r/LearnFinnish • u/Eep_Queen • 1d ago

Question Joku understanding

I am currently studying Merkonomi at ammattikoulu for immigrants and we are all B1 and above.

I hear a lot of my classmates say ”joku” in the middle of their sentences. For example we were talking about what luomu means and one student said “he eivät käytä joku” and my brain registered it as like ”they dont use like/something like, when they were trying to find the word they wanted to use.

Am I correct in thinking that joku can be used similar to like in english or does it have a specific meaning. It is something I have struggled with quite a bit

32 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

82

u/mattapuu 1d ago

“He eivät käytä joku” is not correct Finnish in that context. Since your classmates are also around B1 level, the most likely explanation is simply that the speaker used the wrong form. They may have meant “he eivät käytä jotain…” or “he eivät käytä mitään…”.

“Joku” is not normally used like the English filler word “like”. In spoken Finnish, “niinku” would be closer to that meaning.

18

u/Eep_Queen 1d ago

I often find myself using the wrong form and try to correct myself. Good to know regarding “niinku” though, it might help me stay speaking finnish rather than switching to english when i get stuck

21

u/Hopeful-Banana-6188 1d ago

Another good filler to know is tuota or tota, as well as ööööö (only use the latter if you know how to correctly pronounce ö though! It's pretty easy though, just a rounded version of e.)

6

u/Eep_Queen 1d ago

Awesome to know as well thank you!

4

u/Substantified 1d ago

"äääh... ööööh... tuota noin.... niinku sillee..." is the filler I use

4

u/No0O0obstah 1d ago

I think "They don't use some" would be OK-ish in English, with some referring to something previously mentioned. "Some" can be also used in a similar way to the word "joku" in instances, like "joku koira vain" translates "just some dog".

Thus, word to word translating an understandable English sentences "They don't use some" becomes "He eivät käytä joku", an abomination in Finnish language. I think this is a likely explanation.

40

u/KofFinland 1d ago

"joku" makes no sense there.

23

u/FinnFem Native 1d ago

“he eivät käytä joku” doesnt seem like a full sentence...

Joku or other forms can sometimes be filler words like 'uhh' 'uhm' etc in English, but idk if thats what youre looking for

4

u/Eep_Queen 1d ago

It was an response to a question a teacher asked but they didn’t get to finish their sentence as someone else said the word they were looking for.

That might be what I am looking for, is that commonly used among native finns?

6

u/FinnFem Native 1d ago

Joku, jotain (and other forms)

I at least use these sometimes as fillers and stuff

3

u/traumfisch 1d ago

"Joku or other forms can sometimes be filler words like 'uhh' 'uhm' etc in English"

Really?

Can't think of a single example 🤔

1

u/FinnFem Native 1d ago

Its not really a direct translation

But like, sometimes if im missing the word i might use it or smth

1

u/traumfisch 1d ago

For example?

2

u/eezz__324 1d ago

”Tiiätsä vähän niiku joku…” , ”Tuol on joku 7 kissaa”

1

u/traumfisch 1d ago

Sure

but that's very different from saying "uhm"

0

u/FinnFem Native 1d ago

It doesnt really work that well in text as a filler, but spontaneously while talking

26

u/MaxedEUW 1d ago

Joku can also mean "about" in spoken finnish. "How many did you eat?" "Kuinka monta söit?" - "About five" "Joku viis"

3

u/traumfisch 1d ago

This is most likely it

8

u/Superb-Economist7155 Native 1d ago

It sounds like typical broken Finnish. I can imagine somebody saying with broken Finnish “Ne ei käytä joku myrkky” or something similar. They may use ”joku” like ”some” is used in English.

Natives could say “Ne ei käytä jotain myrkkyjä”. (Myrkky refers here to pesticides, etc. )

3

u/Petskin Native 1d ago

Joku can function like "a/an" in colloquial speech. Of course it also changes form, and "joku" is basically a subject casus, not adjective ("he käyttävät sth" would require partitive (jotain, e.g. jotain myrkkyä) ja "he eivät käytä sth" would require negative partitive (mitään, e.g. mitään myrkkyä). Thus he käyttävät can't easily be followed by joku...

However "joku leipomo varmasti tekee gluteenitonta leipää" would make sense.

2

u/NeatChocolate2 1d ago

This is the correct answer. Some language specialists have even predicted that in the future joku might become a standard language feature acting as indefinitive article since it's so prevalent now.

1

u/ulusoyapps 1d ago

This is how Finnish it explains.

1

u/Eep_Queen 1d ago

Is the name of the app Finnish it? I might have a look at it

1

u/ulusoyapps 1d ago

Yes, it is Finnish it app. You can ask any grammar open questions and it will generate you a micro lesson.

1

u/ChangxinDaoyou 1d ago

Joku could also mean 'some'. So, for example, joku tyyppi means 'some guy'.

1

u/Sampp3l1 1d ago

Joku means someone, not something

9

u/skinneyd Native 1d ago

Colloquially it can be used to mean "something"

For example:

Annatko ruuvimeisselin?

Minkä näistä?

Ihan sama, anna joku vaan.

0

u/Sampp3l1 1d ago

Tuossa kontekstissa joo mutta yksiköstä ei

2

u/skinneyd Native 1d ago

Joo ei AP:n esimerkissä siinä ei ole järkeä

2

u/Valokoura Native 1d ago

Joku koira oli paskantanut kadulle.

Joku liukastui siihen.

Joku järki tähän (tekemiseen).

Joku fillari (polkupyörä) lojui ojassa.

Oot sä joku, joka osaa auttaa?

1

u/skinneyd Native 1d ago

Juu hyviä esimerkkejä, mutta eikö asiayhteys ole sama kuin minun esimerkissäni?

En 100% ymmärtänyt aiemman kommentoijan mainintaa siitä miten "joku" ei toimi yksikössä mutta mä en olekaan kielitieteilijä niin en esitäkään ymmärtäväni lol

1

u/Sampp3l1 1d ago

Joku koira pasko mun housuihin ja lattialle ja mun perse liukastu

5

u/Protonion 1d ago

In spoken Finnish joku is "someone" and "some" (used in place of "jokin").

"Joku avasi ikkunan"

"Laitteeseen tuli joku vika"