Talking about things in Finnish

Which word to choose when you are talking about different things in Finnish? Should you say esine, tuote, tavara, asia or juttu? I hope that you'll find this post useful.

Esine is a man-made object.

• Onpa tämä kaunis esine! - Well isn't this a beautiful object!
• Mikä on sun suosikkiesine Suomesta? - What is your favourite object from Finland?

Tuote is a product.

• Tämä on ihan turha tuote! - This is an absolutely useless product!
• Tää on joku (jokin) uutuustuote. - This is some novelty product.

Tavara is also an object, but it can have a more negative meaning than esine.

• En halua antaa lahjaksi mitään tavaraa. - I don't want to give any actual thing for a present.
• Mulla on aivan liikaa tavaraa! - I have absolutely too much junk!
• Mihin sä viet kaikki sun ylimääräiset tavarat? - Where do you bring all your extra things?

Asia is usually an abstract thing or a matter. 

(Notice that Aasia is the continent of Asia and aasi is a donkey.)

• Tämä on tosi mielenkiintoinen asia. - This is a very interesting thing.
• Mitä asiaa sillä oli? - What did he want to talk about?

Juttu is both tavara and asia.

•  You can read more about juttu in a separate post from the year 2012.

Lue lisää: 

• Descibing things
• How to think in Finnish

About the author of this blog: 

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.