Finnish words ending with 'in'

These words are often some sort of tools or machines, and they are usually derived from a verb. Actually, a lot of times they are homonyms with the first person singular past: pakastin means both a freezer and I froze. The basic form of the verb is pakastaa.

The four important forms of avain, a key

• basic form avain: Kenen avain tämä on? - Whose key is this?
• genitive avaimen: Mihin mä olen laittanut mun avaimen? - Where have I put my key?
• partitive avainta: Et tarvitse avainta.- You won't need a key.
• plural partitive avaimia: Oletko nähnyt mun avaimia? - Have you seen my keys?

In plural form, the e disappears before the i

• elative: Haluaisin teettää näistä avaimista lisäkappaleita. - I'd like to have extra copies made of these keys. 
• adessive: Mihin näillä avaimilla pääsee? - Where can you get with these keys?

Be aware of the possible consonant change

• Minulla on uusi levysoitin! - I have a new record player!
• Mistä sinä ostit tuon levysoittimen? - Where did you buy that record player?
• Meillä ei ole levysoitinta. - We don't have a record player.
• Onko teillä levysoittimia? - Do you have record players?

Read more about the KPT change here. 

Common Finnish words ending with in

You may already know puhelin (a phone) and kirjain (a letter as in abc), but how about these ones?

Keittiössä - in the kitchen:

• pakastin, kahvinkeitin, leivänpaahdin, sauvasekoitin, sähkövatkain - a freezer,  a coffee maker,  a toaster, a stick blender / an immersion blender, an electric mixer

Toimistossa - in the office:

• teroitin, viivotin, rei'itin - a sharpener, a ruler, a hole punch (Notice the cool spelling with the apostrophe!)

Autossa - in the car:

• kytkin, kaasupoljin, varashälytin - a clutch, an accelerator pedal, a burglar alarm

The superlative forms of the adjectives also end with in

...but that's another story and the declension follows a slightly different pattern. (Instead of in>ime, it's in>imma, in case you wonder.)

• huono: Tuo oli vuoden huonoin idea! - That was the worst idea of the year!
• kallis: Tämä oli kallein suklaarasia, minkä löysin Prismasta. - This was the most expensive box of chocolates that I found in Prisma.

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

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– Hanna

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