How to impress Finnish audience

I don't know how many artists and bands actively study Finnish before their concert tour, but here's a small post for those who want to say something in Finnish and impress their audience.

The concert is probably in the evening, so you can start off by yelling Hyvää iltaa + whatever city you are performing at. That means Good evening. You can check the pronunciation in http://fi.forvo.com/.

• Mitä kuuluu? - How are you?
• Onko teillä kivaa? - Are you having fun?
• Kädet ilmaan! - Put your hands up in the air!
• Te olette mahtava yleisö. - You are an awesome audience. 
• Tämä on uusi laulu. - This is a new song. 
• Kiitos! - Thank you!
• Te olitte mahtava yleisö! - You were an awesome audience!
• Hyvää yötä! - Good night!

Haloo Helsingin Elli. Kuva: Dušan C.

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About the author of this blog:

My name is Hanna Männikkölahti, and I am a native Finn who gives private lessons via Skype and simplifies books into easy Finnish. Please leave a comment, if you have something to ask about Finnish or novels in easy Finnish. 

Lue lisää selkokirjoista: https://privatefinnishlessons.com/books/

How to impress Finnish tourists with your Finnish

This post is inspired by my own struggles with trying to impress French tourists in Hossa a couple of weeks ago. My French was quite awful, but the lady I was talking with seemed happy anyway. Here are some phrases that you can use when talking to Finnish tourists exploring the world:

• Anteeksi, mutta oletteko suomalaisia? - Excuse me, but are you Finnish?
• Kuulin, kun puhuitte suomea. - I heard you speaking Finnish. 
• Joo, kyllä minä puhun vähän suomea. - Yes, I speak some Finnish. 
• Kuinka kauan olette olleet täällä? - How long have you been here?
• Oletteko omatoimimatkalla vai matkatoimiston kautta? - Are you traveling independently or are you here through a traveling agency?
• Oletteko käyneet rannalla? - Have you gone to the beach?
• Oletteko maistaneet sushia? - Have you tasted sushi?
• Oletteko nähneet apinoita? - Have you seen monkeys?
• Oli kiva jutella! - It was nice to talk to you!
• Hauskaa päivänjatkoa! - Have a nice day!

Mitä muuta haluaisit sanoa? What else would you like to say?

Feel free to translate these sentences into your language in the comments! :)

p.s. Schools will start in Finland next week! Have you read my post about a guide for schoolkid's parents in easy Finnish?

Things to know before starting school in Finland

Is your child starting school in Finland in August? Here are some things that first graders should know before the school starts:

Lapsen pitäisi osata... - A child should know how to...

• ...kuoria peruna. - ...peal a potato.
• ...sitoa kengännauhat. - ...tie shoelaces.
• ...käyttää saksia. - ...use scissors.
• ...kirjoittaa oma nimensä. - ...write his or her own name.
• ...tunnistaa kirjaimet ja numerot.- ...recognise letters and numbers.
• ...käydä itsenäisesti vessassa. - ...go to the toilet independently.

Haluatko tietää lisää tästä aiheesta? - Do you want to know more about this topic? 

You might like my e-book in easy Finnish!

The importance of [r] in Finnish

Rolling the Finnish [r] is tricky for many language learners, and also for Finnish kids. Many kids end up visiting a speech therapist if they don't learn the [r] by themselves before they are six years old. The [r] is often replaced by [l] which might cause some confusion and giggling.

How many of these words do you know?

1. hiiri / hiili
2. karkki / kalkki
3. karju / kalju
4. marja / malja
5. murkku / mulkku
6. muuri / muuli
7. ori / oli
8. purkka / pulkka
9. rakastua / lakastua
10. rokki / lokki
11. suora / suola
12. varas / valas

Here are the translations:

1. hiiri / hiili - a mouse / charcoal
2. karkki / kalkki - a candy / calcium, lime
3. karju / kalju - a boar, a hog / bald
4. marja / malja - a berry / a bowl
5. murkku / mulkku - an ant (spoken language for muurahainen) / a dick
6. muuri / muuli - a stonewall / a mule
7. ori / oli - a stallion / (he) was
8. purkka / pulkka - a chewing gum / a sled
9. rakastua / lakastua - to fall in love / to wither, to fade
10. rokki / lokki - rock music / a seagull
11. suora / suola - straight / salt
12. varas / valas - a thief / a whale

Harjoituksia: https://www.pieksamaki.fi/wp-content/uploads/r-aanteen_harjoitteluohjeet.pdf

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 

A guide for a schoolkid's parents in easy Finnish

Being a big fan of Selkouutiset, Selkosanomat and other things written in easy Finnish, I wanted to try writing selkokieli myself. My e-book is called Opas koululaisen vanhemmille, A guide for a schoolkid's parents, and it's all in relatively easy and simple Finnish.

Please share this link with anybody who might be interested: www.bit.ly/selko-koulu.

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About the author of this blog:

My name is Hanna Männikkölahti, and I am a native Finn who gives private lessons via Skype and simplifies books into easy Finnish. Please leave a comment, if you have something to ask about Finnish or novels in easy Finnish. 

Lue lisää selkokirjoista: https://privatefinnishlessons.com/books/

Löyly

If you like and follow all things Finnish, I'm sure you've heard of Löyly. Here's how to book a two-hour sauna turn for you and your friends. The phone number is +358 9 6128 6550.

• Hei, tässä on ________. - Hi, this is __________.
• Haluaisin varata saunavuoron neljälle naiselle / miehelle. - I'd like to book a place in the sauna for four women / men. 
• Onko teillä tilaa maanantaina kuudesta kahdeksaan? - Do you have any vacancy on Monday from six to eight?
• Hieno juttu! - Great!
• Kiitos ja nähdään maanantaina. - Thank you and see you on Monday. 

The 2-hour sauna turn costs 19 euros. Unlike in a regular Finnish sauna, everybody must wear a swimsuit, because the idea is that men and woman will be saunaing together. (And if men and women were taking saunas separately and everyone was naked, the cooling terrace would be full of naked Finnish men scaring all the tourist away.) Apparently, you can bring dogs to the terrace.

Löyly will give you pyyhe (a towel) and pefletti (the thing that you sit on so that you won't burn your pakarat.) The showers will have shampoo, but no hoitoaine (conditioner).

More about Löyly:

• Jasper Pääkkönen talking about Löyly in a Helsingin Sanomat video
• Löyly's Facebook page
• Löyly in New York Times
• Löyly in Finland Today
• Löyly in Ilta-Sanomat

Please leave a comment, if you've already been to Löyly! You can also recommend other public saunas in Helsinki area. Here's an older post about sauna that you might also enjoy.

Body fluids in Finnish

It's time for a list! This time we're talking about body fluids, eritteet. Test yourself and see how many words you already know.

1. hiki
2. kyynelneste
3. lapsivesi
4. lima 
5. mahaneste
6. mätä
7. oksennus
8. räkä
9. siemenneste
10. sperma
11. sylki
12. uloste (kakka)
13. vaikku
14. veri
15. visva
16. virtsa (pissa)

Here are the translations:

1. hiki - sweat
2. kyynelneste - tears
3. lapsivesi - amniotic fluid
4. lima - slime
5. mahaneste - gastric acid
6. mätä - pus
7. oksennus - vomit
8. räkä - snot, nasal mucus
9. siemenneste - semen
10. sperma - sperm
11. sylki - saliva
12. uloste (kakka) - excrement, stool, poop
13. vaikku - earwax
14. veri - blood
15. visva - pus
16. virtsa (pissa) - urine, pee

Other fun lists:

• Words with one consonant and two vowels
• 100 very common Finnish words
• Words that are both Finnish and English

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

Place adverbs 'here' and 'there'

These eighteen (!) words are known to be quite tricky, so be patient. 
All the examples are from my previous posts about these three pronouns: 

• tämä
• tuo
• se

tässä, tästä, tähän
A small area that is close to the speaker:

• Odota tässä vähän aikaa. - Wait here for a while. 
• Ota tästä nenäliina. - Take a tissue from here. 
• Istu tähän odottamaan. - Sit (to) here to wait.

täällä, täältä, tänne
A larger area such as a room, a town or a country:

• Hei, me ollaan täällä! - Hey, we are over here!
• Täältä on Helsinkiin 200 kilometriä. - It's 200 kilometers to Helsinki from here. 
• Tulkaa tänne! - Come (to) over here!

tuossa, tuosta, tuohon (tossa, tosta, tohon)
A small area that you can see and  point at:

• Tuossa on kirjoitusvirhe. - There's a spelling mistake. 
• Ota tuosta lisää paperia. - Take more paper from there. 
• Allekirjoita tuohon.  Sign (to) there.

tuolla, tuolta, tuonne (tuolla, tuolta, tonne)
A larger area that you can see and point at:

• Mitä tuolla tapahtuu? - What's happening over there?
• Mä ostin tuolta eilen uuden takin. - I bought a new jacket from there yesterday.
• Laita se tuonne. - Put it over there.

siinä, siitä, siihen
A small area that you cannot see or that is close to the recipient:

• Siinä sinä olet! - There you are!
• Ota siitä kahvia. - Take some coffee from there. 
• Kirjoita siihen sun nimi. - Write your name (to) there. 

siellä, sieltä, sinne
A larger area that you cannot see or that is close to the recipient:

• Mitä te teette siellä? - What are you doing over there?
• Tulkaa pois sieltä! - Get out of there!
• Menettekö te sinne autolla vai junalla? - Are you going (to) there by car or by bus?

Related posts:

• Se
• Tämä
• Tuo
• Siellä, sieltä and sinne
• Talking about nowhere and somewhere 

If you like my blog, you might also like my Facebook page and my Instagram account.

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

Being pregnant in Finnish

When a woman is expecting a child in Finnish, she's raskaana, which literally means in a heavy condition. (Raskas means heavy.)  Here are some common pregnancy-related phrases:

• Oletko kuullut kuka odottaa vauvaa? - Have you heard who is expecting a baby?
• Mun sisko on raskaana. - My sister is pregnant.
• Meille tulee vauva! - We're going to have a baby!
• Villestä tulee isoveli. - Ville is going to be a big brother. 
• Sinä saat pikkusiskon. - You're going to have a little sister.
• Laskettu aika on lokakuussa.  - The expected due date is in October. 
• Onkohan Tiina raskaana? - I wonder if Tiina is pregnant. (Notice that it is not polite to ask a woman if she's pregnant!)

These posts might also be useful, if you are pregnant:

• Pharmacy shopping in Finnish
• Giving birth in Finnish
• Arranging a playdate in Finnish

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  

How to wish for a nice day in Finnish

I'm sure that many of you know that Have a nice weekend is Hyvää viikonloppua in Finnish. These ones might also be useful:

• Hauskaa loppuviikkoa! - Have a fun rest of the week!
• Hyvää päivänjatkoa! - Have a nice rest of the day!
• Mukavaa sunnuntaita! - Have a nice Sunday!
• Hauskaa koulupäivää! - Have a nice day at school!
• Kivaa työpäivää! - Have a nice day at work!

Hyvää ensimmäistä koulupäivää! 
Have a great first day of school!

Related posts:

• Things to say when going to sleep
• Being nice in Finnish

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About the author of this blog:  

My name is Hanna Männikkölahti, and I am a native Finn who gives private lessons via Skype and simplifies books into easy Finnish. Please leave a comment, if you have something to ask about Finnish or novels in easy Finnish.

Lue selkokirja. Se voi olla yllättävän helppoa ja kivaa!
www.privatefinnishlessons.com/books