Phrases for the break room
The printable notebook is a practical tool for a multilingual workplace. It provides useful phrases for Finnish language learners and tips for colleagues to support language learning.
Video: Phrases for the break room
Colloquial and standard use of language
All phrases are also given in standard Finnish (so called "kirjakieli") and in English. Listen to the phrases and learn what is the difference between colloquial and standard use of language.
"Hei ootsä menos syömään?"
| Standard | Hei, oletko (sinä) menossa syömään? |
|---|---|
| English | Are you going to lunch? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The verb olla has its colloquial forms: olet → oot. Check this video by Kielibuusti for more info: Verbien persoonataivutus ja pikapuhemuodot.
- The interrogative ending -ko/-kö changes in spoken language. However, there are multiple ways how. In second singular (so called sinä-questions) the -ko/-kö element is missing and instead -sä gets added in the end of the verb: oot+sä menos syömään / tuut+sä kokoukseen / meet+sä kauppaan?
- Also, you can hear that this is a question because of the word order: Sä oot menos syömään (= declarative sentence) vs Oot sä menos syömään? (= interrogative sentence).
- Personal pronouns have colloquial forms, like sinä is replaced with sä in the example above. However, this depends on the dialect and other variations could be sie or sää. Personal pronouns (mä, sä, se, me, te, ne) are frequently used in colloquial speech.
- The locative cases shorten in colloquial Finnish. In this example inessive -ssa/-ssä is dropping two final letters: menossa → menos.
"Onpa pahaa kahvia!"
| Standard | Onpa pahaa kahvia! |
|---|---|
| English | This coffee is so bad! |
"Tuoksuupa hyvältä!"
| Standard | Tuoksuupa hyvältä! |
|---|---|
| English | Mmm smells good! |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The clitic (= liitepartikkeli) -pa/-pä is attached to the end of the word to add additional nuance or subtlety to the overall sentence meaning. In this example, using the ending makes the argument stronger.
- Using the clitic -pa/-pä adds the additional nuance of surprise or amazement in the second phrase.
"Hei osaatsä auttaa? Miten tää mikro toimii?"
| Standard | Hei, osaatko (sinä) auttaa? Miten tämä mikro toimii? |
|---|---|
| English | Can you help me? How does this microwave work? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The interrogative ending -ko/-kö changes in spoken language. However, there are multiple ways how. In second singular (so called sinä-questions) the -ko/-kö element is missing and instead -sä gets added in the end of the verb: osaat+sä auttaa / tuut+sä kokoukseen / meet+sä kauppaan.
- The demonstrative pronouns tämä/nämä ja tuo/nuo have colloquial forms, like tämä is replaced with tää in the example.
"Tää kahviautomaatti on taas rikki."
| Standard | Tämä kahviautomaatti on taas rikki. |
|---|---|
| English | This coffee machine is broken again. |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The demonstrative pronouns tämä/nämä ja tuo/nuo have colloquial forms, like tämä is replaced with tää in the example.
- Generally, the demonstrative pronouns are used more frequently in colloquial Finnish. Check the video on Kielibuusti’s Youtube channel for more info: Persoona- ja demonstratiivipronominit puhe- ja kirjakielessä.
"Onks nää puhtait vai likasii?"
| Standard | Ovatko nämä puhtaita vai likaisia? |
|---|---|
| English | Are these clean or dirty? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The interrogative ending -ko/-kö changes in colloquial language, in this example to -ks: onko → onks.
- The demonstrative pronouns tämä/nämä ja tuo/nuo have colloquial forms, like nämä is replaced with nää in the example.
- In colloquial Finnish verbs following the pronouns ne, nämä and nuo, are conjugating in the third person singular instead of the plural: nämä ovat → nämä on.
- Generally, words shorten in colloquial Finnish. This often happens when the final vowel is -a or -ä, in this case vowel -a is dropped: puhtaita → puhtait.
- Sometimes vowel sequences -ia/-iä and -ea/-eä in the end of the word lose the a/ä and double the i or e: likaisia → likaisii, kieliä → kielii, vaikea → vaikee.
"Miks kukaan ei ikinä haluu tyhjentää tätä?"
| Standard | Miksi kukaan ei ikinä halua tyhjentää tätä? |
|---|---|
| English | Why does no one ever want to empty this? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- In colloquial Finnish, words are very often shortened by dropping vowels at the end of the word: miksi → miks.
- Sometimes vowel sequences ending in -a/-ä in the end of the word can assimilate resulting in a long vowel: halua → haluu.
"Hei mis tääl on haarukoit?"
| Standard | Hei, missä täällä on haarukoita? |
|---|---|
| English | Where can I find forks? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The locative cases often shorten in colloquial Finnish. In this example inessive -ssa/-ssä and adessive -lla/-llä are both dropping two final letters: missä → mis, täällä → tääl.
- In colloquial Finnish, words are very often shortened by dropping vowels at the end of the word: haarukoita → haarukoit.
"Meneeks tää sekajätteeseen vai kartonkiin? Tiätsä mihin tää pitää laittaa?"
| Standard | Meneekö tämä sekajätteeseen vai kartonkiin? Tiedätkö (sinä), mihin tämä pitää laittaa? |
|---|---|
| English | Should I put this in the general trash, or should this be recycled? Do you know where I should put this? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The interrogative ending -ko/-kö changes in colloquial language, in the first case to -ks: meneekö → meneeks. In second singular (so called sinä-questions) the -ko/-kö element is missing and instead -sä gets added in the end of the verb: tiätsä. In colloquial speech -d sounds are sometimes lost: tiedät → tiiät/tiät + kö + sinä → tiät+sä.
- Tietsä and tiekkö are sometimes used as filler words the same way as in English “you know”.
- The demonstrative pronouns tämä/nämä ja tuo/nuo have colloquial forms, like tämä is replaced with tää in the example.
"Onks tää biojätettä?"
| Standard | Onko tämä biojätettä? |
|---|---|
| English | Is this biowaste? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The interrogative ending -ko/kö changes in colloquial language, in this example to -ks: onko → onks.
- The demonstrative pronouns tämä/nämä ja tuo/nuo have colloquial forms, like tämä is replaced with tää in the example.
"Hyi, tää biojäte haisee!"
| Standard | Hyi, tämä biojäte haisee! |
|---|---|
| English | Ugh, the biowaste smells! |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Hyi is an interjection used to express disgust or disdain, like English “yuck” or “ew”.
- The demonstrative pronouns have colloquial forms, like tämä is replaced with tää in the example.
"Ootko sä menossa siihen iltapäivän kokoukseen / huomiseen palaveriin?"
| Standard | Oletko (sinä) menossa iltapäivän kokoukseen / huomiseen palaveriin? |
|---|---|
| English | Are you planning to go to the afternoon’s meeting / to tomorrow’s meeting? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Personal pronouns (mä, sä, se, me, te, ne) are very frequently used in colloquial speech. Check this video by Kielibuusti for more info: Persoona- ja deomonstratiivipronominit puhekielessä.
- Finnish does not have definite or indefinite articles. However, in colloquial speech the pronoun se is sometimes used like a definite article, similar to the definite article “the” in English: söin sen sun tuoman kakun / soitin sille opelle / meetsä siihen iltapäivän kokoukseen.
"Hei sulla oli tosi hyvä esitys!"
| Standard | Hei, sinulla oli tosi hyvä esitys! |
|---|---|
| English | Your presentation was really good! |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Minulla on -sentence structure indicates possession (= omistuslause) and pronouns have their colloquial variants: sinulla → sulla.
"Hirvee kiire koko ajan."
| Standard | Minulla on hirveä kiire koko ajan. |
|---|---|
| English | I’m horribly busy all the time. |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Sometimes vowel sequences -ia/-iä and -ea/-eä in the end of the word lose the a/ä and double the i or e: hirveä → hirvee, likaisia → likaisii, kieliä → kielii, vaikea → vaikee.
"Mitä sä teit viikonloppuna?"
| Standard | Mitä (sinä) teit viikonloppuna? |
|---|---|
| English | What did you do on the weekend? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Personal pronouns (mä, sä, se, me, te, ne) are frequently used in colloquial speech. Check this video by Kielibuusti for more info: Persoona- ja demonstratiivipronominit puhe- ja kirjakielessä.
"Harmi että loma loppu jo."
| Standard | Harmi, että loma loppui jo. |
|---|---|
| English | Too bad the holidays are over. |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The final -i of the diphthongs can be dropped: loppui → loppu.
"Oli kyllä ihana loma!"
| Standard | Minulla oli ihana loma! |
|---|---|
| English | I had a great holiday! |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The word kyllä is used to emphasize and make the statement stronger.
- Keep in mind that the usage of kyllä varies: 1. ikävä kyllä = unfortunately yes, 2. no ei kyllä käy = well no, that won´t do, 3. oli kyllä ihana loma = it was indeed a lovely vacation. In these examples, kyllä serves different functions, emphasizing affirmation, denial, or reinforcing a statement's sentiment.
"Mitä sä oot tekemässä kesälomalla / jouluna / vappuna / pääsiäisenä / talvilomalla?"
| Standard | Mitä olet tekemässä...? |
|---|---|
| English | What are you plans for summer holiday / Xmas / Mayday / Easter / winter break? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Personal pronouns (mä, sä, se, me, te, ne) are very frequently used in colloquial speech. Check this video by Kielibuusti for more info: Persoona- ja demonstratiivipronominit puhe- ja kirjakielessä.
- Olla-verb has its colloquial forms: olet → oot. Check this video by Kielibuusti for more info: Verbien persoonataivutus ja pikapuhemuodot.
"Katoitko eilen Suomi-Brasilia-pelin / futista / lätkää / hiihtoa?"
| Standard | Katsoitko eilen Suomi-Brasilia-pelin / jalkapalloa / jääkiekkoa / hiihtoa? |
|---|---|
| English | Did you watch the Finland-Brazil game / the football game / the hockey match / the skiing competition yesterday? |
"Meinaatko kattoo matsin tänään / jääkiekko-ottelun / hiihtokilpailun?"
| Standard | Aiotko katsoa pelin / jääkiekko-ottelun / hiihtokilpailun tänään? |
|---|---|
| English | Are you planning to watch the game / the hockey match / the skiing competition today? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The consonant compounds often change in colloquial speech. In the first -ts changes to -t and in the second one to -tt: katsoitko → katoitko, katsoa → kattoo.
- Sometimes vowel sequences ending in -a/-ä in the end of the word can assimilate resulting in a long vowel: katsoa → kattoo.
- Loan words are popular in colloquial speech: football → futis, a match → matsi.
- Colloquial use of vocabulary:
- Lätkä = jääkiekko. Fun fact: lätkä also means the puck.
- Meinata:
- aikoa, suunnitella = plan to, intend to: Meinaatko mennä niihin Julian juhliin? = Are you planning to go to Julia´s party?
- tarkoittaa; arvella, ajatella = to mean: Mitä sä meinaat? = What do you mean?
"Mikäs on sun Euroviisusuosikki tänä vuonna?"
| Standard | Mikä on (sinun) Euroviisusuosikkisi tänä vuonna? |
|---|---|
| English | What’s your favourite Eurovision song this year? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- When added to the end of interrogative words, like "mikä" or "millä", the clitic (= liitepartikkeli) -s adds a tone of familiarity to the question.
- The colloquial genitive forms mun and sun are commonly used in spoken Finnish. Sometimes, these are combined with possessive suffixes, although in second singular, the final -i in the suffix might be omitted: sun kirjas. However, it is quite common to omit the possessive suffixes entirely in speech, relying only mun and sun for indicating possesion: mun kahvi, sun kirja.
"Siis mä en kestä sitä yhtä Euroviisubiisiä!"
| Standard | En kestä yhtä Euroviisu-kappaletta! |
|---|---|
| English | I can’t bear to listen to this one Eurovision song! |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The word siis can be used at the beginning of an exclamation to express eagerness or a sense of enthusiasm.
- Personal pronouns (mä, sä, se, me, te, ne) are very frequently used in colloquial speech. Check this video by Kielibuusti for more info: Persoona- ja demonstratiivipronominit puhe- ja kirjakielessä.
- Colloquial use of words: biisi = kappale = a song.
- Finnish does not have definite or indefinite articles. However, in colloquial speech the pronoun se is sometimes used like a definite article, similar to the definite article “the” in English: en kestä sitä sun siskoa / söin sen sun tuoman kakun / soitin sille opelle / meetsä siihen iltapäivän kokoukseen.
"Hei mä olin muuten eilen tosi kivalla keikalla!"
| Standard | Olin muuten eilen tosi kivalla keikalla! |
|---|---|
| English | By the way, I went to a really nice gig yesterday! |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- At the beginning of a sentence, the particle hei is used as a focus particle (= huomionkohdistin) to draw attention to something important or noteworthy.
- Personal pronouns (mä, sä, se, me, te, ne) are very frequently used in colloquial speech. Check this video by Kielibuusti for more info: Persoona- ja demonstratiivipronominit puhe- ja kirjakielessä.
- Muuten is used as a discourse marker to draw attention to something that is about to be said.
"Seuraatko sä politiikkaa?"
| Standard | Seuraatko (sinä) politiikkaa? |
|---|---|
| English | Do you follow politics? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Personal pronouns (mä, sä, se, me, te, ne) are very frequently used in colloquial speech. Check this video by Kielibuusti for more info: Persoona- ja demonstratiivipronominit puhe- ja kirjakielessä.
"Ootsä käyny jo äänestämässä?"
| Standard | Oletko (sinä) käynyt jo äänestämässä? |
|---|---|
| English | Did you already vote? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Olla-verb has its colloquial forms: olet → oot.
- The interrogative ending -ko/-kö changes in spoken language. However, there are multiple ways how. In second singular (so called sinä-questions) the -ko/-kö element is missing and instead -sä gets added in the end of the verb: oot-ko → oot-sä.
- The final t of the past participle -nut/-nyt can be dropped: käynyt → käyny.
"Milläs sä tuut yliopistolle?"
| Standard | Millä (sinä) tulet yliopistolle? |
|---|---|
| English | How do you commute to the university? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- When added to the end of interrogative words, like "mikä" or "millä", the clitic (= liitepartikkeli) -s adds a tone of familiarity to the question: millä+s?
- Personal pronouns (mä, sä, se, me, te, ne) are very frequently used in colloquial speech. Check this video by Kielibuusti for more info: Persoona- ja demonstratiivipronominit puhe- ja kirjakielessä.
- The verb tulla has colloquial variations also known as verbien pikapuhemuodot. For example, tulet becomes tuut in informal speech, with the stem changing from tule- to tuu-. Check the video by Kielibuusti for more info: Verbien pikapuhemuodot.
"Juna oli tänään ihan täynnä."
| Standard | Juna oli tänään täynnä. |
|---|---|
| English | The train was completely full today. |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The intensifier ihan can be used in two ways. It tends to diminish the intensity of positive adjectives while strengthening that of negative ones: ihan hyvä ‘fairly good’ vs ihan hirvee ‘really bad’.
"Tänään oli kyl aamulla ihan törkeen kylmä."
| Standard | Tänään oli todella kylmä aamulla. |
|---|---|
| English | It was terribly cold in the morning. |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Kyllä and shortened kyl are used to emphasize and make the statement stronger.
- The intensifier ihan can be used in two ways.
- It diminishes the intensity of some basic positive adjectives while strengthening that of negative ones: ihan hyvä ‘fairly good’, ihan kiva 'fairly nice', ihan hieno 'pretty nice', ihan mukava 'quite nice', ihan ookoo 'pretty ok'.
- When it is used next to a very positive or negative adjectives, it strengthens the meaning: ihan hirvee 'really awful', ihan kamala 'really horrible', ihan sairas 'totally weird' or ihan huippu 'the top', ihan mieletön 'totally great', ihan paras 'the best of the best'. This is why it wouldn't work to say for example *ihan upee, because upee (upea, 'gorgeous') means something very positive.
- ihan can also be used in a chain of intensifiers: ihan sairaan hieno 'super cool', ihan hirveän huono 'totally bad', ihan törkeen kylmä 'super cold'. Remember to put the second intensifier in the genitive case (-n). You can read more about the use of ihan and how to replace it from this blog post by Hanna Männikkölahti.
- Colloquial use of an adjective törkeä is used to emphasize. Also, sometimes vowel sequences -ia/-iä and -ea/-eä in the end of the word lose the a/ä and double the i or e: törkeän → törkeen.
"Ihana ilma tänään! Vihdoinki aurinko paistaa!"
| Standard | Ihana ilma tänään! Vihdoin(kin) aurinko paistaa! |
|---|---|
| English | Such nice weather today. Finally, the sun is shining! |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The adverb vihdoin is frequently used with the clitic -kin that indicates the positivity of the statement. The ending can be used in both standard and colloquial language.
- Words ending in -n often shorten: vihdoinkin → vihdoinki, eilen → eile, ollaan → ollaa, en → e, onkin → onki.
"Eile oli kyllä iha hirvee sää."
| Standard | Eilen oli ihan hirveä sää. |
|---|---|
| English | Quite horrible weather yesterday! |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Words ending in -n often shorten: vihdoinkin → vihdoinki, eilen → eile, ollaan → ollaa, en → e, ihan → iha.
- The intensifiers (= vahvistussana) kyllä and ihan are used to make the statement stronger.
- Sometimes vowel sequences -ia/-iä and -ea/-eä in the end of the word lose the a/ä and double the i or e: hirveä → hirvee.
"Ai, onko sullaki kissa?"
| Standard | Onko sinullakin kissa? / Onko sinulla myös kissa? |
|---|---|
| English | Oh, you also have a cat? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Discourse markers, like ai in the example, are used to show interest and reaction: ai with an excited intonation indicates surprise.
- Words ending in -n often shorten. The clitic (= liitepartikkeli) -kin shortens and will drop the final -n: -kin → -ki. In this example the meaning is myös “as well”.
- The personal pronouns have colloquial variants: sinulla → sulla.
"Mikä sen nimi on? Kuinka vanha se on?"
| Standard | This is standard use of language. Generally, animals are referred to as se. However, keep in mind that often pet owners will refer to their pets with the pronoun hän and depending on the situation you might want to use that too: Mikä hänen nimensä on? Kuinka vanha hän on? |
|---|---|
| English | What’s its name? How old is it? |
"Tosi kiva paita! Mistä toi on?"
| Standard | Todella kiva paita! Mistä tuo on? |
|---|---|
| English | Your shirt is super nice. Where did you get it? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Tosi is a colloquial intensifier, more formal would be todella or erittäin.
- The demonstrative pronouns tämä/nämä ja tuo/nuo have colloquial forms, like tuo is replaced with toi in the example.
"Hei sullon uus tukka! Aika hieno!"
| Standard | Hei sinulla on uusi leikkaus/kampaus/uudet hiukset. Aika hieno! |
|---|---|
| English | Hey, you have a new haircut. Pretty nice! |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Minulla on -structure (= omistusrakenne) has colloquial forms: sinulla on → sulla/sul on. In spoken language the words are pronounced so quickly that two words can sound like one.
- It is common to drop the final vowel: uusi → uus.
- Aika serves as an adverb of intensity, similar in meaning to melko, and expresses a mild degree of emphasis, equivalent to "fairly" or "pretty" in English.
"Hei ootsä käyny kampaajalla? Toi leikkaus sopii sulle tosi kivasti."
| Standard | Oletko (sinä) käynyt kampaajalla? Tuo leikkaus sopii sinulle todella kivasti! |
|---|---|
| English | Did you cut your hair? That haircut suits you so well. |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The verb olla has its colloquial forms: olet → oot.
- The interrogative ending -ko/-kö changes in spoken language. However, there are multiple ways how. In second singular (so called sinä-questions) the -ko/-kö element is missing and instead -sä gets added in the end of the verb: oot-ko → oot-sä.
- The final -t of the past participle -nut/-nyt can be dropped: käynyt → käyny.
- The demonstrative pronouns tämä/nämä ja tuo/nuo have colloquial forms, like tuo is replaced with toi in the example.
- The personal pronouns have their colloquial variants: sinulle → sulle.
- Tosi is a colloquial intensifier (= vahvistussana), more formal would be todella or erittäin.
"Mitäs sinne karonkkaan muuten pitää laittaa päälle? Pitäskö siel olla puku? Musta puku? Kravatti? "
| Standard | Mitä karonkkaan pitää laittaa päälle? Pitäisikö siellä olla puku? Musta puku? Kravatti? |
|---|---|
| English | By the way, what should I wear at the party after the doctoral defense? Should I wear a suit? A black suit? A tie? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- When added to the end of interrogative words, the clitic (= liitepartikkeli) -s adds a tone of familiarity to the question.
- Finnish does not have definite or indefinite articles. However, in colloquial speech the pronoun se and sometimes ne are used like definite articles, similar to “the” in English: söin sen sun tuoma kakun 'I ate the cake you brought' / soitin sille asiakkaalle 'I called the client' / meetsä sinne karonkkaan huomenna 'are you going to the doctoral defence tomorrow'.
- Muuten (= by the way) is used as a discourse marker to draw attention to something that is about to be said.
- In colloquial speech, the sound i in the conditional mood suffix -isi- is often omitted, shortening words like pitäisikö to pitäskö. In this word we can see two typical phenomena combined: the vowel i has been dropped both from the dipthong äi (pitäi-) and also from the end of verb (pitäisi-).
- It is common to drop the final vowel in certain cases, especially locative endings such as -lla/-llä. For instance, siellä often becomes shortened to siel.
"Mihin aikaan ne juhlat alkaa? "
| Standard | Mihin aikaan juhlat alkaa? |
|---|---|
| English | What time does the party start? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Finnish does not have definite or indefinite articles. However, in colloquial speech the pronoun se and sometimes ne are used like definite articles, similar to 'the' in English: söin ne sun tuomat keksit 'I ate the cookies you brought'.
"Mä kuulin että sulla oli eilen synttärit. Paljo onnee!"
| Standard | Kuulin, että sinulla oli eilen syntymäpäivä. Paljon onnea! |
|---|---|
| English | I heard that you had a birthday yesterday. Happy birthday! |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Personal pronouns (mä, sä, se, me, te, ne) are used frequently in colloquial speech.
- Minulla on -structure (= omistusrakenne) has colloquial forms: sinulla on becomes sulla/sul on.
- Colloquial vocabulary: synttärit = syntymäpäivä.
- Sometimes vowel sequences -ia/-iä and -ea/-eä in the end of the word lose the a/ä and double the i or e: onnea → onnee.
- There are many ways to congratulate: Paljon onnea! Onnittelut! Hyvää syntymäpäivää!
"Siis miten tää acquisition lausutaan?"
| Standard | Miten acquisition lausutaan? |
|---|---|
| English | How should I pronounce acquisition? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The word siis can be used at the beginning of a question to seek clarification.
- The demonstrative pronouns tämä/nämä ja tuo/nuo have colloquial forms, like tämä is replaced with tää in the example.
- Personal pronouns (mä, sä, se, me, te, ne) are very frequently used in colloquial speech. Check the video by Kielibuusti for more info: Persoona- ja demonstratiivipronominit puhe- ja kirjakielessä.
"Voisitsä selittää, että mitä ”turvallinen tila” tarkottaa?"
| Standard | Voisitko selittää, mitä ”turvallinen tila” tarkoittaa? |
|---|---|
| English | Could you explain what “safe space” means? |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The interrogative ending -ko/-kö changes in spoken language. However, there are multiple ways how. In second singular the -ko/-kö element is missing and instead -sä gets added in the end of the verb:
voisit-ko → voisit-sä. - In colloquial language -i sound can be left out in diphthongs ending with -i:
tarkoittaa → tarkottaa.
"Tiekkö mun on tosi vaikea kuulla eroa, että /ˈbæɡ/ ja /bæk/."
| Standard | Minun on tosi vaikea kuulla eroa sanojen /ˈbæɡ/ ja /bæk/ välillä. |
|---|---|
| English | It’s really difficult to hear the difference between /ˈbæɡ/ and /bæk/ you know. |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- In colloquial speech -d sounds are sometimes lost: tie+dät+kö → tie+kkö.
- Tietsä and tiekkö are sometimes used as filler words the same way as in English “you know”.
"Siis ihana ku joku jaksaa puhua noin hitaasti! "
| Standard | Ihana, kun joku jaksaa puhua noin hitaasti! |
|---|---|
| English | I love it when someone has the patience to talk so slowly! |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- The word siis is used at the beginning of an exclamation to express eagerness or a sense of enthusiasm.
- Words ending in -n often shorten: kun → ku.
"Oorait, mä jatkan matkaa. Tsemppiä hommiin! Nähdään!"
| Standard | Okei, jatkan matkaa. Onnea töihin! Nähdään! |
|---|---|
| English | Ok, I’ll get going. Good luck with your tasks! See you! |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Finglish is colloquial: alright → oolrait.
- Personal pronouns have colloquial forms: minä → mä. Personal pronouns (mä, sä, se, me, te, ne) are used frequently in colloquial speech. Check this video by Kielibuusti for more info: Persoona- ja demonstratiivipronominit puhe- ja kirjakielessä.
- Colloquial vocabulary:
- tsemppi: When you encourage someone in colloquial Finnish, you often say Tsemppiä! which means pretty much Good luck! or Don't give up!
- homma = puuha, askare, työ, asia = a task.
"Mut hei, siis mun on nyt kyl pakko lähtee. Mut jatketaan tästä. Okei, moikka!"
| Standard | Minun on pakko lähteä. Jatketaan tästä. Näkemiin! |
|---|---|
| English | But hey, I really must get going now. Let’s continue from here. Ok, bye! |
Colloquial vs standard language: What's happening?
- Personal pronouns in genitive have colloquial forms: minun → mun.
- In conversation words like mut (= mutta), hei, siis, nyt and kyl (= kyllä) are commonly used as filler words.
Tips for Finnish-speaking colleagues
On this page, there are tips on how a Finnish-speaking colleague can speak clearly and encourage you to speak Finnish. Page is in Finnish.
Print the tips as a table booklet for the workplace coffee room!
The booklet has two sides: On one side there are useful phrases for Finnish language learners. On the other side are tips for colleagues on how to support a coworker who is learning Finnish.
Instructions for printing
You can either have the booklet printed at a print shop or print the pages with a regular printer. Below are the instructions.
Printing the triangular booklet at a print shop:
You can provide your print shop with the information below and the attached file ("painotiedosto").
- Size: 210 x 148 mm.
- Number of pages: 34 pages + triangular cardboard backing.
- The pages are printed so that the text can be read correctly from both sides of the triangular cardboard.
- Pages on Silk 200 g paper.
- Triangular backing on 300 g cardboard.
- Wire binding at the top.
- Color printing and die-cutting for the triangular backing.
Printing the booklet pages with a regular printer:
Use the digital ("digitaalinen") file for printing, not the print file. Note that the file's pages are designed for A5 size.
If you want to print only the tips or only the phrases, use separate files below.
Separate Files
Below you can download for printing only the learner's phrases or only the Finnish learner support tips.
©2023 University of Helsinki
Phrases and tips for the multilingual break room, November 2023, produced by the University of Helsinki and Aalto University, with authors Emmi Pollari and Jenni Lintumäki, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The material is available at kielibuusti.fi.