Learn how to use numbers while you're shopping
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Michael: Hi everyone, and welcome back to FinnishPod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 24 - How Much Finnish Cheese Would You Like? Michael here. |
| Nico: Hei. I'm Nico. |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about quantities when shopping at a deli counter or food market, and how to use the polite conditional form when asking for something. The conversation takes place at a supermarket. |
| Nico: It's between Jukka and a deli counter sales assistant. |
| Michael: The speakers are in a customer service situation, so they’ll be using formal Finnish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Sales Assistant: Päivää! Mitä saisi olla? |
| Jukka: Päivää! Tuo lohi näyttää hyvältä. Paljonko se maksaa? |
| Sales Assistant: Se maksaa 8,90 (kahdeksan yhdeksänkymmentä) kilo. |
| Jukka: Selvä, ottaisin sitä sitten noin kilon verran. |
| Sales Assistant: Selvä, saako olla muuta? |
| Jukka: Nuo kasvispihvit ovat myös herkullisen näköisiä. Saisinko niitä viisi (5) kappaletta, kiitos? |
| Sales Assistant: Toki... Kas tässä, olkaa hyvä. |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Sales Assistant: Päivää! Mitä saisi olla? |
| Jukka: Päivää! Tuo lohi näyttää hyvältä. Paljonko se maksaa? |
| Sales Assistant: Se maksaa 8,90 (kahdeksan yhdeksänkymmentä) kilo. |
| Jukka: Selvä, ottaisin sitä sitten noin kilon verran. |
| Sales Assistant: Selvä, saako olla muuta? |
| Jukka: Nuo kasvispihvit ovat myös herkullisen näköisiä. Saisinko niitä viisi (5) kappaletta, kiitos? |
| Sales Assistant: Toki... Kas tässä, olkaa hyvä. |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Sales Assistant: Good afternoon! What can I get you? |
| Jukka: Good afternoon! That salmon looks good. How much does it cost? |
| Sales Assistant: It costs 8.90 per kilo. |
| Jukka: Okay, I would like to have one kilo of that then, please. |
| Sales Assistant: Ok, can I get you anything else? |
| Jukka: Those vegetable steaks also look delicious. Could I get five of them, please? |
| Sales Assistant: Sure... Here you go. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Michael: Nico, are deli counters common in Finnish supermarkets? |
| Nico: Yes, deli counters can be found in many Finnish supermarkets. |
| Michael: What do they usually offer? |
| Nico: These counters offer fresh meat and fish products, ready-made foods and salads, as well as freshly baked bread, pastries and cakes. |
| Michael: The ready-made foods are usually sold in boxes, and the customer gets to pick the portion of food they would like. |
| Nico: Fish and meat are sold either by piece or by weight. |
| Michael: Apart from the counters in supermarkets, are there individual deli shops too? |
| Nico: Separate fishmonger's or butcher's shops are very rare in Finland nowadays, so people generally buy all of their groceries at supermarkets. |
| Michael: How do we figure out which counter is which? |
| Nico: Here are two words to help, kalatiski |
| Michael: which means "fish counter,” |
| Nico: and lihatiski |
| Michael: meaning “meat counter." Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Michael: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Nico: paljonko [natural native speed] |
| Michael: How much? |
| Nico: paljonko[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: paljonko [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: näyttää joltakin [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to look like something |
| Nico: näyttää joltakin[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: näyttää joltakin [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: maksaa [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to cost |
| Nico: maksaa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: maksaa [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: ottaa [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to take |
| Nico: ottaa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: ottaa [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: kilo [natural native speed] |
| Michael: kilo, kilogram |
| Nico: kilo[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: kilo [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: muuta [natural native speed] |
| Michael: else |
| Nico: muuta[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: muuta [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: herkullinen [natural native speed] |
| Michael: delicious |
| Nico: herkullinen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: herkullinen [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: kappale [natural native speed] |
| Michael: piece |
| Nico: kappale[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: kappale [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: noin [natural native speed] |
| Michael: approximately |
| Nico: noin[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: noin [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Michael: Let's have a closer look at one of the phrases from this lesson. It’s... |
| Nico: Mitä saisi olla? |
| Michael: meaning "What shall I get you?" |
| Nico: The expression mitä saisi olla is made up of three words - mitä, meaning "what," saisi, which is literally "could," and the verb olla, "to be." |
| Michael: So literally, the expression is "What could it be?" This expression is usually used by vendors at the various food counters at shops and delis, as well as by vendors in market places. |
| Nico: Exactly. The question is meant to politely inquire what you would like to buy. |
| Michael: Can you give us an example using it in a longer sentence? |
| Nico: Sure. For example, you can say.. Päivää rouva, mitä saisi olla tänään? |
| Michael: ..which means "Good afternoon ma'am, what could I get you today?" And If you would like to express that you’re "just looking," what can you say? |
| Nico: You can say Kiitos, katselen vain |
| Michael: Which means "Thank you, I’m only looking." Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use expressions related to quantities and the polite conditional form to ask for things. |
| Nico: In our lesson, Jukka was shopping at the supermarket deli counter. |
| Michael: He inquired about some prices, and also politely requested some items. He used the conditional to express polite requests, and the partitive and genitive cases to express quantities and what he would like. Let’s start by reviewing the conditional. |
| Nico: We already talked about the conditional in lessons 2 and 9. |
| Michael: The conditional basically expresses that there is some kind of a condition on the action that makes it uncertain whether it will happen or not. |
| Nico: Right. It’s formed by adding -isi- between the stem of the verb and the personal ending. The stem is the one used in the third person plural form of the present tense. Let’s see the conjugation for saada, |
| Michael: meaning “to get.” It’s the verb you will use when you’re asking for something in a shop. Nico will give you the Finnish, and I’ll follow up with the English translation. |
| Nico: Let’s use the question form with the ending -ko that expresses a request. Saisinko minä... |
| Michael: “Could I have..” |
| Nico: Saisitko sinä... |
| Michael: “Could you have..” |
| Nico:Saisiko hän... |
| Michael: “Could she have..” |
| Nico: Saisimmeko me... |
| Michael: “Could we have…” |
| Nico: Saisitteko te... |
| Michael: “Could you have…” (plural) |
| Nico: Saisivatko he... |
| Michael: “Could they have…” Nico, can you give us an example sentence please? |
| Nico: Sure, Saisinko niitä viisi kappaletta, kiitos? |
| Michael: “Could I have five pieces of those, please?” |
| Nico: Another word you may often use in a shop is ottaa, “to take,” as in ottaisin, “I will take...” This verb has the same conjugation as the verb “to get,” but you can remove the -ko ending because you are making a statement. |
| Michael: For example? |
| Nico: For example, you can say Selvä, ottaisin sitä sitten noin kilon verran. |
| Michael: “Okay, I would like to have one kilo of that then, please.” Moving on, let’s look at how to express quantities. |
| Nico: As we have just seen, you can start your sentence by using the polite conditional form, saisinko… or ottaisin… |
| Michael: After, you need to express what you want, and how much of it. |
| Nico: If you are having just “one” of something, such as one piece or one kilo, you can use the genitive case. |
| Michael: You can do this in different ways. Listeners, please make sure to check the lesson notes to review the rules for creating the genitive case. But for now, Nico, could you give some examples? |
| Nico: Sure, Ottaisin yhden kalan. |
| Michael: “I would like to have one fish please.” What is the genitive here? |
| Nico: The word kalan is the genitive, obtained by adding the letter -n to the kala, |
| Michael: which means “fish.” |
| Nico: Another example is Saisinko yhden kappaleen, kiitos. |
| Michael: “Could I have one piece, please.” |
| Nico: In this case the genitive is kappaleen, which you get by adding a second -e and -n to kappale, |
| Michael: which means “piece” |
| Nico: Here is another example - Saisinko rasian suklaata, kiitos. |
| Michael: meaning “Could I have one box of chocolate, please.” Ok, now let’s see what you should do when you’re having more than one of something. |
| Nico: In that case, you use the partitive case. |
| Michael: You use the partitive case when you need to express indefinite amounts of things. It’s especially used for things that cannot be measured very easily. |
| Nico: For example, lasissa on maitoa. |
| Michael: “There is milk in the glass.” You can use it when expressing quantities larger than one, with zero, and also when something is in the process of being done. |
| Nico: For example, luen kirjaa, |
| Michael: meaning “I am reading a book.” |
| Nico: Let’s remember that the endings for the partitive case are -a or -ä , -ta or -tä , -tta or -ttä. |
| Michael: Listeners, for a more detailed list of rules to form the partitive, make sure to check out the lesson notes. Nico, can you give us some examples with the partitive? |
| Nico: Sure! Here is one - Ottaisin kolme palaa piirakkaa, kiitos. |
| Michael: which means “I would like to have three pieces of the pie, please.” |
| Nico: Saisinko kaksi kiloa lohta, kiitos. |
| Michael: “Could I have two kilos of the salmon, please.” |
| Nico: Saisinko neljä banaania, kiitos. |
| Michael: “Could I have four bananas, please.” |
| Nico: Please notice that with numbers, the word order in Finnish is the same as in English - the number comes first, followed by the noun expressing the thing you are counting. |
| Michael: Good to know. To wrap up, let’s give another couple of sample sentences. |
| Nico: Sure thing! Saisinko pienen rasiallisen tuota salaattia, kiitos. |
| Michael: "Could I have a small box of that salad, please." |
| Nico: Saisinko kaksi palaa piirakkaa kiitos. |
| Michael: "Could I have two pieces of that quiche, please." |
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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