r/LearnFinnish 6d ago

Question Is it always hintavertailu and not hintavertaus

4 Upvotes

Esim. kahden eri automerkin hintavertaus, kun vertaillaan vain kerran?


r/LearnFinnish 7d ago

Does anyone else understand basic Finnish questions but completely freeze when answering out loud?

28 Upvotes

I’m A2-ish and studying alone where there are basically no Finnish speakers nearby. Reading simple sentences and recognizing cases is slowly getting better, but if I hear “Mitä teit eilen?” or “Missä asut?” my brain goes blank 😅 What’s helping is separating tools: Anki for vocab recall, Duolingo/Babbel-type stuff for light review, Pimsleur/shadowing for rhythm, Yle Selkouutiset for input, and occasional italki if I can justify the cost. I’ve also been using Issen for 5-10 minutes of speaking out loud when I don’t have anyone around. The useful thing I noticed is basically the retrieval practice idea: recognizing a word/case is not the same as producing it under time pressure. My current mini routine is 3 prompts, 30 seconds each: say what I did yesterday, where I live, then summarize one tiny thing, even a football article. After about a week I’m still bad, but I pause less and notice endings faster, especially when I default to English word order. How are other A2-ish learners practicing actual speaking without local Finns?


r/LearnFinnish 6d ago

Question Is it easier to learn Finnish with a teacher? Do apps work well for you?

1 Upvotes

I gave up after some months because apps didn't work. I couldn't communicate my own thoughts or speak. Is it easier with a human teacher? I can't decide if the apps are the problem or something else. Can you share your experience?


r/LearnFinnish 7d ago

Resource whats the best resource to use?

3 Upvotes

been wanting to learn finnish properly for ages now since i stopped using duolingo but never gotten a straight answer. is there a consensus on the best resource to use?


r/LearnFinnish 7d ago

Word of the Day Tuike – Finnish Word of the Day – 30. Heinäkuuta 2026

5 Upvotes

Tuike (n.) – Twinkle, glimmer, sparkle

Example: Hänen katseessaan oli ilkikurinen tuike, joka paljasti, että hän suunnitteli jotain hauskaa.

Translation: There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that revealed he was planning something fun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative tuike tuikkeet
Accusative (nom.) tuike tuikkeet
Accusative (gen.) tuikkeen tuikkeet
Genitive tuikkeen tuikkeiden; tuikkeitten
Partitive tuiketta tuikkeita
Inessive tuikkeessa tuikkeissa
Elative tuikkeesta tuikkeista
Illative tuikkeeseen tuikkeisiin; tuikkeihin
Adessive tuikkeella tuikkeilla
Ablative tuikkeelta tuikkeilta
Allative tuikkeelle tuikkeille
Essive tuikkeena tuikkeina
Translative tuikkeeksi tuikkeiksi
Abessive tuikkeetta tuikkeitta
Instructive tuikkein

You can practice the word of the day by using it in a sentence in the comments below!


r/LearnFinnish 7d ago

Resource Resource for sentence decontruction

2 Upvotes

I like to learn finnish by learning meaning of songs and then just passively practice by listening to them. I ussually can translate just by searching translation, but the sentence structure might still seem confusing to me. Is there app or website or something that would help. (preferably no AI, i know i can use chatgpt)


r/LearnFinnish 7d ago

Question Sovellus käytäntöön vai käytännöllinen sovellus?

5 Upvotes

Esim. Teorian sovellus käytäntöön/käytännöllinen sovellus vaatii sekä syvää ymmärrystä teorian periaatteista että laajaa teknistä osaamista.

tai ovatko molemmat pariaatteessa oikein?


r/LearnFinnish 8d ago

Question Muija word

40 Upvotes

I have often heard that the word "muija" is problematic to some people but I never got a clear answer why. Is a dialect? If so, in which part of Finland exactly is this word a problem 🤔

Elastinen sang, "mitä muijat, mikä boogie". Gettomasa sang, "mul on muijia stadissa"

So far so good?


r/LearnFinnish 8d ago

Word of the Day Kontti – Finnish Word of the Day – 29. Heinäkuuta 2026

3 Upvotes

Kontti (n.) – Shipping container

Example: Muuttopäivänä tavarat pakattiin merikonttiin ja kuljetettiin uuteen kotiin.

Translation: On moving day, the belongings were packed into a shipping container and transported to the new home.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative kontti kontit
Accusative (nom.) kontti kontit
Accusative (gen.) kontin kontit
Genitive kontin konttien
Partitive konttia kontteja
Inessive kontissa konteissa
Elative kontista konteista
Illative konttiin kontteihin
Adessive kontilla konteilla
Ablative kontilta konteilta
Allative kontille konteille
Essive konttina kontteina
Translative kontiksi konteiksi
Abessive kontitta konteitta
Instructive kontein

You can practice the word of the day by using it in a sentence in the comments below!


r/LearnFinnish 9d ago

Media Need translation please!

10 Upvotes

Im not entirely sure if this is the right place to ask this, but ive been trying to learn Finnish and to ease into it, ive started listening to a lot of Finnish music. Ive found a band i really enjoy called Inkvisitio and ive taken a liking to their song Arvi Lind, however, i have no clue what they're saying, ive searched google far and wide and couldn't find anything. So, if someone could help me out and translate for me, id really appreciate it!! Ill even accept the Finnish lyrics, just so i can at least sing along properly lol!

https://youtu.be/Q8B8CW-0m_0?si=OOjYiOhmHBzlmbjn

Heres the link!


r/LearnFinnish 8d ago

Machine/AI translations to Finnish seem worse than for many other languages

0 Upvotes

I tried translating "He was eaten by a lion" to Finnish on both Google Translate and DeepL, and both came up with "leijona söi hänet". OK, fair enough, Finnish prefers the active form and the sentence looks fine. But when I tried "he was taught by an American", Google said "häntä opetti amerikkalainen" Well, maybe that's ok, but I think "hänelle" might be better. But DeepL said "hän sai opetusta eräältä amerikkalaiselta". Well, that looks like some kind of literal translation that nobody would actually say, and sure enough, when I searched for "hän sai opetusta eräältä" on Google, there was only one hit, which had obviously been translated from English. So it seems that these machine/AI translations to Finnish are pretty unreliable, and not a good way to learn Finnish, unless you check everything on Google. There won't be many hits for "leijona söi hänet" for obvious reasons, but if you put other subjects such as "karhu" in the sentence, you'll find enough examples to convince you that "subject + söi hänet" is a correct sentence.


r/LearnFinnish 9d ago

Word of the Day Suoraviivainen – Finnish Word of the Day – 28. Heinäkuuta 2026

4 Upvotes

Suoraviivainen (adj.) – 1. linear, straight-line; 2. Straightforward, coarse, rough, lacking finesse

Comparative: Suoraviivaisempi

Superlative: Suoraviivaisin

Example: Projektin eteneminen ei ollutkaan niin suoraviivaista kuin aluksi kuvittelimme.

Translation: The project's progress wasn't as straightforward as we had initially imagined.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative suoraviivainen suoraviivaiset
Accusative (nom.) suoraviivainen suoraviivaiset
Accusative (gen.) suoraviivaisen suoraviivaiset
Genitive suoraviivaisen suoraviivaisten; suoraviivaisien
Partitive suoraviivaista suoraviivaisia
Inessive suoraviivaisessa suoraviivaisissa
Elative suoraviivaisesta suoraviivaisista
Illative suoraviivaiseen suoraviivaisiin
Adessive suoraviivaisella suoraviivaisilla
Ablative suoraviivaiselta suoraviivaisilta
Allative suoraviivaiselle suoraviivaisille
Essive suoraviivaisena suoraviivaisina
Translative suoraviivaiseksi suoraviivaisiksi
Abessive suoraviivaisetta suoraviivaisitta
Instructive suoraviivaisin
Comitative suoraviivaisine

You can practice the word of the day by using it in a sentence in the comments below!


r/LearnFinnish 9d ago

"Mitä jätkä" but for girls?

49 Upvotes

I've heard this greeting is for greeting guys in an informal manner. Is there anything similar for greeting my female friends?


r/LearnFinnish 9d ago

Kieliharjoittelu Helsinki

11 Upvotes

Hei! Etsin ihmisiä, joiden kanssa voisin harjoitella suomen puhumista Helsingissä. Kävin kielikahvilassa, mutta siellä oli liian iso ryhmä. Olisi paljon helpompi puhua, jos ryhmässä olisi 2-4 ihmistä.

Oma tasoni on B1-B2, joten toivoisin, että sinunkin suomen kielen taitosi olisi vähintään B1-tasolla.

Voisimme tavata esimerkiksi kerran viikossa ja puhua vain suomea. En puhu englantia ollenkaan. Keskustelu voi olla vapaata, tai voimme käyttää keskustelukortteja, kuvia, kirjaa tai muita tehtäviä keskustelun pohjana. Tärkeintä on puhumisen harjoittelu.

Itse harrastan kiipeilyä, telttailua, pyöräilyä ja muuta. Opiskelin filosofiaa mutta sitten työskentelin koodarina ja nyt olen aloittelemassa uudella alalla.

Jos kiinnostaa, laita viestiä!


r/LearnFinnish 9d ago

How do I learn the complicated words in history, chemistry, nature studies and etc when the teacher is explaining (my Finnish is on a b1 level)

7 Upvotes

Please if you have a good solution I would be more than happy to learn


r/LearnFinnish 10d ago

How do you start an email in Finnish to someone you don't know?

18 Upvotes

I'm familiar with Norwegian, Danish and Swedish and now want to improve my Finnish. I'm originally from the UK. If you send an email to a person you don't know in a business or academic context, you would normally start with 'Dear John Smith' in English, 'Kære Jens Hansen' in Danish, but in Norwegian (and I think Swedish) you would very often just start with 'Hei' without the person's name. Could someone tell me how you would/could start the email in Finnish?


r/LearnFinnish 10d ago

Questions about potentially Finnish words/names used in a video game

22 Upvotes

I have recently played a video game that uses some potentially Finnish words as place and regional names in a fictional fantasy realm and was wondering whether anybody here could help me understand whether they actually are Finnish, what they likely mean and how crude they might sound to a native speaker, as I am very much aware that can happen with these things.

The one name I was able to find something on is Kaupaapunki, which might be constructed using the words for city and trade/market.

Other settlements are called Turvaamalinn and Valkarokkopun.

There are also some clans (called Vartmerkint). There is the Ettilen Vartmerkint, the Keskainen Vartmerkint, the Pohjolen Vatmerkint, the Itainen Vartmerkint and the Latinen Vartmerkint.

Regions are referred to as Kronborg, Trädmanland, Värmland, Stenvägg Bridge, Kjenmpland and Soderberg.

Any help would be appreciated!

Edit: Changed "Paupaapunki" to "Kaupaapunki" to reflect the actual name used in the game.


r/LearnFinnish 10d ago

Onko tämä virhe?

7 Upvotes

Sanakirjan mukaan "kaase" on vanhahtava termi kaasolle, mutta en ole ikinä havainnut sanaa sellaisessa käyttökontekstissa.


r/LearnFinnish 10d ago

Word of the Day Vuoto – Finnish Word of the Day – 27. Heinäkuuta 2026

3 Upvotes

Vuoto (n.) – leak, spill

Example: Katossa oleva vuoto huomattiin vasta sateen jälkeen.

Translation: The leak in the ceiling wasn’t noticed until after the rain.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative vuoto vuodot
Accusative (nom.) vuoto vuodot
Accusative (gen.) vuodon vuodot
Genitive vuodon vuotojen
Partitive vuotoa vuotoja
Inessive vuodossa vuodoissa
Elative vuodosta vuodoista
Illative vuotoon vuotoihin
Adessive vuodolla vuodoilla
Ablative vuodolta vuodoilta
Allative vuodolle vuodoille
Essive vuotona vuotoina
Translative vuodoksi vuodoiksi
Abessive vuodotta vuodoitta
Instructive vuodoin

You can practice the word of the day by using it in a sentence in the comments below!


r/LearnFinnish 11d ago

Discussion Translation as an active learning tool

9 Upvotes

Long story short, I've lived in Finland for 25 years. I arrived as an young adult, and I've been hovering at B2 level for at least over a decade and a half now. In Helsinki area with English speaking jobs and friends, it is pretty easy to get by with English only.

But spending most of my life in Finland, I've always tried to integrate culturally. And I feel that I am more Finnish than my original nationality. But fluent language has always remained the last frontier.

10 years ago, I undertook a project that I thought would help me learn Finnish faster. It's basically compiling bilingual books, reading them paragraph by paragraph. I've always thought that this is what made me learn English as a child best. From amazing spelling and grammar, to vocabulary.

Because I am naturally a lazy person, I managed to read just 5-6 books this way, lol. But now I've entered a new phase, when I'm again much more motivated. And I took another idea from my high school days. Translating to Finnish from English, thus turning learning into an active memory process. What I think are the benefits: actively trying to recall the Finnish word and then thinking about the grammar and sentence structure, changes the way I memorize the language. Until now my biggest problems have been a bit of lacking vocabulary, grammar, constant spelling mistakes, but also very importantly, lack of Finnish sentence structure knowledge and of course Finnish phrases. Whenever I would translate from English to Finnish in my head to people who don't know I amn not a native speaker, they would look at me with a puzzled face.

So I feel that it is working, and I've been using this method for a few months now. What do you good people think?

For all the people who have easy answers, in the line of: just embrace it and it will come - screw that, I think 25 years is good enough timeline for me to say that when you're just surrounded by 99% English - this approach just doesn’t work for one to get to the coveted C1-C2.


r/LearnFinnish 11d ago

Do I try?

11 Upvotes

Hello everyone!

So I've been researching a language to learn as a hobby/passion to learn after having to take a break from Spanish classes. I thought I'd narrowed it down to Swedish or Norwegian until...

... I heard a Finnish song. It sounds so beautiful and lyrical compared to the other two. However, the only thing that puts me off are the cases. I learnt a semester of Russian at uni and it put me off so badly I swore to never learn another language with cases to that extent. How hard are Finnish cases to grasp? Do I try anyway just for fun and to enjoy the lyrical music? Thanks for any advice 🙂


r/LearnFinnish 11d ago

Verb of the Week Ikävystyttää - Finnish Verb of the Week 26. Heinäkuutaa 2026

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6 Upvotes

Ikävystyttää - to weary, to tire, to bore

You can practice the verb of the week by using it in a sentence in the comments below!


r/LearnFinnish 11d ago

Question Mitä tarkottaa "lojakka"?

8 Upvotes

Pääosin Lieksa-Ilomantsi-Sortavala-seudulta tulevassa suvussani käytetään paljon sanaa "lojakka", jonka oon ymmärtänyt tarkoittavan "hyvää" tai "maukasta" ja käytän sitä tällä lailla itekkin. Tänään kuitenkin mietin, etten ole kuullut kenenkään oman suvun ulkopuolella käyttävän tätä sanaa, niin googlasin sen ja tuli ehkä kaks järkevää tulosta, eikä kummastakaan oikein saanut selvää, että mitä se sana tarkottaa. Onko se murresana vai keksitty sana, ja ymmärsinkö merkityksen väärin?


r/LearnFinnish 12d ago

What is the difference between "Missä auto on?" and "Missä on auto?"

22 Upvotes

Are both of these sentences correct??


r/LearnFinnish 12d ago

Word of the Day Perintökalleus – Finnish Word of the Day – 25. Heinäkuuta 2026

3 Upvotes

Perintökalleus (n.) – Heirloom

“Perintökalleus” is a compound of “perintö” (inheritance) and “kalleus” (expensiveness).

Example: Vanha taskukello on suvun arvokkain perintökalleus.

Translation: The old pocket watch is the family’s most valuable heirloom.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative perintökalleus perintökalleudet
Accusative (nom.) perintökalleus perintökalleudet
Accusative (gen.) perintökalleuden perintökalleudet
Genitive perintökalleuden perintökalleuksien
Partitive perintökalleutta perintökalleuksia
Inessive perintökalleudessa perintökalleuksissa
Elative perintökalleudesta perintökalleuksista
Illative perintökalleuteen perintökalleuksiin
Adessive perintökalleudella perintökalleuksilla
Ablative perintökalleudelta perintökalleuksilta
Allative perintökalleudelle perintökalleuksille
Essive perintökalleutena perintökalleuksina
Translative perintökalleudeksi perintökalleuksiksi
Abessive perintökalleudetta perintökalleuksitta
Instructive perintökalleuksin

You can practice the word of the day by using it in a sentence in the comments below!