Learning Finnish with music

Learn Finnish by listening to music, reading the song lyrics and singing! Here are some useful links: 

• Listen to my Finnish songs playlist on Spotify. I've added all kinds of songs with (usually) clear lyrics. 
• Uuden suomalaisen musiikin lista, a list of new Finnish music on Spotify.
• Listen to Finnish songs and read the lyrics and their translations in Lyricstranslate.
• Practice your listening skills with Lyricstraining.
• Sing! You can start with this Karaoke Suomi Youtube playlist with Finnish songs with their lyrics. 
• Read about my student's favourite Finnish artists in easyish Finnish.
• If you are interested, here's a post about music terminology in Finnish.

My Finnish songs playlist on Spotify

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.  

Ääntämisen työpaja - A Finnish pronunciation workshop

Here's something new that I've been working on together with my colleague Päivi Virkkunen: An online Finnish pronunciation workshop! Päivi is specialized in phonetics, so she is really, really good at teaching Finnish pronunciation. 

Time, place and price: 

• Time: Thursday evening, September 15, from 6.00 PM to 7.30 PM Finnish time
• Place: Zoom
• Price: 15 €

Content of the worshop:

• Duration (long and short vowels and consonants)
• Finnish h (a little different depending on the other sounds around it)
• No aspiration! (k, p, and t are just k, p and t.)
• Finnish l (Surprisingly tricky!)
• A sneak peek at the [ŋ]

All the example sentences will be from the easy Finnish novel Yösyöttö. I'll send you the first two chapters and a rough translation before the workshop.

Päivi and I will first model the pronunciation and explain how it's done, and then the students can practice with their microphones off. After that, you can ask questions, and then we'll move on to the next topic. 

We will speak Finnish, but the slides are in Finnish and in English. 

If you want, you can be completely silent and anonymous during the workshop, but you can also have your camera and microphone on and participate in the conversation.

Sign up for the workshop: 

You can sign up by sending an email to hanna.mannikkolahti@gmail.com, and I will send you the Zoom link and the workshop material.

Tervetuloa työpajaan! Welcome to the workshop!

Sign up for the workshop:
hanna.mannikkolahti@gmail.com

Useful links:

• Päivi's Instagram account (and my account) 
• Päivi's interview in this blog.
• A podcast episode with me and Päivi
• Päivi's Ääntämisklinikka

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.  

Finnish word pairs that still make sense after you switch two letters

This is a fun game: Try to come up with word pairs that still make sense after you switch two vowels or consonants! 

Here's what I could think of: 

Two vowels switch places: 

1. Kairo - koira
2. kakku - kukka
3. kassi - kissa 
4. kirkko - korkki
5. laki - lika
6. limu - lumi
7. paino - piano
8. passi - pissa
9. pelto - polte
10. pöyristyä - pyöristyä
11. sato - sota
12. syvä - sävy
13. takki - tikka
14. takku - tukka
15. tarve - terva
16. vaimo - voima
17. veri - vire

Two consonants switch places: 

1. lammas - sammal
2. lasi - sali
3. lato - talo
4. katsella - kastella
5. There MUST be more! Please help me. :)

Here are the translations:

Two vowels switch places: 

1. Kairo - koira = Cairo - a dog
2. kakku - kukka = a cake - a flower
3. kassi - kissa = a bag - a cat 
4. kirkko - korkki = a church - a (bottle) cap, a cork
5. laki - lika = a law - dirt
6. limu - lumi = a soft drink - snow
7. paino - piano = weight - a piano
8. passi - pissa = a passport - pee
9. pelto - polte = a field - a burn
10. pöyristyä - pyöristyä = to be shocked - to become round
11. sato - sota = a crop, a harvest - a war
12. syvä - sävy - deep = a nuance, a hue
13. takki - tikka = a jacket - a woodpecker, a dart
14. takku - tukka = a tangle - hair
15. tarve - terva = a need, tar
16. vaimo - voima = a wife - power
17. veri - vire = blood - a tone, tune

Two consonants switch places: 

1. lammas - sammal = a lamb, moss
2. lasi - sali = a glas, a hall
3. lato - talo = a barn - a house
4. katse - kaste = a look, baptism / a dip
5. katsella - kastella = to watch, to wet

Other fun lists on this blog:

• A fun list of words that are like muna and peli
• Finnish words with a double l in the middle
• Finnish words with a double s in the middle
• 100 very common Finnish words
• Words that are both Finnish and English
• Words with one consonant and a long vowel

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.  

Finnish sentences with a consonant change (in nouns)

Here's a post with everyday sentences that have consonant change in nouns.  I will add more later (and also examples of the reverse change), but I just wanted to share this now that I have almost 30 sentences. I was fun to think about everyday words with a KPT change. :)

How many of these do you already understand?

1. Se oli mun laukussa. (laukku)
2. Nähdään bussipysäkillä! (pysäkki)
3. Ostin takin. (takki)
4. Muistitko nakit? (nakki)
5. Ovatko kaikki paikalla? (paikka)
6. Nähdään ensi viikolla! (viikko)
7. Mä käyn kaupassa. (kauppa)
8. Ota se kaapista. (kaappi.)
9. Voitko antaa minulle kupin? (kuppi)
10. Se on mun repussa. (reppu)
11. Haluatko kuulla hauskan jutun? (juttu)
12. Mä tarvitsen uuden maton. (matto)
13. Voinko maksaa kortilla? (kortti)
14. Olin eilen konsertissa. (konsertti)
15. Laita se pöydälle. (pöytä)
16. Kadulla oli paljon ihmisiä. (katu)
17. Sinulla on hienot kengät! (kenkä)
18. Missä kaupungissa sinä haluaisit asua? (kaupunki)
19. Puhutaan tästä lisää ensi kerralla. (kerta)
20. Haluatko voileivän? (voileipä)
21. Oletko käynyt Irlannissa? (Irlanti)
22. Mä soitan sulle tunnin kuluttua. (tunti)
23. Mennään rannalle! (ranta)
24. Olen löytänyt kivan asunnon. (asunto)
25. Tässä pelissä on tyhmät säännöt. (sääntö)
26. Nähdään illalla! (ilta)
27. Kävele sillan yli. (silta)
28. Varasin hammaslääkäriajan. (aika)

Käännökset - Translations 

1. Se oli mun laukussa. (laukku) - It was in my bag.
2. Nähdään bussipysäkillä! (pysäkki) - See you at the bus stop.
3. Ostin takin. (takki) - I bought a jacket.
4. Muistitko nakit? (nakki) - Did you remember the wieners?
5. Ovatko kaikki paikalla? (paikka) - Is everybody here?
6. Nähdään ensi viikolla! (viikko) - See you next week!
7. Mä käyn kaupassa. (kauppa) - I'll go to the store.
8. Ota se kaapista. (kaappi.) - Take it from the cabinet / closet. 
9. Voitko antaa minulle kupin? (kuppi) - Can you give me a cup?
10. Se on mun repussa. (reppu) - It was in my backpack.
11. Haluatko kuulla hauskan jutun? (juttu)  - Do you want to hear a funny story?
12. Mä tarvitsen uuden maton. (matto) - I need a new rug.
13. Voinko maksaa kortilla? (kortti) - Can I pay with a card?
14. Olin eilen konsertissa. (konsertti) - I was in a concert yesterday. 
15. Laita se pöydälle. (pöytä) - Put it (to) on the table. 
16. Kadulla oli paljon ihmisiä. (katu) - There were a lot of people on the street. 
17. Sinulla on hienot kengät! (kenkä) - You have nice shoes!
18. Missä kaupungissa sinä haluaisit asua? (kaupunki)  - In which city would you like to live?
19. Puhutaan tästä lisää ensi kerralla. (kerta)  - Let's talk about this more next time. 
20. Haluatko voileivän? (voileipä) - Do you want to have a sandwich?
21. Oletko käynyt Irlannissa? (Irlanti) - Have you been to Ireland?
22. Mä soitan sulle tunnin kuluttua. (tunti) - I'll call you after one hour. 
23. Mennään rannalle! (ranta)  - Let's go to the beach!
24. Olen löytänyt kivan asunnon. (asunto) - I've found a nice apartment. 
25. Tässä pelissä on tyhmät säännöt. (sääntö) - This game has dumb rules. 
26. Nähdään illalla! (ilta) - See you in the evening!
27. Kävele sillan yli. (silta) - Walk across the bridge. 
28. Varasin hammaslääkäriajan. (aika) - I booked a time for a dentist.

Useful posts

• My post about the consonant change (in nouns)
• Uusi kielemme post about the consonant change 
• Consonant change in verb type 1 verbs
• Consonant change in verb type 3, 4 and 6 verbs 
• Juttu 
• Mennä ja käydä
• Tunti, tunne ja tunto
• Not a post, but a mega list about the words ending with i (in case you wonder) bit.ly/i-sanat Some of these have a consonant change in addition to the possible vowel change.  

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 be negative in Finnish

I have quite a few posts that help you speak Finnish in challenging situations. Let me know if I'm missing something important. :)

Challenging situations

• When something is broken in Finnish
• How to be clogged, blocked and stuck in Finnish
• How to be exhausted and burdened in Finnish
• How to say that you don't really like someone
• Being early and late in Finnish
• Pharmacy shopping in Finnish
• How to swear in Finnish
  

Negative grammar topics

• How to say the negative past tense in Finnish
• Negative ko/kö questions
• Finnish words beginning with 'epä'
• How to say 'without' in Finnish
• Expressions to use when things are not quite right
• Nobody in Finnish
• Nothing 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.