Tuesday, August 30, 2016

How to use the finnish words 'ero', 'erota' and 'erottaa'

Here's a post about words that begin with ero. 

Usually ero means a difference, distinction or a divorce.


  • Mitä eroa on sanoilla tai ja vai? - What's the difference between tai and vai?
  • Etsi viisi eroa. - Find five differences.
  • Haluan eron. - I want a divorce.

Erota is to divorce or to separate


(Here's an informative link about divorcing in Finland, and here's a song that you can sing to your ex in a Finnish karaoke.)


Erottaa is for example to fire and to tell apart.



If you are confused by the similarity of these two verbs, you might enjoy my post about transitive and intransitive verbs.


About the author of Random Finnish Lesson: 


My name is Hanna Männikkölahti. I am a professional Finnish teacher who gives private online lessons and simplifies books into easy Finnish. Please read more in www.linktr.ee/hannamannikkolahti and follow this blog, if you want to be the first one to know when I post something new. 

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Communication verbs in Finnish

Here's a small post about verbs that express some kind of communication between people. First, test how many words you already know:

  1. ehdottaa
  2. hokea
  3. houkutella
  4. huutaa
  5. ihmetellä
  6. ilmoittaa
  7. inttää
  8. juoruta, juoruilla
  9. jutella
  10. kehua
  11. kertoa
  12. kieltää
  13. kiittää
  14. kirjoittaa
  15. korjata
  16. kuiskata
  17. kysäistä
  18. kysyä
  19. liioitella
  20. lohduttaa
  21. lukea ajatuksia
  22. muistuttaa
  23. mutista
  24. neuvoa
  25. myöntää
  26. paljastaa
  27. pohtia
  28. puhua
  29. puuskahtaa
  30. pyytää anteeksi
  31. sanoa
  32. selittää 
  33. suositella
  34. tiedustella
  35. todeta
  36. toistaa
  37. tuhahtaa
  38. tunnustaa
  39. valehdella
  40. valittaa
  41. varoittaa
  42. vastata 
  43. väittää
  44. vähätellä
  45. ärsyttää



Here are the translations:

  1. ehdottaa - to suggest
  2. hokea - to repeat, to parrot
  3. houkutella - to persuade, to talk into
  4. huutaa - to yell
  5. ihmetellä - to wonder
  6. ilmoittaa - to announce, to notify
  7. inttää - to insist, to argue
  8. juoruta, juoruilla - to gossip
  9. jutella - to talk, to chat
  10. kehua - to praise
  11. kertoa - to tell
  12. kieltää - to deny, to forbid
  13. kiittää - to thank
  14. kirjoittaa - to write
  15. korjata - to correct
  16. kuiskata - to whisper
  17. kysäistä - to ask quickly
  18. kysyä - to ask
  19. liioitella - to exaggerate
  20. lohduttaa - to comfort
  21. lukea ajatuksia - to read thoughts, to read someone's mind
  22. muistuttaa - to remind
  23. mutista - to mumble, to mutter
  24. myöntää - to admit
  25. neuvoa - to advice
  26. paljastaa - to reveal
  27. pohtia - to ponder, to discuss
  28. puhua -  to speak
  29. puuskahtaa - to snap, to splurge, to say abruptly
  30. pyytää anteeksi - to apologize
  31. sanoa - to say
  32. selittää - to explain
  33. suositella - to recommend
  34. tiedustella - to inquire
  35. todeta - to state
  36. toistaa - to repeat
  37. tuhahtaa - to groan, to say something angrily
  38. tunnustaa - to confess
  39. valehdella - to lie
  40. valittaa - to complain
  41. varoittaa - to warn
  42. vastata - to answer
  43. väittää - to insist, to claim
  44. vähätellä - to belittle
  45. ärsyttää - to annoy

If you like lists, here are some other posts that you might enjoy:


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

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Learning Finnish with Nightwish fans

I know that many foreigners start to learn Finnish because of the Finnish metal bands.  Nightwish is definitely the most famous one of them, and Yle just released a documentary made by Nightwish fans. If you haven't seen it yet, now is a good time, and you can also learn Finnish by reading the subtitles. (My favourite character is the man showing the pictures from his trip to Kitee.)

Monday, August 22, 2016

How to say in Finnish that you don't really like someone

Sometimes you might want to tell (the other people) that you don't really like someone. This is how the it's said in standard Finnish:


This is how it's often said in spoken language, or colloquial Finnish:


Here are expressions that don't sound so harsh but have the same idea:

  1. No.. en tunne häntä kovin hyvin. - Well.. I don't know him/her so well.
  2. Emme ole kovin läheisissä väleissä. - We're not on very close terms.
  3. Emme tule toimeen kovin hyvin. - We don't get along very well.  (Check out my post about words beginnish with toimi.)
  4. Meidän kemiamme eivät oikein kohdanneet. - There was no chemisty. (Our chemistry didn't really meet.)
  5. Meidän sukset menivät vähän ristiin. - I crossed swords with him / her. (Our skis got a bit crossed)

Here are the same expressions in colloquial Finnish:

  1. Me ei olla kovin läheisissä väleissä. 
  2. Mä en tunne sitä kovin hyvin. 
  3. Me ei tulla toimeen kovin hyvin.
  4. Meidän kemiat ei oikeen kohdannu. 
  5. Meidän sukset meni vähän ristiin. 




If this was too negative, you might feel happier after these posts:


About the author of Random Finnish Lesson: 

My name is Hanna Männikkölahti. I am a professional Finnish teacher who gives private online lessons and simplifies books into easy Finnish. Please read more in www.linktr.ee/hannamannikkolahti and follow this blog, if you want to be the first one to know when I post something new.  

Thursday, August 18, 2016

How to impress Finnish audience

I don't know how many artists and bands actively study Finnish before their concert tour, but here's a small post for those who want to say something in Finnish and impress their audience.

The concert is probably in the evening, so you can start off by yelling Hyvää iltaa + whatever city you are performing at. That means Good evening. You can check the pronunciation in http://fi.forvo.com/.


Haloo Helsingin Elli. Kuva: Dušan C.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

About the author of this blog:

My name is Hanna Männikkölahti, and I am a native Finn who gives private lessons via Skype and simplifies books into easy Finnish. Please leave a comment, if you have something to ask about Finnish or novels in easy Finnish. 


Lue lisää selkokirjoista: https://privatefinnishlessons.com/books/