English Made Simple

englishmadesimpleorg@gmail.com

London, UK

Facebook-f Instagram Twitter Youtube
Menu
Finland profile

Finnish Language

Finnish (suomi or suomen kieli) is the national language of Finland and one of the two official languages of the country, alongside Swedish. It belongs to the Uralic language family, within the Finnic branch of the Balto-Finnic subgroup. Finnish is closely related to Estonian and more distantly to Hungarian, Sámi languages, and other minority Uralic languages spoken across northern Eurasia.

Classification and Related Languages

Finnish is part of the Uralic family, which is not related to the Indo-European family that dominates much of Europe. Within the Finnic subgroup, its closest relatives include Estonian, Karelian, Veps, Ingrian, and Votic.

  • Mutual intelligibility is relatively high with Estonian, especially in written form, though spoken comprehension is more challenging due to differences in pronunciation and vocabulary.

  • With Karelian, Finnish shares many grammatical and lexical features, and some speakers can understand each other with effort.

  • Hungarian, though in the same Uralic family, is much more distantly related, and mutual intelligibility is absent.

Origins and History

The Finnish language developed from Proto-Finnic, spoken around the Gulf of Finland approximately 2,000 years ago. Written Finnish emerged only in the 16th century, when Mikael Agricola, a Lutheran bishop, created the first standardized system of writing based on the western dialects. Agricola is thus often called the “father of literary Finnish.”

During the 19th century, amid the Finnish national awakening, the Finnish language gained increasing prestige and became a key symbol of cultural identity. Prior to this period, Swedish was the dominant language of administration and higher education. In 1863, Finnish achieved official status in Finland, and since independence in 1917, it has been the majority language in all spheres of life.

Geographic Distribution and Number of Speakers

Finnish is spoken by around 5.8 million people, the majority of them in Finland. It also has significant communities of speakers in Sweden, especially in the region of Meänkieli (a closely related Finnic variety) and among Finnish immigrants. Smaller expatriate communities exist in Norway, Russia, Canada, and the United States.

Literature and Famous Works

The most famous Finnish literary work is the Kalevala (1835, expanded 1849), a national epic compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology. It played a major role in the development of Finnish national identity.

Other notable authors include Aleksis Kivi, whose novel Seven Brothers (Seitsemän veljestä, 1870) is considered the first significant Finnish-language novel, and Väinö Linna, best known for his war novel The Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon sotilas, 1954). Modern Finnish literature continues to thrive, with writers such as Sofi Oksanen gaining international recognition.

Grammar

Finnish grammar is agglutinative, meaning that words are formed and inflected by attaching suffixes to stems. It is highly inflectional, with 15 grammatical cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. Unlike Indo-European languages, Finnish does not use articles (“the”, “a”).

  • Example: talo (“house”), talossa (“in the house”), talostani (“from my house”).

  • Verbs inflect for person, tense, mood, and voice, but not for gender.

Word order is relatively free due to the rich case system, though the most common order is Subject–Verb–Object.

Phonology

Finnish phonology is characterized by:

  • Vowel harmony, in which front and back vowels do not usually coexist in the same word.

  • A large vowel inventory (eight vowels: a, e, i, o, u, y, ä, ö).

  • Gemination (long vs. short sounds), which is phonemic. For example, tuli (“fire”), tuuli (“wind”), and tulli (“customs”) are distinct words.

Stress always falls on the first syllable, though rhythm is created by vowel length and consonant length distinctions.

Vocabulary

The Finnish lexicon is predominantly Uralic in origin, but it has borrowed extensively from Swedish, Russian, German, and more recently English.

  • Native example: vesi (“water”).

  • Borrowing from Swedish: koulu (“school”).

  • Borrowing from English: tietokone (“computer”, though literally “knowledge machine”).

Example Sentences

  • Minä olen suomalainen. – “I am Finnish.”

  • Me menemme kouluun. – “We are going to school.”

  • Vesi on kylmää. – “The water is cold.”

Conclusion

Finnish is a unique European language with deep historical roots in the Uralic family. Distinguished by its agglutinative structure, vowel harmony, and rich case system, it has developed into a modern national language with a vibrant literary tradition and cultural significance.

Finland
Finland

 

Mini Finnish Travel Phrasebook

1. Basics

Greetings

  • Hei! – Hi!

  • Moi! – Hello! (informal, very common)

  • Hyvää huomenta! – Good morning!

  • Hyvää päivää! – Good day!

  • Hyvää iltaa! – Good evening!

  • Näkemiin! – Goodbye!

  • Moi moi! – Bye-bye! (casual)

Politeness

  • Kiitos – Thank you

  • Kiitos paljon – Thank you very much

  • Ole hyvä – You’re welcome / Here you go

  • Anteeksi – Excuse me / Sorry

Dialogue Example

  • Traveler: Hei! Puhutteko englantia?
    (Hi! Do you speak English?)

  • Local: Vähän.
    (A little.)

Grammar Note:
Finnish does not use articles (“a” or “the”). Talo can mean both “a house” and “the house.”

2. Getting Around

Transport Vocabulary

  • juna – train

  • bussi – bus

  • raitiovaunu – tram

  • taksi – taxi

  • lentoasema – airport

  • asema – station

Key Phrases

  • Missä on bussipysäkki? – Where is the bus stop?

  • Haluan lipun Helsinkiin. – I want a ticket to Helsinki.

  • Kuinka paljon lippu maksaa? – How much does the ticket cost?

Dialogue Example

  • Traveler: Anteeksi, missä on juna-asema?
    (Excuse me, where is the train station?)

  • Local: Asema on tuolla vasemmalla.
    (The station is over there on the left.)

Grammar Note:
Location is expressed with cases:

  • talossa = “in the house” (inessive case)

  • taloon = “into the house” (illative case)

  • talosta = “out of the house” (elative case)

3. Accommodation

Useful Phrases

  • Onko teillä vapaita huoneita? – Do you have any free rooms?

  • Yhden hengen huone – Single room

  • Kahden hengen huone – Double room

  • Kuinka monta yötä? – How many nights?

  • Sisäänkirjautuminen – Check-in

  • Uloskirjautuminen – Check-out

Dialogue Example

  • Traveler: Hei, onko vapaa huone kahdeksi yöksi?
    (Hi, do you have a free room for two nights?)

  • Receptionist: Kyllä, yhden hengen vai kahden hengen?
    (Yes, single or double?)

4. Eating and Drinking

Food Vocabulary

  • ravintola – restaurant

  • kahvila – café

  • olut – beer

  • viini – wine

  • vesi – water

  • kala – fish

  • liha – meat

  • kasvis – vegetable

Useful Phrases

  • Voinko saada ruokalistan, kiitos? – May I have the menu, please?

  • Minulle kalaa, kiitos. – Fish for me, please.

  • Yksi olut, kiitos. – One beer, please.

  • Lasku, kiitos. – The bill, please.

Dialogue Example

  • Traveler: Voinko saada kahvin ja pullan?
    (May I have a coffee and a bun?)

  • Waiter: Tietenkin!
    (Of course!)

Grammar Note:
The partitive case (-a/-ä or -ta/-tä) is used when asking for some of something:

  • kahvia = (some) coffee

  • vettä = (some) water

5. Shopping and Money

Useful Vocabulary

  • kauppa – shop

  • pankki – bank

  • raha – money

  • kortti – card

  • käteinen – cash

Phrases

  • Kuinka paljon tämä maksaa? – How much does this cost?

  • Onko teillä halvempaa? – Do you have anything cheaper?

  • Voinko maksaa kortilla? – Can I pay by card?

Dialogue Example

  • Traveler: Kuinka paljon tämä pipo maksaa?
    (How much does this beanie cost?)

  • Shopkeeper: Se maksaa kaksikymmentä euroa.
    (It costs twenty euros.)

Grammar Note:
Numbers affect the form of the noun:

  • yksi euro = one euro (singular nominative)

  • kaksi euroa = two euros (partitive singular)

  • viisi euroa = five euros (partitive singular)

6. Emergencies

Key Vocabulary

  • apua! – help!

  • poliisi – police

  • sairaala – hospital

  • lääkäri – doctor

  • apteekki – pharmacy

Useful Phrases

  • Tarvitsen apua. – I need help.

  • Soittakaa poliisi! – Call the police!

  • Missä on sairaala? – Where is the hospital?

  • Olen eksynyt. – I am lost.

Dialogue Example

  • Traveler: Anteeksi, missä on lähin apteekki?
    (Excuse me, where is the nearest pharmacy?)

  • Local: Se on tuolla oikealla.
    (It is over there on the right.)

7. Numbers & Time

Numbers

  • 1 yksi

  • 2 kaksi

  • 3 kolme

  • 4 neljä

  • 5 viisi

  • 10 kymmenen

  • 20 kaksikymmentä

  • 100 sata

Time Expressions

  • Mikä aika on? – What time is it?

  • Kello on kolme. – It is three o’clock.

  • Tänään – today

  • Huomenna – tomorrow

  • Eilen – yesterday

8. Cultural Notes

  • Finns value directness and honesty. Politeness is often expressed with tone rather than many formal words.

  • Silence is normal in Finland; don’t be alarmed if locals pause often in conversation.

  • Many Finns speak good English, but trying Finnish phrases is highly appreciated.

 

 

Here is a video about the Finnish language.

 

To read all of our other articles on languages click on each of the links below.

  1. Afrikaans, click on this link.
  2. Albanian, click on this link.
  3. Amharic, click on this link.
  4. Arabic, click on this link
  5. Armenian,  click on this link.
  6. Assamese, click on this link.
  7. Aymara, click on this link.
  8. Azeri,click on this link.
  9. Bambara, click on this link.
  10. Basque, click on this link.
  11. Belarusian, click on this link.
  12. Bengali, click on this link.
  13. Bosnian, click on this link.
  14. Bulgarian, click on this link.
  15. Catalan, click on this link.
  16. Cebuano, click on this link.
  17. Chewa, click on this link.
  18. Chinese, click on this link.
  19. Corsican, click on this link.
  20. Croatian, click on this link.
  21. Czech, click on this link.
  22. Danish, click on this link.
  23. Dhivehi, click on this link.
  24. Dogri, click on this link.
  25. Dutch, click on this link.
  26. Estonian, click on this link.
  27. Ewe, click on this link.
  28. Faroese, click on this link.
  29. Fijian, click on this link.
  30. Filipino, click on this link.

Leave A Comment

All fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required