How to talk about courses, classes and lectures in Finnish

Pay attention to these nouns when talking about studying:

1. kurssi
2. tunti
3. luento
4. luokka

1. Kurssi is a course.

Notice that it takes the external endings: kurssilla, kurssilta, kurssille - in the course, from the course, to the course.

• Me ollaan samalla kurssilla. - We are in the same course. 
• Kuinka monta kurssia sulla on tänä syksynä? - How many courses are you taking this fall?
• Onko teidän kurssilla kivoja ihmisiä? - Are there nice people in your course?

2. Tunti is an hour, but it is also used when referring to a class, lesson or a lecture - even if it would last less or more than an actual hour. 

Oppitunti is the more formal form of the word.

• Nähdään ruotsin tunnin jälkeen! - See you after the Swedish class!
• Mitä te teitte viime tunnilla? - What did you do in the last class?
• En pääse tänään tunnille. - I can't make it to the class today. 

3. Luento is used for a lecture when there's actually a person lecturing while the class is quite passively listening. 

(Notice that luonto is nature, and luonne is personality)

• Älä myöhästy luennolta! - Don't be late for the lecture!

4. Luokka is both the classroom, a group of people in a school, and a grade/year.

• Tässä luokassa haisee kummalliselta. - It smells weird in this classroom.
• Miksi me ollaan taas eri luokassa? - Why are we in a different classroom again?
• Me oltiin samalla luokalla lukiossa. - We were in the same class in high school.
• Kuinka monta oppilasta teidän luokalla on? - How many pupils are there in your class?
• Meidän luokalla on 20, mutta venäjän ryhmässä on vain kymmenen. - There's 20 in our class, but only ten in the Russian group.
• Millä luokalla sinä olet? - Which grade/year are you?

Related posts:

• Talking about different groups in Finnish
• Oppia, opiskella, opettaa, opetella
• tunti, tunne, tunto 

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.