Learn how to use the negative forms of verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gina: Hi everyone, I’m Gina! Welcome back to FinnishPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 11 - I Don’t Like the Rain in Finland |
| Paula: Hei! Minä olen Paula. |
| Gina: In this lesson, you’ll learn to say no. We’ll also talk a bit about the weather. |
| Paula: The conversation takes place at home. |
| Gina: Helen is about to go out, and asks Jussi about the weather. They will be speaking in standard Finnish. |
| Paula: Okay. Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Helen: Millainen sää tänään on? |
| Jussi: En tiedä. Hetki, katson ennustetta. |
| Helen: Tarvitsenko sateenvarjoa? |
| Jussi: Et tarvitse. Tänään ei sada. |
| Helen: Hyvä. En kaipaa sadetta. |
| Gina: Let's hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Helen: Millainen sää tänään on? |
| Jussi: En tiedä. Hetki, katson ennustetta. |
| Helen: Tarvitsenko sateenvarjoa? |
| Jussi: Et tarvitse. Tänään ei sada. |
| Helen: Hyvä. En kaipaa sadetta. |
| Gina: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| Helen: Millainen sää tänään on? |
| Gina: What's the weather like today? |
| Jussi: En tiedä. Hetki, katson ennustetta. |
| Gina: I don't know. Just a moment, I'll have a look at the forecast. |
| Helen: Tarvitsenko sateenvarjoa? |
| Gina: Do I need an umbrella? |
| Jussi: Et tarvitse. Tänään ei sada. |
| Gina: No, you don't. It's not going to rain today. |
| Helen: Hyvä. En kaipaa sadetta. |
| Gina: Good. I don't miss rain. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gina: So, Helen seems to be in luck, it’s not going to rain. |
| Paula: Yes - that is, if the forecast is right. Finnish weather is quite difficult to forecast. |
| Gina: What’s Finnish weather like, anyway? After all, Finland is about as far north as Alaska, but the Gulf stream brings in warmth from the Caribbean, right? |
| Paula: That’s right. Finnish winters are usually cold and snowy, except, perhaps, Ahvenanmaa and the Turku region in the South-West. |
| Gina: How cold is it during the winter? |
| Paula: Well, most of the time it’s between zero and -10 degrees Celsius. Sometimes it goes down to -20 or even -30 degrees. |
| Gina: Wow, that’s cold. What about summers? |
| Paula: Summers are quite pleasant, with temperatures around 20 degrees. Sometimes it feels like it’s been raining all summer, sometimes it feels like it’s just been hot and dry, but when you ask meteorologists, they’ll tell you that statistically, it’s all within normal limits. |
| Gina: Sounds like quite a variable climate. Okay, on to the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gina: The first word we shall see is: |
| Paula: Millainen [natural native speed] |
| Gina: What kind of |
| Paula: Millainen [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Millainen [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next: |
| Paula: Sää [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Weather |
| Paula: Sää [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Sää [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next: |
| Paula: Tänään [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Today |
| Paula: Tänään [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Tänään [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next: |
| Paula: Hetki [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Moment |
| Paula: Hetki [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Hetki [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next: |
| Paula: Katsoa [natural native speed] |
| Gina: To look at, to watch |
| Paula: Katsoa [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Katsoa [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next: |
| Paula: Ennuste [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Forecast |
| Paula: Ennuste [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ennuste [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next: |
| Paula: Sateenvarjo [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Umbrella |
| Paula: Sateenvarjo [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Sateenvarjo [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next: |
| Paula: Sataa [natural native speed] |
| Gina: To rain |
| Paula: Sataa [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Sataa [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Next: |
| Paula: Kaivata [natural native speed] |
| Gina: To need, to miss |
| Paula: Kaivata [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Kaivata [natural native speed] |
| Gina: And last. |
| Paula: Sade [natural native speed] |
| Gina: Rain |
| Paula: Sade [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Sade [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gina: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Paula: The first word is ‘millainen’, “what kind of”. Is there anything familiar in this word? |
| Gina: Well, now that you mention it, we had the ending ‘-lainen’ that we used to turn country names into adjectives in the previous lesson. Do we have it here as well? |
| Paula: Very good. It’s the same thing. Anything else? |
| Gina: Hmm, it begins with ‘mi-’, just like some of the words we’ve had before. |
| Paula: That’s it! Well done. It comes from ‘minkä’ + ‘lainen’, where ‘minkä’ is the genitive form of mikä. So it quite literally means “of what kind”. |
| Gina: I see. That makes sense. What’s our next word? |
| Paula: The next word is ‘sateenvarjo’. ‘Sateen’ is the genitive of the word ‘sade’, or “rain”. ‘Varjo’ is “shade” or “shadow”, so ‘sateenvarjo’ is “shade of rain” - or maybe “shade from rain”. |
| Gina: Did you know that the English word “umbrella” also originally comes from a word meaning “shade” or “shadow”? |
| Paula: No, I didn’t. That’s quite interesting. Listeners, I have some homework for you. Finnish also has the word ‘päivänvarjo’. Try to figure out what it means! You might find the correct answer in the lesson notes. |
| Gina: Okay, now on to the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Gina: In this lesson, we're going to learn to say no. So far, we’ve only been able to say “no thanks”, but of course you can use “no” for other purposes as well. |
| Paula: First of all, you need to know that the Finnish word ‘ei’ is a verb. |
| Gina: What do you mean by “it’s a verb”? Can you say something like “I’m going to ‘no’ today”? |
| Paula: (laughs) No, you can’t use it like that. But it’s kind of a verb anyway. It takes personal endings according to the subject just like all other verbs. Actually, it steals them from the main verb. |
| Gina: Oh? How does that work? |
| Paula: Well, take the phrase ‘minä tiedän’, or “I know”. The ‘n’ at the end of ‘tiedän’ is the personal ending that shows that it’s “I” who knows something. The stem to which this ending is attached is ‘tiedä-’. |
| Gina: OK, that’s clear enough. |
| Paula: Now if you want to say “I don’t know”, you take the ending from the main verb, attach it to the verb ‘ei’, whose stem is just ‘e-’ and place the result before the main verb. |
| Gina: And you get...? |
| Paula: ‘Minä en tiedä.’ So ‘tiedän’ becomes ‘en tiedä.’ |
| Gina: OK. How about “you don’t know”? |
| Paula: Sinä et tiedä. |
| Gina: And “he or she doesn’t know”? |
| Paula: ‘Hän ei tiedä’. Note that the affirmative for this one is ‘Hän tietää’. For some verbs, the stem is different in the third person, but in the negative, you always use the same stem for all persons - that is, the stem from the first person. |
| Gina: Actually, that difference in the stem - it looks a lot like the change we had in the word for “mother” in lesson 9. |
| Paula: Wow, you’re really sharp today! |
| Gina: (laughs) Thanks. |
| Paula: That’s just what it is. ‘Äiti - äidin’ and ‘tietää - tiedän’ show the same phenomenon. |
| Gina: So listeners, try to keep an eye and ear out for these changes whenever you’re reading or listening to Finnish, so that you’ll get a feel for it. But let’s have a look at some other verbs. How do you say “you are not”? |
| Paula: ‘Sinä et ole’, or just ‘et ole’ for short. |
| Gina: And how do you say “he doesn’t go”? |
| Paula: Hän ei mene. |
| Gina: OK, let’s practice. Listeners, I’ll say some words, and your job is to say them in Finnish. Paula will give you the correct answer after a few seconds. The first words are “I am not”. |
| Paula: Remember that you should have ‘en’, ‘et’, or ‘ei’, and then the stem of the main verb. |
| --- |
| Paula: Minä en ole. |
| Gina: Here’s the next one - “she doesn’t need it”. |
| --- |
| Paula: Hän ei tarvitse. |
| Gina: Good. One more - “Don’t you need it?” |
| --- |
| Paula: ‘Etkö tarvitse?’ Well, that was quite a curve ball. If you negate a question, not only the personal ending, but also the ‘-ko’ ending is moved to the verb ‘ei.’ The main verb is just a lifeless zombie, all the action takes place in the ‘ei’! |
Outro |
|---|
| Gina: Okay, that’s going to do it for this lesson. Make sure you check the lesson notes, and we’ll see you next time! |
| Paula: Hei hei! |
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