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.)

• Miksi te erositte? - Why did you divorce?

Erottaa is for example to fire and to tell apart.

• Kukaan ei voi erottaa meitä! - Nobody can separate/fire us!
• Mä en osaa erottaa niitä toisistaan. - I cannot tell the difference between them.
• A post about resigning and getting fired in Finnish

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. 

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:

• 36 useful test instruction verbs
• 100 very common Finnish words
• Words that are both Finnish and English
• Words with one consonant and a long vowel
• 100 words in plural partitive

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

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.)

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:

• En pidä hänestä. - I don't like him / her. 

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

• Mä en tykkää siitä. - I don't like him / her. 

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:

• Liking in Finnish
• Tykätä - Pitää
• Pitää
• Being happy in Finnish

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.  

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/.

• Mitä kuuluu? - How are you?
• Onko teillä kivaa? - Are you having fun?
• Kädet ilmaan! - Put your hands up in the air!
• Te olette mahtava yleisö. - You are an awesome audience. 
• Tämä on uusi laulu. - This is a new song. 
• Kiitos! - Thank you!
• Te olitte mahtava yleisö! - You were an awesome audience!
• Hyvää yötä! - Good night!

Haloo Helsingin Elli. Kuva: Dušan C.

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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/