Tuesday, October 7, 2014

How to use the Finnish words 'toinen', 'seuraava' and 'ensi'

I've noticed that many people are kind of confused with these three words. I hope that this post is helpful, not confusing.

Toinen is second, else, other or another.


  • Kuka tuli toiseksi? - Who came second? 
  • Onko sinulla joku toinen? - Do you have someone else?
  • Joku toinen kerta sitten. - Some other time then.
  • Lue joku toinen kirja. - Read some other book.
  • Meitä oli neljätoista. - There were fourteen of us. (Yes, you can think of neljätoista being four of the second set of tens.)

Seuraava is next or following. (From the verb seurata, to follow.)


  • Kuka oli jonossa seuraavana? - Who was the next in line?
  • Mä muutin seuraavana vuonna Ruotsiin. - I moved to Sweden the following year.
  • Seuraavana päivänä hän haki avioeroa. - The following day she filed for divorce.

Ensi is next. It's usually used when referring to time.


  • Nähdään ensi viikolla! - See you next week!
  • Mitä sä teet ensi viikonloppuna? - What are you doing next weekend?
  • Oletko vielä ensi vuonna Suomessa? - Are you still going to be in Finland the next year?


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 your want to be the first one to know when I post something new. 

4 comments:

  1. CharlineOctober 7, 2014 at 10:25 PM

    I had not realized -toista was related to toinen, and I struggled hard to remember puolitoista, because I thought it was something like "halfteen" and of course it made no sense. But it's more like "the next half" then! Kiitos!

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousOctober 9, 2014 at 2:38 PM

      If you divide the word, the meaning becomes clearer: half of the second one.
      In fact, the old way of referring to larger numbers was quite similar: 25 was viisikolmatta i.e. five of the third one (referring to tens).

      Delete
  2. AnonymousOctober 9, 2014 at 2:33 PM

    Ensi is also first (note: ensimmäinen): ensi tilassa = at the first/earliest opportunity.

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  3. AnonymousOctober 10, 2014 at 4:38 PM

    Ihana blogi sulla! :3 Oon etsinyt tälläistä jo vähän aikaa, poikaystäväni kun ei ole kotoisin suomesta toisin kuin minä. Ja minähän en osaa opettaa suomea vaikka onkin äidinkieli kyseessä. Mutta ihana kun joku jaksaa nähdä vaivaa ja opettaa muita. Kiitos suuresti! :D

    ReplyDelete