Learn how to talk about your job and education history
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Michael: Hi everyone, and welcome back to FinnishPod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 20 - Talking About Yourself in Finnish. Michael here. |
| Nico: Hei. I'm Nico. |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to explain your job and education history by using the past tense. The conversation takes place at a private home. |
| Nico: It's between Jukka and Linnea. |
| Michael: The speakers are new acquaintances in an informal setting, so they'll be using informal Finnish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Linnea: Hei Jukka, hauska tavata. Olet siis Ainon työtoveri? |
| Jukka: Kyllä vain. Aloitin firmassa aivan äskettäin. Sitä ennen olin toimittaja sanomalehdessä. |
| Linnea: Ihanko totta? Minä opiskelin valokuvausta ja kirjoittamista ennen kuin muutin Yhdysvaltoihin. |
| Jukka: Kas, sehän on hauskaa! Mitä teet nyt? |
| Linnea: Nyt olen freelance-valokuvaaja, mutta työskentelin aikaisemmin kamerakaupassa. |
| Jukka: Hienoa, minä voinkin kysyä sinulta vinkkejä hyvistä kameroista! |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Linnea: Hei Jukka, hauska tavata. Olet siis Ainon työtoveri? |
| Jukka: Kyllä vain. Aloitin firmassa aivan äskettäin. Sitä ennen olin toimittaja sanomalehdessä. |
| Linnea: Ihanko totta? Minä opiskelin valokuvausta ja kirjoittamista ennen kuin muutin Yhdysvaltoihin. |
| Jukka: Kas, sehän on hauskaa! Mitä teet nyt? |
| Linnea: Nyt olen freelance-valokuvaaja, mutta työskentelin aikaisemmin kamerakaupassa. |
| Jukka: Hienoa, minä voinkin kysyä sinulta vinkkejä hyvistä kameroista! |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Linnea: Hi Jukka, nice to meet you. So you’re Aino's coworker? |
| Jukka: Oh yes. I just started in the company recently. Before that I was an editor at a newspaper. |
| Linnea: Oh really? I studied photography and writing before I moved to the United States. |
| Jukka: Oh, well that's nice! What do you do now? |
| Linnea: Now I’m a freelance photographer, but before I used to work in a camera shop. |
| Jukka: Great, so I can ask you for tips on good cameras! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Michael: Nico, what would you say is the ideal career for a Finn? |
| Nico: Well, there's not just one! Actually in Finland it's not uncommon for people to study for a long time, and to even change professions a few times. |
| Michael: That seems to be common in many countries nowadays. Is it easy to enroll in university in Finland? |
| Nico: Well, to enter Finnish universities the applicants have to pass entrance exams. Some of the most popular fields of study are very difficult to enter, and only about 3-5% of the applicants can get through. |
| Michael: That's why it's not uncommon for Finnish students to try the exams again and again until they get into the university where they would like to be. I've also heard that the tuition is very affordable... |
| Nico: Actually, studying in Finland is free! |
| Michael: Really?! |
| Nico: Yes! That’s another reason why it's easy for students to have a change of heart and change their field, if they like, and enter university at an older age. Many students also like to take a break from studying and enter the workforce after they get their BA degree, and then possibly go back to an MA-course later in life. |
| Michael: Oh, that sounds like a really convenient system. Now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Michael: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Nico: firma [natural native speed] |
| Michael: company |
| Nico: firma[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: firma [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: olla [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to be |
| Nico: olla[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: olla [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: toimittaja [natural native speed] |
| Michael: editor |
| Nico: toimittaja[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: toimittaja [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: sanomalehti [natural native speed] |
| Michael: newspaper |
| Nico: sanomalehti[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: sanomalehti [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: opiskella [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to study |
| Nico: opiskella[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: opiskella [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: valokuvaus [natural native speed] |
| Michael: photography |
| Nico: valokuvaus[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: valokuvaus [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: kirjoittaminen [natural native speed] |
| Michael: writing |
| Nico: kirjoittaminen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: kirjoittaminen [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: muuttaa [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to move |
| Nico: muuttaa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: muuttaa [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: työskennellä [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to work |
| Nico: työskennellä[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: työskennellä [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: aikaisemmin [natural native speed] |
| Michael: before, earlier |
| Nico: aikaisemmin[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: aikaisemmin [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Michael: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Nico: sanomalehti |
| Michael: meaning "newspaper." Nico, what are the words that make up this term? |
| Nico: sanoma which means "message" and lehti, meaning "paper" or "gazette." |
| Michael: So it literally refers to a paper containing messages. Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Nico: Sure. For example, you can say.. Ostan joka päivä juna-asemalta sanomalehden. |
| Michael: ..which means "I buy a newspaper every day at the railway station." Does it refer to magazines, too? |
| Nico: No. For magazines, use the word aikakausilehti instead. |
| Michael: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Nico: kamerakauppa |
| Michael: meaning "camera store." |
| Nico: This is also made out of two words, kamera which means "camera" and kauppa meaning "shop" or "store." |
| Michael: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Nico: Sure. For example, you can say.. Isoisälläni oli ennen kamerakauppa. |
| Michael: .. which means "My grandfather used to have a camera store." If you replace the first word of “camera store,” can you get the names of different shops? |
| Nico: Yes, you can describe any kind of shop. For example, kukkakauppa, |
| Michael: "flower shop," |
| Nico: kenkäkauppa, |
| Michael: "shoe store," |
| Nico: paperikauppa, |
| Michael: "paper shop" or "stationery store." Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this lesson you'll learn how to talk about your job and education history. More specifically, you'll learn how to explain your job and education history by using the past tense. |
| Nico: For example, in the dialogue Jukka and Linnea were discussing their previous jobs and education. |
| Michael: What was a relevant line from the dialogue? |
| Nico: Sitä ennen olin toimittaja sanomalehdessä. |
| Michael: Which means “Before that I was an editor at a newspaper.” They also used some expressions of time in their sentences, to better explain when they did something and to make the conversation flow smoothly. Let’s give a list. For example in this sentence we had.. |
| Nico: ennen |
| Michael: which means “before.” |
| Nico: Here are some more. aikaisemmin, |
| Michael: “earlier,” |
| Nico: nyt, |
| Michael: “now,” |
| Nico: myöhemmin, |
| Michael: “later.” Ok, now let’s see how to handle the past tense. |
| Nico: The formation of the past tense follows a pattern, but each verb type has its own rule. |
| Michael: So you must first know these different verb types, and there are six types of verbs in Finnish. |
| Nico: They are classified by ending. The stem is what you will need to form the past tense. |
| Michael: Listeners, please know that in the lesson notes you’ll find a detailed list of these six types of Finnish verbs and how to find the stem. Here we’ll take a close look at how to form the past tense. There are two main rules. |
| Nico: The first rule to form the past tense, which is the rule for types 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 is to add an i to the stem, and then the personal suffix. |
| Michael: Let’s give an example with a type 1 verb, which are the verbs that end in two vowels. |
| Nico: Let's look at kirjoittaa, meaning “to write.” To get the stem, we just remove the final -aa. |
| Michael: Nico will say the past conjugation in Finnish and I’ll give the translation. |
| Nico: minä kirjoitin |
| Michael: “I wrote.” |
| Nico: sinä kirjoitit |
| Michael:“you wrote.” |
| Nico: hän kirjoitti - |
| Michael: “she wrote.” |
| Nico: me kirjoitimme |
| Michael: “we wrote.” |
| Nico: te kirjoititte |
| Michael: “you wrote.” |
| Nico: he kirjoittivat |
| Michael: “they wrote.” |
| Nico: You should note that outside of the type 3 verbs, the third singular form will be strong. |
| Michael: Can you give us an example? |
| Nico: For example, the third singular form for opiskella, which means “to study” and is a type 3 verb is opiskeli. |
| Michael: which means “he or she studied.” |
| Nico: Now let’s see the second rule, for type 4 verbs. To form the past tense conjugations for verb type 4, you need to take the first singular form referring to minä, meaning “I,” of the verb in the present, take off the last two letters, add -si, and then the personal suffix. |
| Michael: What’s an example? |
| Nico: Let’s consider pelata |
| Michael: “to play." |
| Nico: pela-an means “I play,” so you take off the last two letters from pelaan and obtain pela, to which you will add si and the personal suffix. So it will be minä pelasin [Little pause] sinä pelasit [Little pause] hän pelasi and so on... |
| Michael: Which mean “I played,” “you played,” “she played,” and so on… Are there any exceptions to these two main rules? |
| Nico: Yes, for certain verbs from the type 1 group, mostly the ones ending in aa and ää, you will need to add a -si to these verbs before the personal ending. |
| Michael: For example? |
| Nico: The past for pyytää, “to ask,” in the first singular person is [quite slowly] minä pyysin, |
| Michael: meaning "I asked." Are there other things we should keep in mind? |
| Nico: In a few cases there are some changes in the vowels that form the stem. |
| Michael: Listeners, these are also listed in the lesson notes, but let’s give an example. |
| Nico: For example add an -i after u, y, o and ö. Let’s consider “I speak” which is Minä puhun. The past, “I spoke,” is [slowly] minä puhuin, I added an i to the the stem puhu, which ends with u. |
| Michael: Now to wrap up the lesson, let’s give a couple of sample sentences. |
| Nico: Vaihdoin alaa. |
| Michael: "I changed my field of study. " |
| Nico: Opiskelin ennen biologiaa, nyt minusta tulee lentäjä. |
| Michael: “I studied biology before, now I'll be a pilot.” |
| Nico: Here is another - Veljeni oli ennen mestari tenniksessä. |
| Michael: "My brother was a tennis champion before." |
Outro |
| Michael: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Nico: Hei hei. |
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