Monday, February 23, 2015

How to say 'normally' in Finnish

I don't usually offer my Finnish teaching services to strangers on the street, but every time I hear someone saying normaalisesti, I wish I could do something to let them know, very kindly,  that it should actually be normaalisti. 

It is understandable that it's so easy to say normaalisesti, because many adjectives end with nen:

  • tavallinen - usual, normal
  • yleinen - common
  • erityinen - special
  • erikoinen - special, strange

The adverbs go like this:

  • tavallisesti - usually, normally
  • yleisesti - commonly (Notice that usually is yleensä.)
  • erityisesti - specially
  • erikoisesti - in a strange way

However, normal in Finnish is just normaali. There is no such word as normaalinen, and therefore there cannot be an adverb normaalisesti. Siinä kaikki. :)




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


2 comments:

Constantino said...

Se oli tavallisesti minun vikasi. Kiitos, nyt sanon normaalisti ))

Anonymous said...

Juu on kova juttu kun me ranskalaiset sanotaan "normalement" koko ajan. Kiitos vinkistä