How to kiss in Finnish

So many words to choose from! I've had to think about this a bit when simplifying novels into easy Finnish. In erotic and romantic scenes, the words are usually suudella and suudelma, and the rest of the verbs and nouns are for more casual kissing and kissing kids and animals. 

Kissing nouns in Finnish

Suudelma 

Suudelma is the standard Finnish word for a kiss. It can be any style or lenght, but it's usually between adult humans. I do not give a suudelma to my dog.

Suukko and pusu

I'd say that suukko and pusu are same kind of short kisses or pecks. For some reason, I usually use pusu. (Oh, if you haven't had Brunbergin Suukot yet, you should try them!)

Muisku 

Muisku is a smooch. I'd say that when giving muiskus, people also let out some kind of a sound. 

More kisses:

• kielisuudelma, kielari - a kiss with a tongue
• lentosuudelma, lentosuukko - a flying kiss, a blow kiss
• poskisuudelma - a kiss on the cheek

Other relevant nouns:

• suu - a mouth
• huulet - lips
• kieli - a tongue
• poski - a cheek
• kaula - a neck
• niska - back of the neck

Kissing verbs in Finnish

Just one kiss:

• antaa suudelma - to give a kiss
• antaa suukko - to give a kiss
• antaa pusu - to give a kiss
• pussata - to give a kiss, to kiss each other

Multiple kisses:

• suukotella - to give multiple kisses
• pussailla - to give multiple kisses or kiss each other many times
• Read more about frequentative verbs! 

One or many kisses: 

• suukottaa - to give a kiss, quite often to a specific place such as poski, a cheek. Then it would be suukottaa poskea and it can be one or many kisses.
• suudella - to give a kiss, or just kiss with somebody, or to kiss something

Kissing in easy Finnish novels

These ones are from Numeroruuhka:

A toddler giving the main character a wet smootch: 

Nyt Aino kipitti luokseni,

ja nostin sen syliini. 

Sitten se halasi minua

ja antoi minulle märän pusun.

The main character kissing a woman: 

Kannoin Ennin makuuhuoneeseen

ja laskin sen sängylle. 

Enni riisui paitansa 

ja suutelin sen rintoja.

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.

Punainen kuin veri in the easy Finnish book club in January 2024

Here's and idea for intermediate Finnish learners in 2024: 

1. If you're not there already, join Selkokirjalukupiiri on Facebook.
2. Start reading Salla Simukka's Punainen kuin veri, simplified by me.
3. Participate in conversations about the book. I'll post questions regularly.
4. Enjoy reading and feel good about yourself. :)

Left: Original novel
Right: Easy Finnish novel

Hyvää uutta vuotta 2024!

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.

How to resign and get fired in Finnish

Here's a post about resigning and getting fired in Finnish. I was laid off once. It happened in March 2020, right before the pandemic lockdown. I was supposed to be a part-time teacher in my old school until May, but I guess since I was still on the trial period, it was really easy to let me go and save money. After a bit of a shock, I was happy to be able to focus a hundred percent on my private teaching again and let other people handle the surprise online teaching of groups.

Anyway, here's some vocabulary:

• irti - loose
• sanoa - to say
• irtisanoa - to lay someone off, to fire someone
• irtisanoutua - to resign, to sign off
• saada -  to get, to receive
• potku - a kick 
• saada potkut - to get fired (colloquial Finnish)
• antaa potkut - to fire someone (colloquial Finnish)
• erottaa - to fire 

Sanoa itsensä irti = irtisanoa itsensä = irtisanoutua = to resign

• Sanoin itseni irti. = I resigned myself.
• Irtisanoin itseni. = I resigned myself. 
• Irtisanouduin. = I resigned myself.

Saada potkut = to get fired 

• Sain potkut. - I got fired.

Irtisanoa joku = antaa potkut = to lay off someone

• Mun pomo irtisanoi mut. - My boss laid me off.
• Minut irtisanottiin koeajan jälkeen. = I was laid off after a trial period. 
• Tulin irtisanotuksi. - I got fired. (A past participle passive in translative!)
• Mä annoin sille potkut. - I fired him.

Erottaa = to fire 

• Mun pomo erotti mut. - My boss laid me off.
• Minu erotettiin koeajan jälkeen. = I was laid off after a trial period. 

Lue lisää: 

• Finnish passive in a nutshell
• Transitive and intransitive verbs
• Becoming something in Finnish
• Töissä Suomessa
• Numeroruuhka - A novel in easy Finnish. Getting fired is one of the themes in this novel about Antti Pasanen and his 10-year old son Paavo.

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.