Saturday, December 8, 2012

Finnish words ending with 'nen'

Just like Finnish has verb types, we also have noun types. That matters when you have to add an ending after a word, because sometimes the word stems change. This post is about nouns that end with nen. 

 Nouns ending with nen:


  • nainen - a woman
  • ihminen - a human being
  • lautanen - a plate
  • leipominen - baking
  • siivoaminen - cleaning 
  • nukkuminen - sleeping  (Check out my post about making a verb into a noun!) 

 Adjectives ending with nen:


  • punainen - red
  • sininen - blue 
  • keltainen - yellow 
  • valkoinen - white
  • iloinen - happy
  • surullinen - sad 
  • onnellinen - happy
  • erikoinen  - special, kind of strange
  • erityinen - special, exceptional
  • ensimmäinen - the first
  • viimeinen - the last 
  • kreikkalainen - Greek
  • helsinkiläinen - a person from Helsinki
  • yksinkertainen - simple
  • kaksinkertainen - double (Check out my post about the long adjectives!)

Notice the strange partitive: suomalaista, naista, yksinkertaista


(The nen in the end becomes s, and then you add the partitive ta. ) 

  • Rakastan suomalaista kahvia! - I love Finnish coffee!
  • En tunne tuota naista. - I don't know that woman. 
  • Tämä on yksinkertaista. - This is simple. 


Otherwise, the singular stem ends with se.


  • elative: Tykkäätkö suomalaisesta ruoasta? - Do you like Finnish food? 
  • adessive: Mun suomalaisella kaverilla on bileet. - My Finnish friend has a party.
  • essive: Pidätkö itseäsi suomalaisena? - Do you consider yourself Finnish?


Four important forms that are worth memorizing by heart:


  • nominative suomalainen: Minä olen suomalainen. - I am Finnish.
  • genitive suomalaisen: Tänään on suomalaisen musiikin päivä. - Today (8.12.) is the Finnish music's day, the day of Finnish music.
  • partitive suomalaista: Älä pakota minua kuuntelemaan suomalaista musiikkia. - Don't force me to listen to Finnish music. 
  • plural partitive suomalaisia: Onko sinulla suomalaisia kavereita? - Do you have Finnish friends? 


Common plural forms: 


  • nominative: Suomalaiset ovat täällä! - The Finns are here!
  • genitive: Olin ulkona mun suomalaisten kavereiden kanssa. - I was out with my Finnish friends.
  • partitive: En ymmärrä suomalaisia miehiä. - I don't understand Finnish men.
  • adessive: Miksi suomalaisilla hevibändeillä on niin paljon faneja Saksassa ja Etelä-Amerikassa? - Why do the Finnish heavy bands have so many fans in Germany and South America?
  • allative: Lähetin mun suomalaisille kavereille kutsun. - I sent an invitation to my Finnish friends. 

You can check out all the other forms in Wikisanakirja.

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. 

8 comments:

  1. Tommy QuistDecember 8, 2012 at 5:12 PM

    I remember one of the first patterns that I managed to make out when I got to finland was the -nen to -sen transformation and I remember thinking how odd it was that the change would occur so "far" back (as in, I thought three letters in was "far") This was before I was actually trying to learn Finnish, though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownDecember 9, 2012 at 3:11 AM

    Before also I tried to find the rule to make noun from verb besides 4. infinitiivi. But it is so difficult. because even verbityypi 1 has many ways to get noun. For example

    verbityypi 1 kirjoittaa-kirjoitus,
    hakea-hakemus,
    heijastaa-heijastin,
    laskea-lasku
    jne

    verbityypi 2 käydä-käynti

    verbityypi 3 epäillä-epäilys

    verbityypi 4 halata-hali

    verbityypi 5 tarvita-tarve

    Because it is very useful and helpful. Hope I can get a good answer from u . Paljon kiitoksia .

    ReplyDelete
  3. HannaDecember 9, 2012 at 11:39 AM

    Oh my.. I have to study that and get back to the topic! :) I've never thought about the verb types from this point of view. Here's a link that you might find interesting: http://www.finnlectura.fi/verkkosuomi/Morfologia/sivu2722.htm
    Especially the point 7)Teonnimet.

    For anybody interested in word formation, 'Miten sanoja johdetaan' by Anneli Brown, Anna-Liisa Lepäsmaa and Leena Silfverberg is a good book. http://www.kirjasi.fi/epages/Kirjasi.sf/fi_FI/?ObjectPath=/Shops/Kirjasi/Products/9789517920063

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownDecember 9, 2012 at 2:27 PM

      before I collect many verb ,but i lose the paper. i have found some rules....pity pity

      Delete
    2. UnknownDecember 10, 2012 at 5:38 PM

      Today I borrowed this book from libary. It is wonderful book, so I cant stop reading it . I already read 20 pages. Thanks so much ...

      Delete
    3. HannaDecember 10, 2012 at 8:31 PM

      Hyvä, Aiko! :) Munkin pitäisi ostaa se kirja itselleni.

      Delete
    4. UnknownDecember 11, 2012 at 2:24 AM

      Kannata ostaa booky.fi:sta. Se on halvin. Hinta on 32.20 €, ilmainen toimitus. En minä tarvitse ostaa sitä. Haluaisin ostaa <> ensin. :) Mun kirjanostoslista on täynnä.

      Delete
  4. AnonymousDecember 11, 2012 at 12:29 AM

    I think punainen is derived from puna.

    ReplyDelete