The importance of pronouncing the long vowel in Finnish

Long and short vowels in Finnish

One thing we'll practice on the workhop is long and short vowels. Pronouncing the long vowel long enough is particularly important with verb type 1 verbs ending with oa, ua, yä, ia and iä. 

 

In standard Finnish, it goes like this: 

• Hän sanoo. - He says. (two o's)
• Hän sanoi. - He said. (o and a past tense marker i)

In spoken Finnish, the past tense marker is often dropped after another vowel:

• Se sanoo. - He says. (Notice that in many dialects, we say 'se' instead of 'hän'.)
• Se sano. - He said. 

If you don't pronounce the o long enough in sanoo (says, will say), it will sound like sano (he said).

Long and short vowels in sentences

tutkia - to study, to examine

• Lääkäri tutkii potilaan. -The doctor will examine the patient.
• Lääkäri tutki potilaan. - The doctor examined the patient.

kysyä - to ask

• Se kysyy opettajalta. - She'll ask the teacher. 
• Se kysy opettajalta. - She asked the teacher.

Notice that in spoken Finnish, we conjugate the plural 'he' the same way as the singular 'hän':

Standard Finnish: 

• He sanovat - They say.
• He sanoivat - They said.

Spoken Finnish: 

• Ne sanoo. - They say. 
• Ne sano. - They said.

More examples in plural:

puhua - to talk, to speak

• Ne puhuu tästä kokouksessa. - They will  talk about this in a meeting. 
• Ne puhu tästä kokouksessa. - They talked about this in a meeting. 

tanssia - to dance

• Ne tanssii hyvin. - They dance well. 
• Ne tanssi hyvin. - They danced well.

Read more:

• Spoken language tips
• The Finnish pronoun 'se'
• Verb conjugation in spoken Finnish
• A podcast episode with Päivi Virkkunen
• The importance of R

Kiitos, kun luit! Jos pidit postauksesta, voit jakaa sen eteenpäin.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it. 
– Hanna

Tilaa uutiskirjeeni - Subscribe to my newsletter 

www.privatefinnishlessons.com