PART 1---
LANGUAGE PROFILE - FINNISHGeneral informationFinnish (
Suomen kieli / Suomi) is the official language of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. It is also the mother tongue of people of Finnish ancestry living in other neighbouring countries (e.g. Norway, Russia). Because of immigration since the 19th century, native speakers of Finnish also live in Australia, Canada, and the United States. Of the approximately 6 million speakers worldwide, 4.5 million live in Finland.
Linguists classify Finnish as an Uralic language and linguistic relatives include Estonian, Hungarian, Northern Saami, and Nenets. Most such languages are spoken in northern Eurasia.
Despite their language not being Indo-European like the majority of languages in Europe, Finns are deeply assimilated into the European millieu and most are physically indistinguishable from their neighbours speaking Germanic, Slavonic or other Uralic languages. The ancestors of the Finns began to be converted to Christianity in the 11th century and had been under Swedish or Russian domination until the 20th century.
Finnish is useful in areas where Finnish or very closely-related languages are spoken. As Finnish is rarely heard outside northern Scandinavia, many Finns speak at least some English or Swedish. The latter can be frequently heard in the far western or southwestern parts of Finland. In southeastern Finland there is a chance to come across local people who speak Russian fluently as they may be among the 25,000 Ingrian Finns who emigrated to Finland after the collapse of the USSR. In recent years, the number of Russian tourists in the area has grown and with it the likelihood of encountering Russian within Finland's borders.
Knowledge of Finnish would acquaint the learner with some features that are characteristic of Uralic (e.g. Hungarian, Udmurt) and Altaic languages (e.g. Mongolian, Turkish). In particular, knowledge of Finnish would provide a definite advantage in learning other Balto-Finnic languages (a subgroup of the Uralic family) such as Estonian, Karelian or Livonian. However, a prospective learner of Finnish should realize that learning Hungarian with a Finnish base is not as easy as learning Spanish with an English base for example.
Varieties/dialectsThe modern standard language is based on standardization efforts that started in the 19th century. Linguists are uncertain how to classify Finnish dialects as divisions vary. The least elaborate classification splits dialects into eastern and western groups. The most elaborate distinction recognizes eight groups: Southwestern, Southern Transitional, Häme, Southern Pohjanmaa, Central and Northern Pohjanmaa, Far Northern, Savonian, and Southeastern. Modern standard Finnish is based on a combination of features in eastern and western dialects. Today, the standard language is taught in all schools and colleges and this teaching has limited the problem of mutual unintelligibility among Finns.
There also exist Kven and Meänkieli which are defined as minority languages in Norway and Sweden respectively. For political purposes they are considered separate languages but in dialectological studies they are part of the chain comprising the Far Northern dialects (or broadly speaking the Western dialects). To a lesser extent, the treatment of Ingrian and Karelian as Finnish dialects is otherwise similarly disputed. Mutual intelligibility of Ingrian and Karelian on one hand, and standard Finnish on the other is somewhat lower than in the cases of Kven and Meänkieli with standard Finnish. Ingrian is part of the chain of Southeastern Finnish dialects while Karelian is on the continuum of Savonian dialects. Both Southeastern and Savonian dialects are broadly classifiable as Eastern Finnish dialects.
In modern Finnish there is a colloquial register (~
puhekieli “spoken language”) and a formal one (~
yleiskieli “standard language”) as taught in school. It is somewhat similar to the distinction between colloquial Czech and standard Czech. Standard Finnish occurs mainly in print and formal situations and its prescriptions demonstrate grammatical patterns or distinctions that are rarely used if not absent from spoken Finnish and reflect an earlier period when codifiers strove to create a literary language. Among other characteristics, words in spoken Finnish tend to be shorter than their equivalents in the standard language thanks to assimilation or omission of certain endings or unstressed syllables. For someone familiar with Estonian, spoken Finnish rather than standard Finnish may appear more similar to Estonian.
Learning with a background in other languagesAccording to FSI, it takes approximately 1100 class hours to achieve professional speaking and reading proficiency in Finnish. It follows from FSI’s scale that the degree of difficulty in learning Finnish for a monolingual speaker of English is roughly the same as that of Estonian, Georgian, Hungarian, Mongolian, Thai or Vietnamese.
Based on experience with Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian and Northern Saami, I consider Finnish to be somewhat easier to grasp than Estonian and Northern Saami, but more difficult than Hungarian.
As suggested in the subsequent section on intelligibility, learners with a background in a Balto-Finnic language will find learning Finnish less onerous to various degrees depending on how similar their respective native languages are. A background in a typologically similar language (which need not be related) such as Meadow Mari, Hungarian, Turkish or Mongolian may be helpful but at a lower degree than prior knowledge of a Balto-Finnic language.
For native speakers of an Indo-European language such as me, these are features that I found which caused the most difficulty at the beginning:
1) Consonant gradation
2) Treatment of a direct object or predicate
3) Correct use of the partitive plural and genitive plural
4) Unfamiliar vocabulary for speakers of most Indo-European languages (this problem is alleviated in varying degrees if one already knows another Uralic or Altaic language or is fluent in a Balto-Slavonic or Germanic language.)
Fred Karlsson's comments on difficulty may also be relevant.
Karlsson, Fred. “Finnish: An Essential Grammar (2nd. ed.).” London, New York: Routledge, 2008, pp. 8-10 wrote:The most difficult feature of the PRONUNCIATION of Finnish is the length (duration) of the sounds: differences of length very frequently serve to distinguish separate words.
[...]
Since Finnish is not an Indo-European language, the BASIC VOCABULARY differs from Indo-European.
[...]
...it was said that the inflection of Finnish words is easy in that the endings are often attached 'mechanically' to the stem. However, this is not always true. The form of the basic stem (root, lexical form) often alters when certain endings are added to it, i.e. a lexical word may be represented by different STEMS depending upon which endings it is followed by. These changes are called MORPHOPHONOLOGICAL ALTERNATIONS.
[...]
The basic form ... takes different forms according to the following ending and its sound structure. These sound alternations are governed by rules that can sometimes be extremely complex.
[...]
Case endings are usually added to nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals (all together called NOMINALS), but they may also be added to verbs.
Minä lähden Jyväskylä/än. I'm going to Jyväskylä.
Minä lähden kävele/mä/än. I'm going 'walking' (= for a walk).
The verb form kävelemään literally means 'into walking', just as Jyväskylään means 'into (the town of) Jyväskylä'. Both forms contain the illative case ending of -än meaning 'into'. When complex sentences are formed, Finnish makes more use than English of such inflected non-finite verb forms.
The grammatical object in Finnish is marked by a case ending. In the two following sentences the endings -n, -t, -a indicate 'this word is the object of the sentence' and tell something about its definiteness or indefiniteness. The rules governing the use of these endings are fairly complex.
(Minä) ostan kirja/n ~ kirja/t ~ kirjo/j/a. I (shall) buy a/the book ~ the books ~ books.
Tuomas näki auto/n ~ auto/t ~ auto/j/a. Tuomas saw a/the car ~ the cars ~ cars.
Grammatical overviewMain stress is fixed on the first syllable but it is not as strong as in English or Russian to the point of causing reduction of unstressed vowels. Finnish also differentiates between short and long sounds. Short sounds are expressed in print as single vowels or consonants. Long sounds are expressed in print as geminate vowels or consonants. Sandhi or changes of sounds at boundaries dividing words or morphemes is widespread in Finnish but rarely marked in writing. Changes in intonation can be used when emphasizing desired elements in a sentence.
Finnish pronunciation is also affected by vowel harmony and consonant gradation. Vowel harmony is the principle where back vowels (i.e.
a, o, u) do not occur in roots which consist of certain front vowels (i.e.
ä, ö, y). The front vowels
e and
i can however occur in any word, regardless of the quality of its vowels. In compound words however, the principle of vowel harmony may appear violated, but analysis of a compound’s roots will show that each root adheres to the principle of vowel harmony. Vowel harmony may be violated outright in internationalisms regardless of whether they're compound words or not (e.g.
amatööri "amateur",
Olympialaiset "Olympic Games").
Consonant gradation can occur when the consonants
k, p, and
t begin the final syllable of a stem or root. The result of consonant gradation is a change in the quality or quantity of
k, p or
t (technically speaking, the addition of certain suffixes to that stem or root change the final syllable to an open one, or a short closed one, and thus cause consonant gradation with
k, p or
t)
E.g.
aikoa “to intend”; aiomme “we intend” (-k- in aikoa changes to zero (i.e. -k- disappears) because the present tense suffix for the 1st person plural -mme caused gradation of the hypothetical stem aiko-)
kauppa “a/the store”; kaupassa “in a/the store” (-pp- in kauppa changes to -p- in kaupassa because the inessive suffix -ssa caused gradation of the hypothetical stem kauppa-)
lähteä “to leave”; lähden “I leave” (-t- in lähteä changes to -d- in lähden because the present tense suffix for the 1st person singular -n caused gradation of the hypothetical stem lähte-)
sänky “bed”; sängyllä “on a/the bed” (-k- of -nk- in sänky changes to -g- of -ng- in sängyllä because the adessive suffix -llä caused gradation of the hypothetical stem sänky-)
ymmärtää “to understand”; ymmärrätte “you understand” (2nd person plural or formal 2nd person singular) (-t- of -rt- in ymmärtää changes to -r- of -rr- in ymmärrätte because the present tense suffix for the 2nd person plural -tte caused gradation of the hypothetical stem ymmärtä-)
Finnish has four tenses (present, imperfect, perfect and pluperfect), two voices (active and passive), two numbers (singular and plural), and six moods (indicative, conditional, imperative, optative, potential, eventive). The last three moods however are either archaic or rarely used in speech. There are also four forms for the infinitive (some sources show five such forms). In addition, it does not use separate pronouns for “he” and “she”.
Of note for verbs:
i) Future activity is indicated by using the present tense. Future activity can be determined from the context of a sentence or can be clarified by using suitable adverbs.
e.g.
Minä tulen “I am coming”, “I come”, “I will come”, “I will be coming”
Minä tulen ensi torstaina “I am coming next Thursday”, “I come next Thursday”, “I will come next Thursday”, “I will be coming next Thursday”
ii) Conjugating verbs in negative differs from doing so in the affirmative.
e.g.
Minä tulen “I am coming”, “I come”, “I will come”, “I will be coming”
Minä en tule “I am not coming”, “I do not come”, “I will not come”, “I will not be coming”
He tulevat “They are coming”, “They come”, “They will come”, “They will be coming”
He eivät tule “They are not coming”, “They do not come”, “They will not come”, “They will not be coming”
As it relates to nouns and adjectives, Finnish does not have grammatical gender but uses both prepositions and postpositions and 15 cases.
Finnish morphology is largely agglutinative but does show some traits of fusional languages. In purely agglutinative languages, each suffix often expresses only one unit of meaning. For example to express the nominative plural of a noun, one would attach a plural suffix to the basic form (usually nominative). If one wanted to express the accusative plural, one would attach two suffixes to the basic form - one suffix for the accusative, another for the plural. In fusional languages, the ending of a noun can change to express different case relations and that ending can express more than one unit of meaning. For example to express the nominative plural, one would change the ending of the noun. If one wanted to express the accusative plural, one would attach a different ending to the basic form (there's no need to attach one ending for the plural, and then a second for the accusative as in a purely agglutinative language.)
Word order is usually subject-verb-object but can vary as the use of suffixes or endings allows for some flexibility depending on what one wishes to emphasize, mark for definiteness or rank in relevance or “newness”. Adjectives precede the nouns that they modify.
One area of Finnish grammar that may be initially difficult to learn or grasp is the treatment of the direct object. Finnish declension of direct objects depends on:
1) whether the direct object is countable or not
2) whether the direct object is the recipient of a completed or ongoing action or not (i.e. “resultative action” versus “irresultative action”)
3) whether the direct object is the recipient of a negated action or not
4) whether the direct object is a defined amount or one countable thing or not
5) whether the direct object is a personal pronoun or not
6) whether the direct object is countable and the recipient of either an affirmative action in the imperative or that of an act of obligation (i.e. countable direct object of a sentence using the Finnish equivalent of "must")
In brief, the accusative as used in an inflecting language such as German or Latin can be expressed in Finnish with either nominative, accusative (personal pronouns only), genitive or partitive. The choice of case ending depends on how it aligns with the criteria above.
In a related sense, this also affects how Finnish treats the complement of
olla “to be”. The complement can be in nominative or partitive - again depending on how it aligns with some of the criteria above.
Use of the partitive plural may also be initially difficult for foreigners to master since the required plural infix
-i- can cause changes to the stem which can be difficult to predict without some drilling or revision. The genitive plural is described in Fred Karlsson’s guide “Finnish: An Essential Grammar” as the most complex of Finnish case forms. The suffixes for genitive plural can be attached to a stem based on the partitive plural or a stem based on the genitive singular. The choice of stem depends on the declensional class of the word.
Spelling is relatively phonemic (each grapheme corresponds to just one meaningful sound) but rarely transcribes sandhi as mentioned earlier. The alphabet is influenced by the Swedish alphabet. Conventions that may be unfamiliar to speakers of English are:
i pronounced somewhat like “ee” in “glee” but shorter
j pronounced like “y” in “yes”
w pronounced like “v” in “van” (it's encountered in loanwords, and family names of foreign origin)
y pronounced somewhat like “u” in French “tu” (you)
å pronounced like “o” in “pot” (it’s encountered in family names of Swedish origin)
ä pronounced like “a” in “matt”
ö pronounced somewhat like “u” in “fur”
Finnish in the 21st century has largely dropped the two-way T-V distinction in which to address one person politely or formally, one uses the 2nd person plural instead of the 2nd person singular. For addressing more than person, the 2nd person plural forms are used regardless of the level of formality or politeness. For example, it is now common in advertisements that the prospective consumer be addressed in the 2nd person singular rather than the 2nd person plural. In another example, it is usual for a receptionist to address a patient using the 2nd person singular even when neither person is acquainted with the other.
Mutual intelligibility with other languagesMost English-speaking learners will find little in Finnish that is instantly familiar at the outset apart from most of the Finnish alphabet and the occasional internationalism (e.g.
hotelli,
poliisi) or loanword (e.g.
printata "to print",
skannata "to scan").
Estonian shows the most similarity to Finnish when considering official languages. Lesser-known languages such as Ingrian, Karelian, Veps are even closer to Finnish while Kven and Meänkieli are closer still, if one grants that these latter two are languages rather than dialects or even variants. Speakers of Saamic languages will not find Finnish to be highly intelligible while speakers of Hungarian even less so. The occasional word in Finnish may be recognizable to speakers of Balto-Slavonic or Germanic languages because of the presence of loanwords from earlier-attested Balto-Slavonic or Germanic languages but such words may not be obvious to speakers of modern Balto-Slavonic or Germanic languages because of the divergence between the older and later reflexes. A few examples are shown at the end of this section.
Here are some hints for non-Finns that may help with grasping Finnish.
1) Finnish tends to use SVO order in declarative sentences like English rather than a generalized order of the main/auxillary verb being in second position like German.
E.g.
"Tomorrow Marko goes to Kuopio."
Huomenna Marko menee Kuopioon. (Finnish)
Morgen fährt Marko nach Kuopio. (German)
"I have bought a book."
Minä olen ostannut kirjan. (Finnish)
Ich habe ein Buch gekauft. (German)
2) Estonian treatment of the direct object is somewhat similar to that of Finnish where the direct object's declension depends on the verb's aspect, affirmativeness, the degree of involvement inherent in the action, or the degree to which the direct object is affected by the action.
E.g.
"I'm drinking (some) beer."
Mä juon olutta. (Finnish - olutta is partitive of olut)
Ma joon õlut. (Estonian - õlut is partitive of õlu)
"I'll drink (up) a/the beer."
Mä juon oluen. (Finnish - oluen is genitive of olut)
Ma joon õlle (ära). (Estonian - õlle is genitive of õlu)
3) In contrast to standard Finnish, apocope (i.e. dropping of final unstressed syllables), syncope (i.e. dropping of medial unstressed syllables) and assimilation of certain clusters is widespread in colloquial Finnish and is reminiscent of Estonian which has undergone similar development.
E.g.
"Is your car red?"
Onko autosi punainen? (Standard Finnish)
Onks sun auto punane? (Colloquial Finnish)
Kas su auto on punane? (Estonian)
"Why will they give to me the letter?"
Miksi he antavat minulle kirjeen? (Standard Finnish)
Miks ne antaa mulle kirjeen? (Colloquial Finnish)
Miks nad annavad mulle kirja? (Estonian)
4) Colloquial Finnish like Estonian is not as strongly agglutinative as standard Finnish with apocope leading to the disuse of some suffixes. In turn, this has meant that their typology has become more isolating or analytic than standard Finnish. Manifestations of the stronger isolation or analysis are a greater tendency to retain pronouns (i.e. less "pro-dropping") and replacement of possessive suffixes with possessive pronouns, thus leaving the possessed object without possessive endings.
E.g.
"My friend worked in a bookstore."
Ystäväni oli työssä kirjakaupassa. (Standard Finnish)
Mun ystävä oli töissä kirjakaupas. (Colloquial Finnish)
Mu sõbra töötas raamatupoes. (Estonian)
"Take your dog along!"
Ota koirasi mukaan! (Standard Finnish)
Ota sun koira mukaan! (Colloquial Finnish)
Võta su koer kaasa! (Estonian)
"I'm reading a newspaper."
Luen sanomalehteä (Standard Finnish)
Mä luen sanomalehtee (Colloquial Finnish)
Ma loen ajalehte (Estonian)
When it comes to vocabulary, knowledge of Estonian can still be helpful but beware of false friends or near false-friends.
E.g.
- ilma "air, weather" || ilma "without" (Estonian) (N.B. the Finnish cognate of Estonian ilma is ilman)
- kannatus "support" || kannatus "pain, suffering" (Estonian)
- keittää "to cook" || keetma "to boil" (Estonian)
- linna "castle" || linn "town" (Estonian)
- raamattu "Bible" || raamat "book" (Estonian)
- tuore "fresh" || toores "crude; raw" (Estonian)
- vene "boat" || vene "Russian" (adjective); "small boat cut from a log" (Estonian)
In addition to words common to other Uralic languages, Finnish has a sizeable stock of Germanic loanwords not only because of hypothesized contact between Proto-Balto-Finnic (an ancestral language of Finnish) and Proto-Germanic but also because of the long influence on Finnish culture from Sweden’s domination of the Finns from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. It follows that some of these Germanic loanwords should also be discernible to speakers of English.
E.g.
hattu ("hat"); helppo ("easy" – Cf. “help”); pukki ("billy-goat" – Cf. “buck”); mallas ("malt"); neula ("needle"); peruna ("potato" – Cf. Swedish jordpäron); sairas ("sick" – Cf. “sore”); sunnuntai ("Sunday"); torstai ("Thursday")
There are also loanwords from Balto-Slavonic and Saamic languages.
E.g.
halla ("frost" – Cf. Lithuanian šalna); iltti ("shoe tongue" - Cf. Northern Saami alddas); raamattu ("bible" – Cf. Russian грамота "certificate; document; reading and writing")
English has recently become an important source of loanwords in Finnish (especially in slang).
E.g.
bändi ("(music) band"); frendi ("buddy, friend"); hitti ("hit, success"); luuseri ("loser")