My first Quizlet flash cards

I created a set of flash cards in Quizlet for my beginner's students, and I thought I might share them here, too. I am not the person reading the cards aloud, in case you wonder. :)

Update: Here's a link to all the Quizlet sets that I've created. I've also tried Memrise, but I like Quizlet better because of the games.

When to say 'mikä' and 'mitä' in Finnish

These two question words are often mixed. They both mean what. 

• Mikä is the basic form.
• Mitä is the partitive form. 

This is a bit confusing for me too, so I'll keep updating this post as I learn more. :)

Mikä is used when you assume that the answer is a one countable thing.

• Mikä tämä on? Lautanen. - What is this? A plate. 
• Mikä sun puhelinnumero on? - What's your phone number?
• Mikä sun osoite on? - What's your address?
• Mikä sun kysymys oli? - What was your question?

Mikä can also be used with other verbs, if it refers to the subject of the sentence: 

• Mikä bussi menee keskustaan? - Which bus goes to downtown?
• Mikä lippu voi maksaa noin paljon? - Which ticket can cost so much?

Mikä is also used with many feeling verbs: 

• Mikä sinua ärsyttää? - What's annoying you?
• Mikä teitä naurattaa? - What's making you laugh?

Use mitä when you are asking about 

- an uncountable food item

- liquid weird sticky goo (mömmö) on the floor etc

- when the verb is a partitive verb

- there is another reason to use partitive.

• Mitä tämä on? - What is this? Mehua. - Juice. 
• Mitä ruokaa sinä inhoat? - Which food do you hate? Maksalaatikkoa. - Liver casserole.
• Mitä kirjaa te luette lukupiirissä? - What book are you reading in the book club? Yösyöttöä. - Yösyöttö.
• Mitä sä syöt? - What are you eating?
• Mitä sä opiskelet? - What do you study?
• Mitä kieliä sä puhut? - Which languages do you speak? (Yay! The plural partitive of mikä is the same as the singular partitive.)

Notice these:

• Mitä sulla on? - What do you have?
• Mikä sulla on? - What do you have? as in What's wrong with you?
• Mikä kello on? - What is a clock? (Not a very common question, but grammatically correct.)
• Mitä kello on? - What time it is?

 Mitä? Siinä kaikki? - What? That's all? Now you can review the other common question words.:)

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

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

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www.privatefinnishlessons.com 

How to use '-kin', '-kaan' and '-kään' in Finnish

The enclitic particle kin means too, also. You can add it to almost any word, but notice how the meaning  of the sentence changes:

• Minä juon kahvia. - I'll drink some coffee.
• Minäkin juon kahvia. - Me too, I'll also drink some coffee.
• Minä juon kahviakin. - I will drink also coffee. (In addition to something else.)

When added to a verb, kin can mean a small surprise or a change of mind:

• Minä juon teetä. Ei, minä juonkin kahvia! - I'll drink some tea. No, I'll drink some coffee instead!
• (Update in 2023: I started to edit this post a little bit, but I run out of time and also realised that Uusi kielemme has this great post about the topic, so I'll just add it here now and continue with this later: https://uusikielemme.fi/finnish-grammar/syntax/liitepartikkelit/kin-kaan-liitepartikkeli-clitic-minakin-minakaan. Also Leila White's grammar book is a great source for examples: https://finnlectura.fi/oppimateriaalit/suomi-toisena-kielena/a-grammar-book-of-finnish/ ) 

In negative sentences, use kaan or kään according to the rules of vowel harmony.

• Minä en juo teetä. - I don't drink tea.  
• Minäkään en juo teetä. - Me neither, I don't drink tea. 
• Minä en juo kahvia enkä juo teetäkään. - I don't coffee and I don't drink tea either.
• Minä juon teetä. Tai ei, minä en juokaan teetä. - I'll drink some tea. Or no, I won't drink any tea after all. 

In case you wonder about the future and present tenses:

• Minä juon nyt teetä. - I'm drinking tea now. 
• Minä juon teetä. - I drink tea. (In general)
• Minä juon teetä. - I'll drink tea. 

Notice that you can also express frustration with kin:

• Oli tämäkin päivä! - What a (horrible) day this was!
• Tämäkin vielä! - This one, too! (These two little words can really ruin the mood! :))

Update 2025: Check out my Wordwall exercises about -kin, -kaan and -kään. 

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it. 
Kiitos, kun luit! Jos pidit postauksesta, voit jakaa sen eteenpäin.
– Hanna

The difference between the Finnish words 'uni' and 'unelma'

Somebody had found this blog by searching dream in Finnish. Kiitos ideasta!

Uni is the dream that you have in the night when you sleep. 

(The bad translations in the parenthesis are there to point out the structure of the expression.)

• Näitkö sinä pahaa unta? - Did you have a nightmare? (Did you see some bad dream?)
• Minä en saanut unta viime yönä. - I didn't get any sleep last night.
• Kauniita unia! - Beautiful dreams! (Sleep well is Nuku hyvin.)
• Minä menen päiväunille. - I'm going to take a nap.  (To daydream is haaveilla or unelmoida.)
• Älä unta näe! - Dream on!  In your dreams! (Don't see a dream.)

Unelma is a dream, a wish.

• Mitä unelmia sinulla on? - What are your dreams? (Which dreams do you have?)
• Mikä sun unelma-ammatti on? - What's your dream job?
• Elän unelmaani! - I'm living my dream!
• Suomi, unelmieni maa! - Finland, the land of my dreams!

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

Swinging in Finnish

Vauhti is speed. In my life, the word is usually used in the context of swinging on a swing set. To push is normally työntää, but when swinging, Finnish children usually yell Anna mulle vauhtia! - Give me some speed! To pump is normally pumpata, but in a swinging context, we talk about ottaa vauhtia - take some speed. To swing is keinua or kiikkua. 

If you go to any Finnish playground and eavesdrop for a while, I'm sure you'll hear at least some of these phrases:

• Mennään keinumaan! - Let's go swinging!
• Minä haluan vauvakeinuun. - I want to go tot he baby swing. 
• Mä haluan hämähäkkikeinuun! - I want to go to the spider swing!
• Anna mulle vauhtia! - Push me!
• Lisää vauhtia! - More speed!
• Kovempaa! - Harder!
• Lujempaa! - Faster!
• Otapa itse vauhtia. - Why don't you pump yourself. 
• Mä en osaa ottaa vauhtia! - I don't know how to pump!
• Pidä kiinni! - Hold on!
• Lisää! - More!
• Joko mennään? - Shall we go already?
• Ei mennä vielä! - Let's not go yet!
• Keinutaan lisää! - Let's swing some more!

aika - melko - melkein

Aika means time, but it also means quite.

• Tämä harjoitus oli aika vaikea.  - This exercise was quite difficult. 
• Viime kerrasta on aika kauan aikaa. - It's been a while since the last time.

Another word for quite is melko, but I just realized that I never say it. I suppose it's a bit more formal than aika. 

• Olen melko tyytyväinen suoritukseesi. - I'm quite satisfied with your performance. 
• Käyn täällä melko usein. - I visit here rather often.

Notice that melko is very often mixed with melkein, which means almost. 

• Se oli melkein oikein! - That was almost correct!
• Mä melkein unohdin sen. - I almost forgot it.
• Mä oon melkein valmis. - I'm almost ready. 

Oh, you might also want to read my post about ihan.

How to use the Finnish words 'tosi', 'todella' and 'oikeasti'

An anonymous reader asked me to clarify the meaning of these three words. I'll try. Kiitos ideasta!

Tosi is true and real, and it's often used in partitive:

• Onko se totta? - Is it true?
• Totta kai! - Of course! (Yes, the direct translation is very illogically True, I suppose)

Here are some expressions with the word tosi that kind of lose their cool in translation:

• Tosi kuin vesi! - True as water!
• Nyt on tosi kyseessä. - It's a serious matter now. 

Tosi is also the spoken language version of todella, which means very. 

Also oikein and hyvin mean very, but they sound more formal and old-fashioned than todella or tosi.

• Todella hyvä asia! = Tosi kiva juttu! - A very nice thing!

Here's how to use todella (or tosi) in front of adjectives and adverbs:

• Tämä on todella tärkeä asia. - This is a very important matter.
• Tämä kakku on todella hyvää. - This cake is really good.
• Se oli todella mielenkiintoinen luento. - It was a very interesting lecture. 
• Mun piti miettiä tätä todella kauan. - I had to think about this for a really long time. 
• Anteeksi. Mä sanoin todella rumasti. - I'm sorry. I said very uglily. 
• Mä olen todella pahoillani. - I'm very sorry. 

Todella can also be used the same way as oikeasti - for real. 

Sometimes (very annoying) people even say aikuisten oikeasti - for adults' real. In spoken language, oikeasti becomes oikeesti.

• Voinko mä oikeasti luottaa sinuun? - Can I really trust you?
• Voit todellakin. - Yes, you certainly can.  (Add kin to make it even stronger.)
• Oikeesti, mä yritin vain auttaa. - For real, I just tried to help. 
• Lupaatko aikuisten oikeesti? - Do you promise, for really real?

If you liked this, you might also like my post about ihan.

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.  

The Finnish E-infinitive

The E-infinitive, or the grammatical structure formerly known as a second infinitive, exists in two different cases: instructive and inessive. If you like infinitives, you could also check out my posts about the MA-infinitive and the A-infinitive.

The instructive:

This one is used when expressing a manner or a style. Take the basic for of the verb and switch the a or ä into e, and add the instructive n.

• nauraa > nauraen: "Joo!", hän sanoi nauraen. - "Yes!", he said laughing. 
• syödä > syöden: Vietin koko illan suklaata syöden. - I spent the whole evening eating chocolate. 
• kävellä > kävellen: Menittekö te sinne kävellen? - Did you go there by foot?
• siivota > siivoten:  Katsoin uutisia keittiötä siivoten. - I was watching the news while tidying up the kitchen. 

If there is an e before the infinitive a or ä, the E-infinitive has ie.

• itkeä > itkien: Tyttö juoksi itkien kotiin. - The girl ran home crying. 
• lähteä > lähtien: Mistä lähtien? - Since when?

Useful phrases:

• totta puhuen - speaking the truth
• suoraan sanoen - saying directly
• vuorotellen - taking turns
• huomisesta lähtien - starting from tomorrow
• näin ollen - (things) being like this, therefore
• vähitellen - little by little 
• ohjeista poiketen - being different from the instructions

Lue lisää: The instructive case 

The inessive:

This one is used when emphasizing that two things happen at the same time. Remember the possessive suffix, if it is a same person who performs both activities.

nauraessani = kun minä nauran
nauraessasi = kun sinä naurat
nauraessaan = kun hän nauraa
nauraessamme = kun me nauramme
nauraessanne = kun te nauratte
nauraessaan = kun he nauravat

• lähettää > lähettäessä: Mikko kaatui lähettäessään tekstiviestiä. - Mikko fell down as he was writing a text message. 
• nousta > noustessa: Noustessaan ylös hän huomasi, että kaikki nauroivat. - As he was getting up he noticed that everyone was laughing. 

If there are two different subjects, put the other person in genitive and forget the possessive suffix. You can also switch the word order.

• Säikähdin Mikon kaatuessa. - I was startled when Mikko fell down.
• Nauroin Mikon noustessa ylös. - I laughed as Mikko got up.
• Mikon noustessa ylös minä nauroin. - As Mikko was getting up, I laughed.

You are more likely to see these E-infinitives in texts than hear people using them in a spontaneous speech. Instead, we'd use a subclause starting with kun:

• Mä säikähdin, kun Mikko kaatui.  - I was startled when Mikko fell down.
• Mä nauroin, kun Mikko nousi ylös. - I  laughed when Mikko got up.

Finally, this is kind of hardcore, but the inessive structure also exists in passive voice:

• Naurettaessa keho ja mieli rentoutuvat. = When people laugh, the body and mind relax.
• Autoa ostettaessa on oltava kärsivällinen. = One must  be patient when buying a car. 
• Tarvittaessa voin työskennellä myös öisin. - When / if needed, I can also work at night. 

The E-infinitives are confusingly close to some of the MA-infinitive forms. Here are sentences that show the difference between keskustellen, keskustellessa, keskustelemalla and keskustelemassa. Keskustella is to have a conversation or to talk, but usually the tone is rather serious or formal.

• Vietimme koko junamatkan keskustellen kokouksesta. - We spent the whole train ride talking about the meeting. 
• Ratkaisimme ongelman keskustelemalla. - We solved the problem by talking.
• Olin neuvotteluhuoneessa keskustelemassa esimieheni kanssa. - I was in a conference room having a conversation with my boss. 
• Meidän keskustellessamme muut olivat pitsalla. - While we were having a conversation, the others were having a pizza.

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 

The Finnish A-infinitive

The official name of what I normally just call the basic form of a verb is the basic form of the A-infinitive. After reading this post you'll know that there is also a translative form of the A-infinitive. I also have a post about the MA-infinitive and the E-infinitive.

Verb in a conjugated form + A-infinitive

In these examples, the first verb is conjugated according to the person, and the second one is in A-infinitive:

• osata: Osaatko uida? - Can you swim? Do you know how to swim? 
• saada: En saa uida, koska olen sairas. - I'm not allowed to swim, because I'm sick.
• voida: En voi uida, koska minulla ei ole uimapukua. - I can't swim, because I don't have a swimming suit.
• jaksaa: Jaksatko uida tuohon saareen? - Do you have the energy to swim to that island?
• tarjeta: Kuinka sinä tarkenet uida noin kylmässä vedessä? - How can you stand the cold when swimming in such a cold water?
• haluta: Haluan uida! - I want to swim! 
• tykätä: Tykkäätkö uida yksin vai muiden kanssa? - Do you like to swim alone or with the others?
• taitaa: Tämä taitaa olla rikki. - This seems to be broken. 

A-infinitive in translative

The translative form of the A-infinitive is used to replace a subclause that starts with the conjunction jotta, which means so that or in order to. Normally the translative ending is ksi, but with this particular verb construction it is kse.

• Tulin kurssille oppiakseni suomea. = Tulin kurssille, jotta oppisin suomea. - I came to the course in order to / so that I would learn Finnish.
• Hän lähti jo kotiin mennäkseen aikaisin nukkumaan. = Hän lähti jo kotiin, jotta hän voisi mennä aikaisin nukkumaan. - He left for home already in order to / so that he would go to sleep early.

Remember the correct possessive suffix:

• oppiakseni - in order for me to learn
• oppiaksesi - in order for you to learn
• oppiakseen or oppiaksensa - in order for him / her to learn
• oppiaksemme - in order for us to learn
• oppiaksenne - in order for you (plural) to learn
• oppiakseen or oppiaksensa - in order for them to learn

As far as ___  

This form isn't very common in spoken language, and usually I'd just use the jotta sentence. However, there are a couple of expressions with the translative structure that are common also in spoken language. Notice how the meaning is a bit different:

• Mun muistaakseni juna lähtee neljältä. - As far as I remember, the train leaves at four o'clock.
• Mun tietääkseni se on naimisissa. - As far as I know, she's married.
• Mun ymmärtääkseni kokous on peruttu. - If I understand correctly, they've cancelled the meeting.

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 

The difference between 'kansa' and 'kanssa'

First of all, kansa means people or nation. Kanssa is with or as well.

• Tulitko sä Matin kanssa? - Did you come with Matti? (Matin kaa in spoken language.)
• Kenen kanssa sä asut? - Who do you live with?
• Mulla menee hermot tämän esseen kanssa! - I'm losing my mind (nerves) with this essay!
• Onko teillä kakkua? Mulle kanssa! - Do you have cake? Some for me, too! (Mulle kans in spoken language.)

Kanssa is sometimes used too much. Usually the adessive ending lla or llä works better, and you might even need a totally different structure in Finnish:

• Syö haarukalla ja veitsellä! - Eat with a fork and knife!
• Kaivoitko tuon kuopan lapiolla vai paljain käsin? - Did you dig that hole with a spade or with your bare hands?
• Ei saa juosta sakset kädessä! - No running with scissors!

Lue lisää: 

• How to say with in Finnish
• Kanssa and mukana

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