lily-learns-finnish reblogged
"suin päin" - without thinking, without considering first
Älä ryntää suin päin - don't rush in without thinking
Word of the day: huti
huti = "miss", "fail"
Hutiostokset ovat tavallisia, kun vaatteita tilataan netistä. = "Unsucessful" purchases are common when buying clothes online.
mielellään = happily, with pleasure, willingly
Kyllä mielelläni autan. = Yes I'll happily help.
Lapset leikkisivät mielellään vähän aikaa. = The child would happily play for a little while.
Jos tulee kysyttävää, vastamme mielellämme. = If there are questions we'll happily answer.
olla ihmeissään [ni/si/ään] = to be amazed (or baffled)
Olen ihmeissäni. = I'm amazed.
olla kauhuissaan = to be terrified, horrified
Hän oli ihan kauhuissaan. = He was completely horrified.
olla peloissaan = to scared
Lapsi oli peloissaan kun hän näki koiran. = The child was scared when he saw the dog.
olla raivoissaan = to be enraged
Olen raivoissani hänelle. = I'm so angry at him.
Verb of the day: olla allerginen
olla allerginen [+lle] = to be allergic [to something]
Olen allerginen koivupuille. = I am allergic to birch trees.
The other way to say this is:
Minulla on koivuallergia. = I have a birch allergy.
If you want to see if you want to see if you can speak Finnish better than an almost 2 year old, here are some things my kids say in Finnish:
ikkuna! ikkuna! (Whenever you see a window)
Äiti pois [I go away], Äiti istuu [I sit]... (repeat indefinitely)
Ovi auki /Ovi kiinni
Äiti auttaa / Äiti pesee
Pelottaa/ Ei pelota (depending on how fast the swing is going)
Lapio! (Usually but not usually when in the sandpit)
Mopo!!! (Whenever a moped goes past)
Koira!!!! (Whenever a dog goes past)
Maito, maito, maito (whenever you want milk)
Isi kotona.
Sisällä / Ulkona
Pesulle (after eating)
Missä äiti on? (I would have said: Missä on äiti? But I'm assuming now I've been wrong)
Äiti mukana.
Täällä / Siellä
(usually singing) Onko äiti täällä? On äiti täällä.
Kirja, kahvi, kukka, kakku, kakka (K-words are easy)
Housu (very occasionally said correctly as: housut)
Takki, sukka, uusi paita, hattu, jne.
Nämä, nämä, nämä (regardless of whether it's one item or many)
Moi, moi moi, moikka, heippa, jne.
Verb of the day: startata
startata = to start
-> Definitely a loanword coming directly from English.
-> I usually see this used by companies or in advertising for when something exciting starts:
Uusi kausi starttaa tänään! = A new season starts today!
->The other meaning is relating to a car starting
Auto ei starttaa = Auto ei käynnisty = The car won't start.
Word of the day: taskuvarkaus
taskuvarkaus = pickpocketing
tasku = pocket
varkaus = thief
Taskuvarkaus on hyvin yleistä suurkaupungeissa. = Pickpocketing is very common in big cities.
Hyvää äitienpäivää
lily-learns-finnish reblogged
Finnish resources I use
When I started learning Finnish I actually had a hard time finding the right resources for me, and it was a really slow start. However now I think the resources are out there if you know where to look and here are some that I personally like to use. (Sorry if these are just a repeat for people who actually know what they are doing…)
Youtube/Videos:
1) Finnished - interesting videos spoken by a native Finn
2) Luke Bland (in particular Suomi Torstai)
3) Elämä on mukava - this show is so lame and ridiculous, but at least they speak fairly slowly.
4) Tosi helppo - the news is presented in simple Finnish (video, radio and written down). It’s still very hard for someone of my level to understand, but worth trying.
Vocabulary/memorising:
1) Memrise
2) CLOZEMASTER - at first this was really hard, so perhaps not for a total beginner.
Textbooks:
1) Finnish for Foreigners by Maija-Hellikki Aaltio
2) Suomen Mestari 1 and 2
Grammar sources:
2) The Finnish Teacher - I particular like some of the grammar explanations here (such as conjugating in present tense).
Online dictionaries and similar:
1) Finnish verb conjugator - very helpful if you know the basic form of the verb, but can’t conjugate it yourself yet.
2) Wiktionary - great for typing in a word and finding out what form it is in (i.e. partitive/genitive/etc).
Other:
1) italki - you can buy relatively cheap 30 minute or 1 hour lessons with a native speaker or teacher, or alternatively try and do a language exchange for free.
2) Finding random Finnish people to talk to (sometimes harder than it sounds and I live with one and have multiple Finnish work colleagues…).
lily-learns-finnish reblogged
Do you have any tips for self-studying? I have a hard time motivating myself to practice Finnish when I’m not around physically around people who speak it. Love your blog :)
I can totally understand your situation because I was self-studying for such a long time too! For myself, keys have been to find the motivation and to find the right resources (at the right time). At first I would just try to learn one new thing from The Finnish Teacher every time I studied, and I used Memrise a lot for vocabulary. Then slowly I starting using ClozeMaster too. Eventually I also could listen to Tosi Helppo and more recently Selkouutiset. And then slowly I started being able to watch videos from Finnished. Textbooks can also help a lot (like Suomen Mestari or Finnish for Foreigners 1), but of course studying from the one textbook becomes a bit boring. Finally in terms of resources: you can always try to find helpful Finns on italki or other similar platforms. At least for me, it was definitely a big mental barrier starting to talk to people I didn’t already know in Finnish, but sometimes the things that are most challenging generate the best results.
Then in terms of motivation - perhaps it is something that varies a lot from individual to individual. For me making this silly video when I still really struggling to form sentences was somehow really motivating, booking flights to Finland for the first time was a huge motivator (and I did it super early so I had this period leading up to it to study), but even now scheduling a phone call in Finnish for 3 days away makes me want to study knowing it is coming.
In terms of the bigger picture, I try to just keep in the front of my mind the what (what I want to achieve) and the why (the big motivators I have to learn Finnish). Best wishes for your studies and thanks so much for the positive feedback.
Hope this helps!
kaivuri - digger
trukki - forklift
rekka - truck
nosturi - lifter (crane)
traktori - tractor
mopo - moped
laiva - ship
vene - boat
auto - car
pakettiauto (paku) - van
asuntoauto - camper van
pyörä - bike
polkupyörä - bicycle
potkupyörä - kick bike
farmari - station wagon
bussi - bus
"odottaa kuin kuuta nousevaa" - to really look forward to something
literally: to look forward to something as if you look forward to a rising moon
-for context apparently this saying is old (but still used)
Hän odottaa seuraavaa lomaa kuin kuuta nousevaa. - She just can't wait for her next holiday.
pitää/aiheuttaa huolta
aiheuttaa huolta = to cause concern
Tapaus on aiheuttanut huolta hänelle. = The case has worried him.
pitää huolta = to take care [of]
Aion pitää hänestä huolta. = I intend to take care of him.
Word of the day: trukki
trukki = forklift
Trukki on ajettava tavaroiden siirto- ja nostolaite. = A forklift is a drivable device used to move and lift goods.
Verb of the day: notkistua
notkistua = to become more flexible / to bend, to flex (intrans)
Väsyneet lihakset eivät jaksa ylläpitää asentoa ja selkä notkistuu helposti. = Tired muscles aren't able to maintain a [good] posture and the back can easily become hunched/bent.
"tilanteen tasalla" - up to speed, fully informed
- Pidän teidät tästä tilanteen tasalla - I'll keep you informed about this.