How to use the Finnish words 'mielellään', 'mieluummin' and 'mieluiten'

How to say that you prefer something in Finnish? Or do something rather than something else? Here are some useful expressions with mielellään, mieluummin and mieluiten. All those forms origin from mieli.

mielellään (+possessive suffix)

• Minä teen sen mielelläni! - I'll gladly do it!
• En käy mielelläni sekasaunassa. - I don't enjoy going to the mixed sauna. 

The forms with possessive suffixes:

• mielelläni (minä)
• mielelläsi (sinä)
• mielellään (hän)
• mielellämme (me)
• mielellänne (te)
• mielellään (he)

mieluummin

• Käyn mieluummin suihkussa aamulla kuin illalla. - I'd rather take a shower in the morning than in the evening. 
• Menen mieluummin naisten vuorolla saunaan. - I'd rather go to the sauna when it's ladies' turn.

mieluiten

• Istun mieluiten alalauteella. - I prefer sitting on the lower bench.
• Tästä lähtien käyn mieluiten saunassa yksin. - From now on, I prefer taking a sauna alone. 

Other possible form is mieluimmin, but mieluiten is used more in spoken language.

Kiitos, kun luit! Jos pidit postauksesta, voit jakaa sen eteenpäin.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it. 
– Hanna

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www.privatefinnishlessons.com 

Kuinka usein? Milloin viimeksi?

Here are some useful questions and time expressions. Try to use them next time you're having small talk in Finnish!

Kuinka usein sä käyt sun vanhempien luona? - How often do you visit your parents?

• Kerran viikossa. - Once a week. 
• Kaksi kertaa kuussa. - Twice a month.
• Kolme kertaa vuodessa. - Three times a year. 
• Joka kesä. - Every summer.
• Tosi harvoin. - Very rarely. 
• En koskaan.- Never.

Milloin sä kävit viimeksi sun kotimaassa? - When did you last visit your home country?

• Viikko sitten. - A week ago. 
• Kaksi viikkoa sitten. - Two weeks ago.
• Viime vuonna. - Last year.
• Toissa kesänä.  - The summer before last summer.
• Monta vuotta sitten. - Many years ago.

Here's my Memrise course about time expressions.

Which ending to use with certain words?

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it. 
Kiitos, kun luit! Jos pidit postauksesta, voit jakaa sen eteenpäin.
– Hanna

How to use the Finnish verbs 'nähdä', 'naida', 'näyttää' and 'näkyä'

If you don't have time to read the whole post, here's the idea in a nutshell: Pay very close attention to the pronunciation of näin, if you want to say I saw. It is awkwardly close to nain, which means I had sex. 

A classic mistake:

• Minä nain poroja. - I had sex with reindeer.

Of course, this one is much better:

• Minä näin poroja. - I saw reindeer.

If you're not sure about the pronunciation, say something else: 

• Siellä oli poroja. - There were reindeer.

Nähdä

Nähdä, näen, näin, nähnyt - to see

• Minä en näe sinua. - I don't see you. 
• Näin sinut eilen keskustassa. - I saw you in the city center yesterday. 
• Oletko nähnyt Villeä? - Have you seen Ville?
• The difference between nähdä and katsoa

Naida

Naida, nain, nain, nainut  - to marry or to have sex

• Haluan naida sinut. - I want to marry you. (sort of old-fashioned)
• Haluan naida sinua. - I want to have sex with you. (vulgar) 

Notice that to get married is mennä naimisiin. A wedding is häät, although my 3-year-old daughter likes to used the horrible word naimisjuhlat. 

Näyttää

Näyttää, näytän, näytin, näyttänyt - to show something or to look like something

• Sä näytät ihan sun äidiltä! - You look exactly like your mother!
• Näytätkö mulle sun henkkareita? - Will you show me your ID?
• Tämä näyttää pahalta. - This looks bad. 
• Nyt näyttää siltä, että kohta sataa. - Now it looks like (it that) it will rain soon. (Notice the siltä before the että subclause.)

Näkyä

Näkyä, näyn, näyin, näkynyt - to be seen, to be visible

• Ilotulitus näkyy meille tosi hyvin. - You can see the fireworks really well from our place. (The fireworks are visible to our place.)
• Näkyykö siellä ketään? - Can you see anybody there? (Is anyone seen there?)

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it. 
Kiitos, kun luit! Jos pidit postauksesta, voit jakaa sen eteenpäin.
– Hanna

Intensive summer course in Jyväskylä

These are my sentences of the day:

• Minä sain kesätöitä!  - I got a summer job!
• Olen iloinen ja innoissani! - I'm happy and excited!

If you'd rather go somewhere else than Jyväskylä, here's my updated post about other summer courses in Finland. 

How to use the Finnish nouns 'kokous', 'tapaaminen' and 'treffit'

Notice the difference between these meetings in Finnish:

Kokous is the most official form of a meeting. 

Usually kokous involves more than two people.

• Puhuttiinko kokouksessa ensi vuoden budjetista? - Was the next year's budget discussed in the meeting?
• Kokouksen jälkeen on kahvitarjoilu. - Coffee will be served after the meeting. 

Palaveri is a more colloquial form of kokous.

• Onko tästäkin pakko pitää palaveri? - Is it really necessary to have a meeting about this, too?
• Sopiiko teille ryhmätyöpalaveri ensi tiistaina? - Is it ok for you to have a meeting about the group work next Tuesday?
• I've also heard people talking about paltsu or palsu. 

Tapaaminen is any kind of meeting between two or more people.

• Meillä on tapaaminen kolmelta. - We have a meeting at three o'clock. 
• Oliko teillä hyvä tapaaminen? - Did you have a good meeting?
• Mulla on perjantaina ensimmäinen tapaaminen mun henkilökohtaisen valmentajan kanssa. - I'll have a first meeting with my personal trainer on Friday. 

Treffit can be a romantic date or just a meeting among friends.

• Mulla on Elinan kanssa treffit Sokoksen edessä. - I'm meeting Elina in front of Sokos. 
• Me oltiin Mikon kanssa treffeillä Figarossa. - Mikko and I went out for a date in Figaro.

Illanvietto is a gathering in the evening.

• Meillä oli illanvietto uusille jäsenille. - We had a sociel evening for the new members. 
• Yes, it comes from the verb viettää, to spend time.

Kiitos, kun luit! Jos pidit postauksesta, voit jakaa sen eteenpäin.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it. 
– Hanna

Tilaa uutiskirjeeni - Subscribe to my newsletter 

www.privatefinnishlessons.com 

KPT change in Finnish nouns ending with a vowel except for e

The KPT change or consonant gradation is a topic that hardly ever causes any joy in students. The consonants just seem to come and go as they want, and there's already enough annoying rules to remember.

In short, it's all about the syllable structure: 

• If a syllable ends with a vowel, it's open, and there's a strong grade in the beginning of the syllable.

• If a syllable ends with a consonant, it's closed, and there's a weak grade in the beginning of it. 

Here's a link where you can check out which consonant combinations change and how. 

The change happens only when the consonants are between the two last syllables of the word when the word is in the basic form. (Of course, knowing how the Finnish words are divided into syllables is another story.)

I'll demonstrate with kuppi, where pp alternates with p.

• kup-pi = a cup (Strong grade in the beginning of an open syllable.)
• 2 kup-pi-a = two cups  (Strong grade in the beginning of an open syllable.)
• ku-pit = cups (Weak grade in the beginning of a closed syllable.)
• ku-pis-sa = in a cup (Weak grade in the beginning of a closed syllable.)
• kup-piin = into the cup (Wait. Here it goes differently, but why? Well, it used to be kup-pi-hin, and still is in some dialects. The syllable used to be open, so that's why there's a strong grade.)

This is also explained in Kielen elämä, a book about the history of Finnish language in easy Finnish. 

(Notice that it goes differently if a word ends with is, as, ton, or e, but I don't have a post about that yet.)

Remember that the consonant change only occurs with k, p and t. Don't try to apply it to all consonants, no matter how excited you get about it.

Here are some sentences organized according to whether the grade is strong or weak. The example word is sänky, a bed.

In singular, the strong grade is used in these four cases:

• nominative: Tämä on mun sänky. - This is  my bed. 
• partitive: Minulla ei ole vielä sänkyä. - I don't have a bed yet.
• illative: Mennään sänkyyn! - Let's go to bed! 
• essive: Käytän tätä riippumattoa sänkynä. - I use this hammock as a bed. 

All the other cases have a weak grade:

• genitive: Ostin uuden sängyn. - I bought a new bed.
• inessive: Kummassa sängyssä sinä haluat nukkua? - In which (of these two) beds do you want to sleep?
• elative: Ota lakanat pois sängystä. - Take the sheets off the bed.
• adessive: Ei saa hyppiä sängyllä! - No jumping on the bed!
• ablative: Tule alas sängyltä. - Come down from the bed. 
• allative: Älä laita kenkiä sängylle. - Don't put the shoes on (to) the bed. 
• translative: Oho, luulin tätä mun sängyksi. - Oops, I thought this was my bed. 

With plural, the nominative is weak and the genitive is strong.

Strong grade:

• partitive: Onko teillä kerrossänkyjä? - Do you have bunk beds?
• genitive: Tarkista, onko sänkyjen alla mikrofoneja. - Check if there are any microphones under the beds. 
• illative: Menkää omiin sänkyihin! - Go to your own beds!
• essive: Suomessa käytetään pahvilaatikoita vauvansänkyinä. - In Finland, they use cardboard boxes as baby beds.

Weak grade:

• nominative: Pedatkaa sängyt! - Make the beds! 
• inessive: He nukkuivat eri sängyissä. - They slept in separate beds. 
• elative: Hotellivieraat valittivat sängyistä. - The hotel guests complained about the beds.
• adessive: He olivat tanssineet sängyillä. - They had been dancing on the beds. 
• ablative: Lapset olivat hyppineet sängyiltä sohville. - They had been jumping from the beds to the sofas.
• allative: Sängyille oli läikkynyt punaviiniä. - Some red wine had spilled on the beds.
• translative: Kenen sängyiksi te luulitte näitä? - Whose beds did you think these were?

Notice that with some words, both grades are possible in partitive and illative cases:

• laatikko > laatikkoja / laatikoita - boxes
• mansikka > mansikoihin / mansikkoihin - into strawberries 

You can read more about this topic here: http://www.kielitoimistonohjepankki.fi/ohje/375

And yes, I left out he weird cases. Feel free to come up with practical examples with

• comitative: sänkyineen 
• abessive: sängyttä / sängyittä
• instructive: sängyin

One more thing: Notice that sänky is actually pronounced [säŋky]. The weak grade ng is pronounced as in sängyssä,[säŋŋyssä]. It's called velar nasal.

Lue lisää: 

• Long words in plural partitive
• The eleven most useful cases
• Coming soon: Consonant change with words like vaate, asiakas, työtön and liukas.

Kiitos, kun luit! Jos pidit postauksesta, voit jakaa sen eteenpäin.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it. 
– Hanna

Tilaa uutiskirjeeni - Subscribe to my newsletter 

www.privatefinnishlessons.com 

Finnish pronunciation

Oh my. I just found this website when I was looking for something about Finnish pronunciation. It aims to have All the words in the world. Pronounced. I'm already hooked! You can both listen to the words and contribute to the site by recording individual words in your own mother tongue. It's very easy and fast to use.

How to use the Finnish words 'eli', 'joten' and 'siis'

Many Finnish learners overuse siis and sound more harsh than they probably mean to. Of course, sometimes you really need siis, but very often eli or joten would be better options.

Eli

Eli is used when you say something that you have already said before, or say the same thing twice in different words. You can also use that in a clarifying question.

• Eli ensi viikolla ei ole tapaamista. - So there's no meeting next week. 
• Eli bussi lähtee kolmelta. - So the bus leaves at three o'clock.
• Mulla ei ole sisaruksia, eli mä olen ainoa lapsi. - I don't have any siblings, so I'm an only child. 
• Jare Tiihonen, eli Cheek, lahjoitti lastensairaalle yli satatuhatta euroa. - Jare Tiihonen, a.k.a. Cheek, donated over 100 000 euros to the children's hospital.
• Eli mihin aikaan me tavataan? - So at what time are we meeting again? (You can also use niin here.)

Joten

Joten is used when there is a consequence between two actions or situations. Sometimes in spoken language, people use niin instead.

• Meillä ei ole autoa, joten mä kuljen usein bussilla. - We don't have a car, so I go often by bus.
• Mulla on aamulla kokous, joten mun pitää mennä aikaisin nukkumaan. - I have a meeting in the morning, so I have to go sleep early.
• Tää baari menee kiinni, joten meidän pitää lähteä. - This bar is closing, so we have to leave. 
• Tää baari menee kiinni, niin meidän pitää lähteä. - This bar is closing, so we have to leave. 

Siis

Siis is used in the beginning of a clarification or a clarifying question, or a over-dramatic (teenager) exclamation.

• Olen lomalla enkä siis vastaa sähköpostiini. - I'm on vacation and therefore won't answer my email.
• Siis kirjoittakaa teidän nimi paperin yläreunaan, ei takapuolelle. - So write your name on the top of the paper, not on the other side. 
• Siis moneltako se juna lähtee? - So tell me again: what time does the train leave?
• Siis mä en kestä tätä! - I cannot take this!
• Siis mun on pakko saada tää laukku! - I must have this bag!

p.s. Here's the Facebook page of this blog. I don't post too often, but whenever there's a new post or when I have added something new to an old post.

Kiitos, kun luit! Jos pidit postauksesta, voit jakaa sen eteenpäin.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it. 
– Hanna

Tilaa uutiskirjeeni - Subscribe to my newsletter 

www.privatefinnishlessons.com 

What's funny in Finland?

Hyvää uutta vuotta! Happy new year, or, literally, have a good new year. If you live in Finland, do not miss the new comedy show Siskonpeti. It starts today on Yle 2 at 21.00, and it is said to be very funny. You can also watch it later in Yle Areena. Another funny tv show is Putous, starting on January 11. Hyvät ja huonot uutiset is also very popular.

If you want to know what kind of shows Finns were watching in the 80's and 90's, go to YouTube and search for classics like Spede Show, Kummeli, Pulttibois, Lapinlahden linnut, Studio Julmahuvi or watch Fakta homma in Elävä Areena.