Monday, September 15, 2014

How to talk about being busy and urgent in Finnish

Notice the difference in use between these three words that all mean busy, hurry, or some sort of rush.

Kiire - hurry (a noun)


  • Minulla on kiire. - I'm busy.
  • Onko sulla kiire? - Are you busy?
  • Miksi sulla on aina kiire? - Why are you always in a hurry?

Kiireinen - busy (an adjective)


  • Hän on todella kiireinen. - He is really busy.
  • Ensi viikko on todella kiireinen, mutta sitten helpottaa. - Next week will be really hectic, but then it will be easier.

Kiireellinen - urgent (an adjective, not used with people.)



Älä kiirehdi. - Don't rush.



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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. 


9 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2014 at 10:08 AM

    Thank you, Hanna! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 15, 2014 at 11:11 AM

    On yllättävää, että sinä aina löydät suomen kielestä jotain todella hämmentävä (confusing) ulkomaalaisille. Nämä kiire- sanat olivat oikein epäselviä
    minulle. Kiitos paljon selityksestä.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ArcticaSeptember 15, 2014 at 3:30 PM

    I don't think I understand the difference... is it just the degree of urgency that changes, so they get progressively stronger?

    ReplyDelete
  4. HannaSeptember 15, 2014 at 4:34 PM

    Hyvä kysymys! :)

    'Kiire' is used with the 'minulla on' structure.
    'Minulla on kiire' and 'Minä olen kiireinen' are pretty much the same.
    'Kiireellinen' is urgent. A person cannot be kiireellinen, but it's always a thing that is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2014 at 11:49 AM

      I would say kiireinen refers to a general condition (possibly over a longer time span) which may include periods of lull, etc. whereas kiire refers to a more constant hurry (and often a shorter period of time).
      Note that kiireinen is kiire + -inen i.e. "has (some) hurry" and kiireellinen "includes hurry". Think punainen and laktoosillinen.

      Delete
  5. UnknownDecember 5, 2014 at 2:50 PM

    Miksi sulla on aika kiire? Why it's aika and not aina? Aika =time and aina = always.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HannaDecember 5, 2014 at 4:12 PM

      ..because there was a typo! Thanks for noticing, it's fixed now.:)

      Delete
  6. AnonymousSeptember 13, 2018 at 12:23 PM

    Hei
    Minä olen iloinen kun näin sinun blog tänään ja opin sinulta.
    Paljon kiitoksia

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2020 at 1:04 PM

    Hei what about "ei kiire" or "ei kiirettä" - if I want to mean "no hurry"?
    Are they both OK?

    ReplyDelete