The 10 Best Words/Phrases in the Finnish Language
One of the great things about learning a new language is you will find humour in certain words, humour that the natives have probably never picked up on. In English we have lots of words that are ridiculous when you think about it, such as "rambunctious" and "discombobulate", but we don't really notice it. These are some of the Finnish words and phrases that I am particularly fond of.
10. Sytytystulppa
I like this word because when I started learning Finnish I had some trouble pronouncing the letters "y" and "u" properly, especially as I had already practiced using them a little in Swedish which just made things more complicated. "Sytytystulppa" means "spark plug", and it's a very good word for practicing your pronunciation. It has the benefit of containing both the letters "y" and "u" as well as a combination of single and double consonants. Also, it sounds silly, so I like it.
9. Lämpimämpi
Usually one of the first words that a student of Finnish will find funny. Up to this point in his or her studies, Finnish words have been either boring or extremely frustrating. "Lämpimämpi", meaning "warmer", is easy to pronounce but you simply cannot say it without sounding like a child. If you hear it spoken before you've learnt that it's an actual word that means something, you will probably assume that the person you are speaking to has recently escaped from somewhere where they take your shoelaces away from you.
8. Lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas
According to Wikipedia this means "airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student". That sounds ridiculous even in English. "Lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas" is said to be the longest Finnish word at 61 letters, however that is arguable because you could make up any word you wanted in Finnish really. Let's see what you get if you break it down, translate the words into English, and then put it back together.
Aeroplaneshowerturbinemotorhelpmechanicnoncommissionedofficerstudent. 68 Letters! English wins! And it'd funnier because it says "helpme" right in the middle.
7. Lohikäärme
I love this word. If you don't know what it means. you can use simple logic to work it out. So, "lohi" as I'm sure you know, means "salmon" and "käärme" as I'm sure you'll also know, means "snake". And what do you get when you cross a salmon with a snake? Well isn't it obvious? A dragon! Yep, salmon + snake = DRAGON! Most Finns don't even see the humour in this, and why should they? After all, we have words that, if you look closely, contain 2 completely unrelated words, such as cup-board or car-pet.
Having said that, "Lohikäärme" still makes me chuckle.
6. Juoksentelisinkohan?
I like this word because it's a great example of how the Finnish language is simply wonderful. This word means "I wonder if I should run around aimlessly?". I just love that you can say that with one word. Here's how it works. You probably know the verb "juosta" meaning "to run". Well "juoksennella" means "to run around". This method is applied to other verbs too, the "lla" form of the verb is usually a more relaxed version of the original verb. For example "katsella" is a more relaxed form of "katsoa". "Minä katselen televisiota" means "I'm watching TV (but I'm doing it in a relaxed way, I'm not watching anything serious, I'm just relaxing and the TV happens to be on)"
So, then we have the "isi" part. This signals that the verb is in the conditional form. "Juoksentelisin" means "I would run around"
"ko" then makes it into a question and "han" is like saying "maybe".
Therefore "juoksentelisinkohan" becomes "I wonder if I should maybe, possibly, run around aimlessly"
Brilliant!
5. Aamupalaverihuone
Hold on, why's this on the list? And so high up too? It's a perfectly normal word meaning "Morning meeting room".
Well, yeah it is. But I like it because you can break it down in two different ways. A foreigner looking at this word and trying to figure out what it means will either see:
Aaamu-palaveri-huone = Morning-meeting-room
or
Aamupala-veri-huone = Breakfast-blood-room
Haha! It's a great word.
"So where should we have our meeting tomorrow morning Sami?"
"Well Jari, in the breakfast blood room of course, where else?"
4. Hääyöaieuutinen
This means "plans for the wedding night" or more precisely translated "Wedding night intention news". Having trouble pronouncing those vowels? I'm not surprised. There are 9 of them consecutively, more that an any other word in any language as far as my research tells me. If you can pronounce this properly, you've mastered your vowels. Congratulations.
3. Hyppytyynytyydytys
It's fun to say, fun to look at, and has a great meaning: "Bouncy cushion satisfaction", that will be the name of my death metal band one day!
2. Vihdoin vihdoin vihdoin.
On the face of it, you think you're seeing "Finally finally finally". But you're not. These are actually 3 different words, that form a completely legit Finnish sentence. It means "I finally whipped myself with a birch branch". Allow me to put you out of your misery.
Vihdoin 1 = Finally
Vihdoin 2 = The basic form is "vihtoa". It's a verb meaning "to whip or strike" and it refers specifically to those branch thingys that Finns beat each other with in the sauna. It's verb type 1 so the past form becomes "vihdoi-" and the "-n" means that it's the "minä" form.
Vihdoin 3 = The basic form is "vihta". This is a noun. It's the name given to that leafy twig that Finns use for their perverse sauna activities. "Vihdoin" is "vihta" in the instructive case, so it means "using a vihta"
1. Kuusi palaa.
I almost didn't put this one here because most of you have probably already heard about it. But it was just too good to leave out. It's the best two word sentence in the Finnish language, because it has 9 meanings.
1. Kuusi palaa = The spruce is on fire.
"Kuusi" is a common tree in Finland known in English as a "spruce". "Palaa" means "to burn/be on fire". In this sentence it's in the "hän/se" form which happens to be the same as the basic form in this case.
2. Kuusi palaa = The spruce is returning.
"Palata" is a Finnish verb meaning "to return/come back". It's verb-type 4 so we remove the letter "t" and the "hän/se" form becomes "palaa".
3. Kuusi palaa = The number six is on fire.
"Kuusi" also means "the number 6"... which means you can also make the sentence...
4. Kuusi palaa = The number six is returning.
It sounds silly but remember, you could be referring to a sports player who wears the number 6 who has been injured for some time and is now returning. All of these sentences can be used in context.
5. Kuusi palaa = Six of them are on fire.
Kuusi doesn't always mean "the number 6". If there is a street containing 10 houses and six of them are on fire, you might say "kuusi palaa".
6. Kuusi palaa = Six of them are returning.
Ten of them walked into the forest. Six will return. "Kymmenen käveli metsään. Kuusi palaa"
7. Kuusi palaa = Your moon is on fire.
Kuu = moon. si = suffix that replaces the word "sinun". Kuusi = Sinun kuu = Your moon. I can't think when you'd use this, maybe in a sappy poem.
8. Kuusi palaa = Your moon is returning.
Even more ridiculous but a completely valid sentence.
9. Kuusi palaa = Six pieces.
Well, this is the only one that's not a complete sentence but it still is a translation of "kuusi palaa".
"Pala" means "piece" or "part" and because "kuusi" is a number, it becomes partitive so we add an "a".
10. Sytytystulppa
I like this word because when I started learning Finnish I had some trouble pronouncing the letters "y" and "u" properly, especially as I had already practiced using them a little in Swedish which just made things more complicated. "Sytytystulppa" means "spark plug", and it's a very good word for practicing your pronunciation. It has the benefit of containing both the letters "y" and "u" as well as a combination of single and double consonants. Also, it sounds silly, so I like it.
9. Lämpimämpi
Usually one of the first words that a student of Finnish will find funny. Up to this point in his or her studies, Finnish words have been either boring or extremely frustrating. "Lämpimämpi", meaning "warmer", is easy to pronounce but you simply cannot say it without sounding like a child. If you hear it spoken before you've learnt that it's an actual word that means something, you will probably assume that the person you are speaking to has recently escaped from somewhere where they take your shoelaces away from you.
8. Lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas
According to Wikipedia this means "airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student". That sounds ridiculous even in English. "Lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas" is said to be the longest Finnish word at 61 letters, however that is arguable because you could make up any word you wanted in Finnish really. Let's see what you get if you break it down, translate the words into English, and then put it back together.
Aeroplaneshowerturbinemotorhelpmechanicnoncommissionedofficerstudent. 68 Letters! English wins! And it'd funnier because it says "helpme" right in the middle.
7. Lohikäärme
I love this word. If you don't know what it means. you can use simple logic to work it out. So, "lohi" as I'm sure you know, means "salmon" and "käärme" as I'm sure you'll also know, means "snake". And what do you get when you cross a salmon with a snake? Well isn't it obvious? A dragon! Yep, salmon + snake = DRAGON! Most Finns don't even see the humour in this, and why should they? After all, we have words that, if you look closely, contain 2 completely unrelated words, such as cup-board or car-pet.
Having said that, "Lohikäärme" still makes me chuckle.
6. Juoksentelisinkohan?
I like this word because it's a great example of how the Finnish language is simply wonderful. This word means "I wonder if I should run around aimlessly?". I just love that you can say that with one word. Here's how it works. You probably know the verb "juosta" meaning "to run". Well "juoksennella" means "to run around". This method is applied to other verbs too, the "lla" form of the verb is usually a more relaxed version of the original verb. For example "katsella" is a more relaxed form of "katsoa". "Minä katselen televisiota" means "I'm watching TV (but I'm doing it in a relaxed way, I'm not watching anything serious, I'm just relaxing and the TV happens to be on)"
So, then we have the "isi" part. This signals that the verb is in the conditional form. "Juoksentelisin" means "I would run around"
"ko" then makes it into a question and "han" is like saying "maybe".
Therefore "juoksentelisinkohan" becomes "I wonder if I should maybe, possibly, run around aimlessly"
Brilliant!
5. Aamupalaverihuone
Hold on, why's this on the list? And so high up too? It's a perfectly normal word meaning "Morning meeting room".
Well, yeah it is. But I like it because you can break it down in two different ways. A foreigner looking at this word and trying to figure out what it means will either see:
Aaamu-palaveri-huone = Morning-meeting-room
or
Aamupala-veri-huone = Breakfast-blood-room
Haha! It's a great word.
"So where should we have our meeting tomorrow morning Sami?"
"Well Jari, in the breakfast blood room of course, where else?"
4. Hääyöaieuutinen
This means "plans for the wedding night" or more precisely translated "Wedding night intention news". Having trouble pronouncing those vowels? I'm not surprised. There are 9 of them consecutively, more that an any other word in any language as far as my research tells me. If you can pronounce this properly, you've mastered your vowels. Congratulations.
3. Hyppytyynytyydytys
It's fun to say, fun to look at, and has a great meaning: "Bouncy cushion satisfaction", that will be the name of my death metal band one day!
2. Vihdoin vihdoin vihdoin.
On the face of it, you think you're seeing "Finally finally finally". But you're not. These are actually 3 different words, that form a completely legit Finnish sentence. It means "I finally whipped myself with a birch branch". Allow me to put you out of your misery.
Vihdoin 1 = Finally
Vihdoin 2 = The basic form is "vihtoa". It's a verb meaning "to whip or strike" and it refers specifically to those branch thingys that Finns beat each other with in the sauna. It's verb type 1 so the past form becomes "vihdoi-" and the "-n" means that it's the "minä" form.
Vihdoin 3 = The basic form is "vihta". This is a noun. It's the name given to that leafy twig that Finns use for their perverse sauna activities. "Vihdoin" is "vihta" in the instructive case, so it means "using a vihta"
1. Kuusi palaa.
I almost didn't put this one here because most of you have probably already heard about it. But it was just too good to leave out. It's the best two word sentence in the Finnish language, because it has 9 meanings.
1. Kuusi palaa = The spruce is on fire.
"Kuusi" is a common tree in Finland known in English as a "spruce". "Palaa" means "to burn/be on fire". In this sentence it's in the "hän/se" form which happens to be the same as the basic form in this case.
2. Kuusi palaa = The spruce is returning.
"Palata" is a Finnish verb meaning "to return/come back". It's verb-type 4 so we remove the letter "t" and the "hän/se" form becomes "palaa".
3. Kuusi palaa = The number six is on fire.
"Kuusi" also means "the number 6"... which means you can also make the sentence...
4. Kuusi palaa = The number six is returning.
It sounds silly but remember, you could be referring to a sports player who wears the number 6 who has been injured for some time and is now returning. All of these sentences can be used in context.
5. Kuusi palaa = Six of them are on fire.
Kuusi doesn't always mean "the number 6". If there is a street containing 10 houses and six of them are on fire, you might say "kuusi palaa".
6. Kuusi palaa = Six of them are returning.
Ten of them walked into the forest. Six will return. "Kymmenen käveli metsään. Kuusi palaa"
7. Kuusi palaa = Your moon is on fire.
Kuu = moon. si = suffix that replaces the word "sinun". Kuusi = Sinun kuu = Your moon. I can't think when you'd use this, maybe in a sappy poem.
8. Kuusi palaa = Your moon is returning.
Even more ridiculous but a completely valid sentence.
9. Kuusi palaa = Six pieces.
Well, this is the only one that's not a complete sentence but it still is a translation of "kuusi palaa".
"Pala" means "piece" or "part" and because "kuusi" is a number, it becomes partitive so we add an "a".
