Finnish.
So let's try this with the 10 most spoken languages in the world:
Li puhuu kiinaa.
Daniel puhuu espanjaa.
James puhuu englantia.
Saumya puhuu hindiä.
Mariam puhuu arabiaa.
Pedro puhuu portugalia.
Rafi puhuu bengalia.
Viktor puhuu venäjää.
Yui puhuu japania.
Jasmin puhuu pandžabia.
Next lesson:
3. The verb 'to speak'
As we learned earlier:
Minä olen I am
Sinä olet You are
Hän on He/she is
We also learned about nationalities. Now you know how to say:
Minä olen suomalainen. I am a Finn/ I am Finnish
Sinä olet japanilainen. You are Japanese.
Hän on meksikolainen. He/she is Mexican.
Olen egyptiläinen. I am Egyptian
Olet ruotsalainen. You are a Swede/Swedish
Hän on tanskalainen. He/she is a Dane/Danish.
But what if you want to talk about languages? How do you say I speak Finnish in Finnish?
We need to learn another verb, the verb puhua, to speak.
Puhua to speak
The singular personal pronouns: these are the words you use when you speak of only one person.
Minä I
Sinä you
Hän he / she
The word he in Finnish, is hän.
The word she in Finnish, is hän.
In Finnish the pronouns don't have gender. You can't tell the gender of the person in Finnish.
In Finnish, the verbs are inflected according to the subject (the person who does the verb).
The verb to speak, puhua, is inflected like this:
Minä puhun I speak
Sinä puhut you speak (singular, one person)
Hän puhuu he speaks/she speaks
You can drop the pronouns minä and sinä, if you like. It does not change the meaning.
Puhun. I speak.
Puhut. You speak.
The pronoun before puhuu (hän) cannot be dropped without changing the meaning. It can be replaced with another word, though.
Poika puhuu. The boy speaks.
Kuningas puhuu. The king speaks.
Äiti puhuu. The mother speaks.
Ruotsalainen puhuu. A Swede speaks.
Anne puhuu. Anne speaks.
Kuva puhuu. The picture speaks.
Next lesson:
Minä olen I am
Sinä olet You are
Hän on He/she is
We also learned about nationalities. Now you know how to say:
Minä olen suomalainen. I am a Finn/ I am Finnish
Sinä olet japanilainen. You are Japanese.
Hän on meksikolainen. He/she is Mexican.
Olen egyptiläinen. I am Egyptian
Olet ruotsalainen. You are a Swede/Swedish
Hän on tanskalainen. He/she is a Dane/Danish.
But what if you want to talk about languages? How do you say I speak Finnish in Finnish?
We need to learn another verb, the verb puhua, to speak.
Puhua to speak
The singular personal pronouns: these are the words you use when you speak of only one person.
Minä I
Sinä you
Hän he / she
The word he in Finnish, is hän.
The word she in Finnish, is hän.
In Finnish the pronouns don't have gender. You can't tell the gender of the person in Finnish.
In Finnish, the verbs are inflected according to the subject (the person who does the verb).
The verb to speak, puhua, is inflected like this:
Minä puhun I speak
Sinä puhut you speak (singular, one person)
Hän puhuu he speaks/she speaks
You can drop the pronouns minä and sinä, if you like. It does not change the meaning.
Puhun. I speak.
Puhut. You speak.
The pronoun before puhuu (hän) cannot be dropped without changing the meaning. It can be replaced with another word, though.
Poika puhuu. The boy speaks.
Kuningas puhuu. The king speaks.
Äiti puhuu. The mother speaks.
Ruotsalainen puhuu. A Swede speaks.
Anne puhuu. Anne speaks.
Kuva puhuu. The picture speaks.
Next lesson:
2. Countries and nationalities
Names of some countries are very different in Finnish than in English.
For example:
Suomi Finland
Venäjä Russia
Ruotsi Sweden
Saksa Germany
Ranska France
Tanska Denmark
Some countries are more similar to other languages:
Japani Japan
Kanada Canada
Kiina China
Egypti Egypt
Italia Italy
Portugali Portugal
Espanja Spain
Puola Poland
Brasilia Brazil
Talking about languages is very easy in Finnish. Usually the name of the language is the same word as the name of the country. The only difference is the first letter: when it's a country, the first letter is a capital letter, if it's a language, the first letter is not capitalized.
suomi Finnish (language)
venäjä Russian (language)
ruotsi Swedish (language)
saksa German (language)
ranska French (language)
tanska Danish (language)
japani Japanese (language)
kiina Chinese (language)
englanti English (language)
italia Italian (language)
portugali Portuguese (language)
espanja Spanish (language)
puola Polish (language)
vietnam Vietnamese (language)
When talking about nationalities, an ending is added to the name of the country. The ending is either
-lainen or -läinen.
For most countries, the rule is very simple.
If the word has A, O or U, the ending is -lainen.
If the word has none of these vowels, the ending is -läinen.
If the name of the country includes one of the letters A O or U, the ending is -lainen.
For example:
Ranska France
ranskalainen a French person
Puola Poland
puolalainen a Pole
Saksa Germany
saksalainen a German
Espanja Spain
espanjalainen a Spaniard
Kongo Congo
kongolainen a Congolese (person)
However, for those countries which have none of the three, the ending is -läinen. For example:
Tšekki Czech Republic
tšekkiläinen a Czech (person)
Sveitsi Switzerland
sveitsiläinen a Swiss (person)
Egypti Egypt
egyptiläinen an Egyptian
Finnish words usually end in a vowel. However, if the word ends in a consonant, the letter I has to be added before the ending. In this case, the ending is -ilainen or -iläinen.
Vietnam
vietnamilainen a Vietnamese (person)
Israel
israelilainen an Israeli
Niger
nigeriläinen a Nigerien
Jemen
jemeniläinen a Yemeni
For example:
Suomi Finland
Venäjä Russia
Ruotsi Sweden
Saksa Germany
Ranska France
Tanska Denmark
Some countries are more similar to other languages:
Japani Japan
Kanada Canada
Kiina China
Egypti Egypt
Italia Italy
Portugali Portugal
Espanja Spain
Puola Poland
Brasilia Brazil
Talking about languages is very easy in Finnish. Usually the name of the language is the same word as the name of the country. The only difference is the first letter: when it's a country, the first letter is a capital letter, if it's a language, the first letter is not capitalized.
suomi Finnish (language)
venäjä Russian (language)
ruotsi Swedish (language)
saksa German (language)
ranska French (language)
tanska Danish (language)
japani Japanese (language)
kiina Chinese (language)
englanti English (language)
italia Italian (language)
portugali Portuguese (language)
espanja Spanish (language)
puola Polish (language)
vietnam Vietnamese (language)
When talking about nationalities, an ending is added to the name of the country. The ending is either
-lainen or -läinen.
For most countries, the rule is very simple.
If the word has A, O or U, the ending is -lainen.
If the word has none of these vowels, the ending is -läinen.
If the name of the country includes one of the letters A O or U, the ending is -lainen.
For example:
Ranska France
ranskalainen a French person
Puola Poland
puolalainen a Pole
Saksa Germany
saksalainen a German
Espanja Spain
espanjalainen a Spaniard
Kongo Congo
kongolainen a Congolese (person)
However, for those countries which have none of the three, the ending is -läinen. For example:
Tšekki Czech Republic
tšekkiläinen a Czech (person)
Sveitsi Switzerland
sveitsiläinen a Swiss (person)
Egypti Egypt
egyptiläinen an Egyptian
Finnish words usually end in a vowel. However, if the word ends in a consonant, the letter I has to be added before the ending. In this case, the ending is -ilainen or -iläinen.
Vietnam
vietnamilainen a Vietnamese (person)
Israel
israelilainen an Israeli
Niger
nigeriläinen a Nigerien
Jemen
jemeniläinen a Yemeni
The next lesson:
1. Useful words
Hei, hello
Moi, hi
Kiitos, thank you
Joo, yeah
Ei, no
Anteeksi, I'm sorry (or) excuse me
Kyllä, yes (very formal)
Mikä sinun nimesi on? What is your name?
Minun nimeni on... My name is...
Nimi name
Osoite address
Missä on..? Where is...?
Mitä kuuluu? How are you?
(Hyvää) Päivää A formal greeting
(Hyvää) Iltaa Good evening
Tervetuloa Welcome
Nähdään See you
Next lesson:
2. countries and nationalities
Moi, hi
Kiitos, thank you
Joo, yeah
Ei, no
Anteeksi, I'm sorry (or) excuse me
Kyllä, yes (very formal)
Mikä sinun nimesi on? What is your name?
Minun nimeni on... My name is...
Nimi name
Osoite address
Missä on..? Where is...?
Mitä kuuluu? How are you?
(Hyvää) Päivää A formal greeting
(Hyvää) Iltaa Good evening
Tervetuloa Welcome
Nähdään See you
Next lesson:
2. countries and nationalities
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