Tuesday, April 16, 2013

How to say 'this' in Finnish (tämä)

Here's a post about tämä, this. Like many other pronouns, the declination can be a bit confusing. I hope that this one helps! (I also have posts about se and tuo.) 

Different forms of tämä:


  • tämä (tää): Mikä tämä on? - What is this? 
  • tämän (tän): Ostin tämän Prismasta. - I bought this from Prisma.
  • tätä: En tarvitse tätä enää. - I don't need this anymore. (..or Tätä lisää! - More of this!)
  • tässä: Mitä tässä laukussa on? - What's in this bag?
  • tästä: Mitä sinä ajattelet tästä? - What do you think about this?
  • tähän: Pane se tähän laatikkoon. - Put it into this drawer.
  • tällä: Mitä sinä aiot tehdä tällä? - What are you planning to do with this?
  • tältä: Miksi tämä näyttää tältä? - Why does this look like this?
  • tälle: Laita se tälle pöydälle. - Put it on this table.
  • tänä: En aio nukkua tänä yönä! - I'm not going to sleep tonight!
  • täksi - Onko sinulla suunnitelmia täksi viikonlopuksi? - Do you have plans for this weekend?

Notice these place adverbs that can look the same or very similar to some forms of tämä:

tässä, tästä, tähän: a small area that is close to the speaker.


  • Odota tässä vähän aikaa. - Wait here for a while. 
  • Ota tästä nenäliina. - Take a tissue from here. 
  • Istu tähän odottamaan. - Sit (to) here to wait.


täällä, täältä, tänne: a larger area such as a room, a town or a country.


  • Hei, me ollaan täällä! - Hey, we are over here!
  • Täältä on Helsinkiin 200 kilometriä. - It's 200 kilometers to Helsinki from here. 
  • Tulkaa tänne! - Come (to) over here!






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. Follow this blog, if you want to be the first one to know when I post something new.  If you want to subscribe to my newsletter, you can do it here. 


9 comments:

  1. KulkuriApril 17, 2013 at 2:04 AM

    There is a location along the railroad tracks close to where I live called Tama. The story behind the name is that a logger was told to put out a sign where he wanted railroad cars so he could ship out logs. He was a Finn and at the switch for the sidetrack he put a sign that said, Tämä.

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  2. AnonymousApril 17, 2013 at 1:49 PM

    This site is unbelievably amazing, thank you so much for writing it!!

    If possible, can you please do a post about all of the statments that mean, "Like this"? For instance, tammonen, semmonen, samanlainen, etc... I am having major trouble with it and I want to use them!

    Thank you in advance so much. Even if you don't write about these things I will still obsessively visit the blog :)

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    Replies
    1. HannaMay 9, 2013 at 2:53 PM

      Thanks for the idea! Here's the post:

      http://randomfinnishlesson.blogspot.fi/2013/05/tallainen-tuollainen-sellainen-millainen.html

      'Samanlainen' is luckily always just 'samanlainen'. :)

      Delete
  3. AnonymousNovember 7, 2013 at 8:45 PM

    kiitos / ممنون

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 4, 2014 at 9:50 PM

    Could you please write an explanation about how to take apart "täällä" from "tällä" ?

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    Replies
    1. HannaSeptember 4, 2014 at 10:58 PM

      Täällä is 'over here'. Minä olen täällä! - I'm here! Onko se täällä jossain? - Is it here somewhere? Odota täällä. - Wait here.

      Tällä is 'with this' or 'on this'. Mitä sinä teet tällä? - What do do with this? Odota tällä tuolilla. - Wait on this chair. Tällä tavalla. - Like this, with this manner.

      Delete
  5. obakesanDecember 23, 2016 at 8:22 AM

    Hi this is a great post and helpful thank you.
    But it underscores how confusing this and that is in Finnish.
    Although you have given some good examples I anger totally unclear how to actually use these examples and how to predict what I should say in any given example.
    It can't be there are no rules.
    This and that is fundamentally simple in English and even in Japanese, so why is it so hard for any book, lesson, teacher to explain?
    It's been years of in and off study attempting to grok this and it eludes me. Yet in Japanese it took one simple lesson to understand KORE, SORE, and DORE
    I will keep using your pages as they are among the most helpful I have found.

    Thanks heaps and Merry Christmas

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    Replies
    1. Random Finnish Lesson / Hanna MännikkölahtiDecember 28, 2016 at 6:24 PM

      Tämä is always close to you, the speaker.
      Tuo is something that you can point at.
      Se is something that you cannot see (you just talk about it) or that is close to the person that you're talking with.

      Delete
    2. obakesanDecember 28, 2016 at 11:15 PM

      Thanks, and please excuse the autoincorrect of my phone in my post :-)

      Delete