Teach Yourself Finnish
V1.4 - rel. date 13.06.1995.
Another great release from Dirk Gently.
WORD is recommended- both MS-LOSS (>=5.0) and Windoze versions will work (without seeing the italic, bold and underlined chars, and other facilities Word offers it'd be EXTREMLY hard for you to understand this E-book!)
I've also corrected the grammar mistakes of the book- it's almost error-free right now. So, if you don't understand something (lit. you encounter something illogical) in the original book, just look around in this file. I'm sure to give you the necessary information.
You can find me on the iRC in case of very urgent questions related to the Finnish language.
As regards the casette, we are working on digitising it. If you CAN offer us approx. 100MB free space on your FTP site, we are sure to FTP you the digitised casette :)
Release history: the release of this book was a real pain in the ass as Version 1.1 was faulty- there were problems with my compy and I didn't realise that V1.1's header had been destroyed. When I was told that there weren't bold/italic etc... chars in the file, I checked it and voil - I was taken aback, as I had to re-scan the last chapters, correct, re-format, re-bold/italic etc... :-(. Well, but at last, I'm proud of presenting this book :). V1.4 differs from V1.3 only a little (all the errors have been corrected, etc).
About my next releases: I don't have too much time to waste on scanning. I may scan some new books in June- but definitely not earlier (I have to learn, damn... I haven't attended a damn lesson this semester and it's middle of April :(). Colloquial Estonian and Colloquial Hungarian will be scanned soon - I'd like to build all the available books on the Holy Trinity :-)
And I'd like to reassure ALL of you: I think Finnish is the easiest language I know. It's easy even for non-Estonians or non-Hungarians. Extrely logical, there are only a few irregular verbs, one has to learn only ONE case (infinitive or nominative) without problems in building the other cases (e.g. German sucks because of its plural and genders; Estonian sucks, because one has to learn not only the nominative form but also the genitive suffix (Estonian is an unlearnable language if one doesn't know Finnish or, at least, Hungarian); English sucks due to its absolutely illogical pronunciation). INTRODUCTION
Tervetuloa opiskelemaan suomea!
Welcome to studying Finnish!
Teach Yourself Finnish is a functional course intended for learners with no previous knowledge of Finnish. It aims to teach you to communicate in Finnish and to use the language for a given purpose, in a practical way. As far as possible the language used in the dialogues reflects the language used by native speakers in standard Finnish.
The course can also be used by students with some previous knowledge of Finnish to revise and consolidate their language skills.
The language is taught in a cultural context as part of everyday life in Finland. The aim is to familiarise the student with the Finns, their customs, the climate and the country.
The dialogues try to, as far as possible, reflect the kind of language appropriate to the subject of each unit. Therefore it is also necessary for the student to learn to deduce the meaning of what is being said or to get the gist of the conversation. This is, after all, what you have to do in real life. You cannot know all the words and you have to use some guesswork. There is a vocabulary section with all the new words, but try not to become too reliant on it.
The first five units are a survival package. They give a basic introduction to the kind of language you need when you visit the country. Unit 1 covers introductions and greetings, which can be used by an occasional visitor to the country as well as by a more serious student of the language. In the later units you will become familiar with many aspects of Finnish life as well as the language.
The grammar is taught as it occurs naturally in each unit. It is up to you to determine the speed at which you advance through the course. At the end of the course you should be able to communicate in most everyday situations, while visiting Finland.
The emphasis is on the communicative aspect of the language. There are many phrases in the first five units which are best learned as phrases. The grammar explaining the structure of the phrases has intentionally been left to later units.
The Finnish language is very different from English. It is an inflectional language, which means it has endings and cases added to the words. Because the vocabulary bears no resemblance to other major world languages, it is important for the student to develop his or her own way of learning vocabulary. You can do this for example by testing yourself using lists or flash cards. Finnish has many loan-words from other languages particularly, now, from English.
Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland with about 4.9 million speakers. The other is Swedish which is spoken by about 5 per cent of Finns as their first language. There are about 250 000 Finns in Sweden, many of whom speak Finnish as their mother tongue. Estonian and Hungarian are the nearest major linguistic relatives to Finnish.
Finnish belongs to the Finno-Ugrian language group. There are also several Finnic languages spoken in the western parts of Russia.
How to use the book
Read the introduction in English at the beginning of each dialogue before you read or listen to the dialogue. The dialogues marked with 'TAPE' appear on the cassette which accompanies this book. To develop a good knowledge of pronunciation, you are strongly advised to use the cassette if possible. The introductions give you the context of the dialogues.
Then study the dialogue. The vocabulary after the dialogue gives you the meanings of the new words and the main phrases. Words from all units can be found in the Finnish-English vocabulary at the end of the book.
There are several dialogues in each unit. After the dialogues in the Hyvä tietää section you will find explanations of the new material, as well as useful facts connected with the subject matter of the dialogues. There are also many new words in this section. Learning these words is optional and up to the individual student. This vocabulary teaches additional words, which might be useful when visiting Finland or talking to Finns elsewhere.
Grammatical points are explained as they appear. There are tables for learning the full conjugation of verbs and paradigms of nouns, adjectives and pronouns. How you absorb the grammar is up to you. The vocabulary section gives the main parts of each new word.
When you feel confident with the material in the unit, you can check your understanding by completing the tasks in the Harjoitellaan! section. The exercises are designed to practise communication. There are some grammar exercises as well, but the main emphasis is on communication.
To complete the unit there is a further dialogue with a vocabulary, which can be used as additional material on the subject and as a comprehension piece.
This is one way of using the course which you can vary to suit your own needs.
The cassette contains selected material from the units. The book can be used without the cassette, but in this case you should try to listen to Finnish spoken by native speakers whenever possible. Reading aloud helps you to increase your confidence in pronunciation. Try to use Finnish whenever you get a chance.
You can listen to the Finnish radio. For details of the wavelengths, write to: Suomen Yleisradio, Radio Finland, Box 10, 00241 Helsinki, Finland.
Finnish words are very different from English ones, so it is a good idea to develop your own system of memorising words. Try learning in an environment that makes you feel relaxed. Make sure you set yourself realistic goals. You don't need any magic to learn Finnish, just a little bit of that famous Finnish characteristic sisu (guts, perseverence - whatever you'd like to call it) and a little bit of hard work. Hiljaa hyvä tulee as the Finns say: Slowly does it!
Symbols and abbreviations
'TAPE' Indicates that the cassette can be used for the following section.
'DIALOG' indicates a dialogue.
'PRACTISE' This indicates exercises - activities where you can practise using the language.
'WORDS' indicates key words and phrases after every conversation.
'GRAMMAR' indicates grammar explanations - the nuts and bolts of the language.
Abbreviations used in this book are: adj. = adjective, n. = noun, part. = participle, cond. = conditional, neg. = negative, gen. = genitive.
General remarks about Finnish
Finnish is a phonetic language. Each sound is represented by one letter and each leTter represents only that one sound (see later for nk and ng). There are eight letters for vowels in Finnish:
i e ä y ö a u o
and 13 letters for consonants:
p t k d g s h v j l r m n
The consonants b, c, f, w, g and z appear only in words of foreign origin.
All the vowels can appear in short or long form.
For example u or uu, a or aa, etc.
The consonants can also be long or short. This means they can appear single or double - k or kk;, t or tt, p or pp. When the consonants appear in double, they always belong to two different syllables: kuk-ka, tyt-tö, pap-pi (- indicates syllable division).
The consonants d, h, v and j appear only in the short form, that is singly.
It is important to distinguisb between the short and the long forms! The number of vowels and consonants is important as you can see in this example:
tuli fire
tuuli wind
tulli customs
Finnish has no gender
There are no separate feminine, masculine or neuter words.
Finnish has no article
The difference between a and the is expressed for instance by the word order.
For example:
Kukka on pöydällä. The flower is on the table.
Pöydällä on kukka. There is a flower on the table.
The stress
The stress is always on the first syllable. The stress is not marked in writing:
Suomi, Helsinki, sisu, sauna
In a compound word the first syllable of the second component is
also stressed:
matkasekki, pankkikortti, huoltoasema
In longer words a secondary stress is placed on the third or sometimes the fourth syllable.
suomalainen, helsinkiläinen
Syllable division
Syllable division marks the natural break in the word. When you know where the syllables divide you can divide a word into its natural sections. This makes saying words, particularly those famous Finnish long words, much easier. You also acquire a natural speech rhythm. The dash - is used below to indicate the syllable division.
Finnish words divide into syllables:
Before one consonant
ta-lo house
Suo-mi Finland
ku-va picture
Between two consonants
tyt-tö girl
kuk-ka flower
Lah-ti Lahti (town in Southern Finland)
Mik-ke-li Mäkkeli (town in Eastern Finland)
Before the last consonants in a group of three
pank-ki bank
mark-ka mark
kort-ti card
Between two vowels that do not form a diphthong (see below for the list of diphthongs)
rus-ke-a brown
lu-en I read
ha-lu-ai-sin I would like
ra-di-o radio
pi-an soon
A syllable which ends in a consonant is called a closed syllable. A syllable which ends in a vowel is called an open syllable.
Harjoitellaan ! Let's practise!
Read the following phrases. Pay particular attention to the rhythm of the word and remember the stress.
O-len suo-ma-lai-nen. I am Finnish.
A-sun Jo-en-suus-sa. I live in Joensuu.
Pu-hun suo-me-a. I speak Finnish.
O-len työs-sä tie-to-ko-ne-fir-mas-sa. I work in a computer company.
Divide the words below into syllables and then practise saying them.
Suomen Yleisradio Alkoholiliike
Koskenkorva Rauma-Repola
Mauno Koivisto Neste
Nokia Outokumpu
Marimekko Kone
Aarikka Mannerheimintie
Žäntäminen
Pronunciation
Vokaalit The Vowels
Here are the Finnish vowels.
a o u a o y i e
All approximations of the sounds are given as in standard Southern English. The sounds are best learned from a native speaker or from the cassette which accompanies this book. Do listen carefully to the sounds on the cassette, if you have it. Whenever possible practise them with a native speaker. Reading aloud will increase your confidence, so try it. If possible, record your own voice and try to compare your pronunciation to that of a native speaker. Pay particular attention to the short and long vowels and the single and double consonants.
The long vowel is a continuous sound, where the two vowels glide into one.
Comparisons in English are given, as guidelines only, where there is a close enough approximation to the Finnish sound.
TAPE
short vowel long vowel
a as in hut, but broader aa as in calm, but slightly longer
mutta but taas again
ja and ahaa aah...
o as in rot, but more open oo as in taught, but more open
jo already joo yes
no... well... haloo hello (on the phone)
u as in book, but more open uu as in boom, but longer
kuka who? mitä muuta? what else?
usein often muuten... by the way...
ä as in cat or bat ää as in cat or bat, but double the length
missä? where? hyvää päivää good day!
tässä here sisään! come in!
ö as in better öö as in murder, but longer and broader
höpöhöpö nonsense insinööri engineer
söpö cute likööri liqueur
y as in French bureau, but more open
yy as in bureau, but double the length yksi one tyyli style
yleensä generally spenking myyjä sales assistant
i as in sit ii as in seat
kippis! cheers! kiitos thank you
hyvin well niin so
e as in net ee as in net, but double the length ehkä perhaps ja niin edelleen and so on
hetkinen! just a moment! eteenpäin straight on
Vowels also appear in set combinations. These are called diphthongs. They are two vowel sounds pronounced one after the other as a continous sound. They always belong to the same syllable.
ai ei ui oi yi äi öi au eu iu ou äy öy ie uo yö
ai as in bike ei as in eight
vain only ei no
aina always okei ok
oi as in boy ui as in French Lui
noin approximately kuinka monta? how many?
voi oh, dear kuitenkin howewer
yi äi
hyi! yak! näin like this
lyijytön lead-free äiti mother
öi ie as in French ciel
silloin tällöin now and then vielä still
öisin at night time siellä there
uo as in poor yö
Suomi Finland myös also
tuo that hyvää yötä! good night!
au as in South eu
sauna sauna bath seuraava next
kaunis pretty, beautiful seura company
iu ou
tiukka tight kokous meeting
hiukset hair joulu Christmas
äy öy
t...
necia9