Learn how to send a parcel
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Michael: Hi everyone, and welcome back to FinnishPod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 3 - Sending a Package from Finland. Michael Here. |
| Nico: Hei. I'm Nico. |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn basic expressions you can use at a post office and how to use the comparative forms of adjectives. The conversation takes place at a post office. |
| Nico: It's between Heikki and a post office clerk. |
| Michael: The speakers are in a customer service situation, so they’ll be using formal Finnish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Heikki: Hei! Haluaisin lähettää nämä kirjeet, sekä tämän postipaketin. |
| Post Office Clerk: Ahaa. Haluatteko lähettää kirjeet ykkös- vai kakkosluokassa? Ykkösluokan kirjeet jaetaan nopeammin, kakkosluokan kirjeissä menee hiukan kauemmin. |
| Heikki: Kirjeillä ei ole kovin kiire, joten kakkosluokka käy hyvin. |
| Post Office Clerk: Selvä. Sitten tämä postipaketti. Haluaisitteko lähettää tämän pikapakettina vai tavallisena postipakettina? Pikapaketti on kalliimpi kuin tavallinen postipaketti, mutta myös nopeampi. |
| Heikki: Haluaisin lähettää sen tavallisena postipakettina, kiitos. |
| Post Office Clerk: Kiitos! |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Heikki: Hei! Haluaisin lähettää nämä kirjeet, sekä tämän postipaketin. |
| Post Office Clerk: Ahaa. Haluatteko lähettää kirjeet ykkös- vai kakkosluokassa? Ykkösluokan kirjeet jaetaan nopeammin, kakkosluokan kirjeissä menee hiukan kauemmin. |
| Heikki: Kirjeillä ei ole kovin kiire, joten kakkosluokka käy hyvin. |
| Post Office Clerk: Selvä. Sitten tämä postipaketti. Haluaisitteko lähettää tämän pikapakettina vai tavallisena postipakettina? Pikapaketti on kalliimpi kuin tavallinen postipaketti, mutta myös nopeampi. |
| Heikki: Haluaisin lähettää sen tavallisena postipakettina, kiitos. |
| Post Office Clerk: Kiitos! |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Heikki: Hello! I would like to send these letters, and this package, too. |
| Post Office Clerk: Oh, I see. Would you like to send the letters as priority or economy mail? The priority mail letters are distributed faster, the economy mail letters take a little bit longer. |
| Heikki: The letters aren’t very urgent, so economy mail will do just fine. |
| Post Office Clerk: Okay. Then the package. Would you like to send it as an express package or as a regular postal package? The express package is more expensive than regular postal package, but it’s also faster. |
| Heikki: I would like to send it as a regular postal package, thank you. |
| Post Office Clerk: Thank you! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Michael: Nico, what can you tell us about the postal service in Finland? |
| Nico: Well, even though emails, e-cards, and text messages are gaining popularity, sending greeting cards and letters is still fairly popular in Finland. |
| Michael: Christmas, Easter, and Valentine's Day are the most popular seasons to send cards. Letters and cards can be sent either by priority or economy mail, and for urgent mail express and courier services are also available. So what about stamps? Are they worth collecting? |
| Nico: Yes, the Finnish post releases a variety of different stamps every year, and during the Christmas season you can buy special lower-priced Christmas stamps too. |
| Michael: What are these called in Finnish? |
| Nico: joulupostimerkki |
| Michael: Literally meaning "Christmas stamp." Okay! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Michael: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Nico: lähettää [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to send |
| Nico: lähettää [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: lähettää [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: kirje [natural native speed] |
| Michael: letter |
| Nico: kirje [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: kirje [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: postipaketti [natural native speed] |
| Michael: parcel |
| Nico: postipaketti [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: postipaketti [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: ykkösluokka [natural native speed] |
| Michael: priority, first class |
| Nico: ykkösluokka [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: ykkösluokka [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: kakkosluokka [natural native speed] |
| Michael: economy |
| Nico: kakkosluokka[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: kakkosluokka [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: nopeammin [natural native speed] |
| Michael: faster |
| Nico: nopeammin[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: nopeammin [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: kauemmin [natural native speed] |
| Michael: longer |
| Nico: kauemmin[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: kauemmin [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: kiire [natural native speed] |
| Michael: hurry |
| Nico: kiire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: kiire [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: kalliimpi [natural native speed] |
| Michael: more expensive |
| Nico: kalliimpi[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: kalliimpi [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Nico: pikapaketti [natural native speed] |
| Michael: express parcel, express package |
| Nico: pikapaketti [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: pikapaketti [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: postikortti, |
| Michael: And it means "postcard." |
| Nico: This is made up of two words- posti meaning "post," and kortti, meaning "card." |
| Michael: You can use this word to refer to any kind of postcard. So Nico, what if you'd like to refer to a particular kind of card, like a Christmas card or birthday card? |
| Nico: You can just take out the word posti from the beginning and replace it with the appropriate word. For example, syntymäpäiväkortti, |
| Michael: which means "birthday card." Can you give us an example using the word for an ordinary postcard? |
| Nico: Sure. For example, you can say.. Minä lähetän paljon postikortteja. |
| Michael: ..which means "I send a lot of postcards." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Nico: postimerkki |
| Michael: meaning "stamp." |
| Nico: This is made up of posti meaning "post," and merkki... |
| Michael: That can mean "mark", "label", "seal," or "stamp.” You can use this word when you’re referring to stamps you attach to letters and postcards. Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Nico: Sure. For example, you can say.. Pikkuveljeni kerää postimerkkejä. |
| Michael: .. which means "My little brother collects stamps." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Nico: postitoimisto |
| Michael: meaning "post office." |
| Nico: This word is also made out of two other words- posti, and toimisto,"office.” |
| Michael: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Nico: Sure. For example, you can say.. Minun täytyy noutaa postipaketti postitoimistosta. |
| Michael: .. which means "I need to pick up a parcel from the post office." Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to send letters and packages at the post office and use the comparative forms of adjectives and adverbs. |
| Nico: Like in English, it’s possible to use words such as enemmän, meaning "more," to modify adjectives, but usually you’ll be better off using the specific comparative form. |
| Michael: In the dialogue, Heikki wanted to send some letters and a parcel, and the post office clerk explained his options by using the comparative form, right? |
| Nico: Exactly, the clerk said Ykkösluokan kirjeet jaetaan nopeammin, kakkosluokan kirjeissä menee hiukan kauemmin. |
| Michael: Which means “The first class letters are distributed faster, the economy class letters will take a little bit longer.” |
| Nico: The comparative form is formed by adding -mpi to the vowel stem of the adjective. |
| Michael: Let’s see some examples. Let’s start with “fast” and “faster.” |
| Nico: nopea, nopea-mpi. I just added -mpi to nopea. |
| Michael: What about “light,” and “lighter.” |
| Nico: This is trickier. “Light” is kevyt, but because it’s irregular the vowel stem is different, and it becomes kevye-, so the comparative is kevye-mpi. If the adjective has two syllables and ends in a or ä, the final vowel changes into an e. So for example “nice” is kiva and the comparative is kive-mpi. |
| Michael: How about another example? |
| Nico: Sure! In Kylmä, for example, which means “cold,” the final ä becomes e, so the comparative is kylme-mpi. |
| Michael: In Finnish the adjective "good" is irregular too, right? |
| Nico: Yes, it’s hyvä and the comparative is pare-mpi. |
| Michael: When you want to compare two things, for example "A is, the comparative, than B" what do you say? |
| Nico: The structure is A on kuin B. Kuin corresponds to the English "than" and always comes before the second item when you are comparing two things. |
| Michael: You’ll find that the second item may be taken out if the comparison is clear from the context. |
| Nico: In that case, kuin is also omitted. |
| Michael: Ok, that’s makes sense. Could you give us an example? |
| Nico: Sure! Punainen paketti on kevyempi kuin vihreä paketti. |
| Michael: “The red parcel is lighter than the green parcel.” |
| Nico: Here’s another. Pikapaketti on kalliimpi kuin tavallinen postipaketti. |
| Michael: “The express parcel is more expensive than the regular post parcel.” Now let’s take a look at the comparative of the adverbs. Remember that we use adverbs when we want to express “how” or “in what way” something is done or happening. |
| Nico: Right. In Finnish you can create adverbs from the adjectives, adding the suffix -sti. The comparative and superlative forms can be recognized from -mmin. For example, “quickly” is nopeasti, from the adjective nopea, while the comparative “more quickly,” is nopeammin. |
| Michael: Listeners, for more adjectives and adverbs, make sure to check the lesson notes! Now let’s learn a few expressions that are useful at the post office. Nico, when you want to send something, what should you say? |
| Nico: you should say Haluaisin lähettää tämän… |
| Michael: meaning “I would like to send this…”. So what’s the Finnish for “I would like to send this letter”? |
| Nico: That’s “Haluaisin lähettää tämän kirjeen.” To be more precise, you might want to add how you want to send your item. You can specify at the end of the sentence. For example, Haluaisin lähettää tämän kirjeen lentopostina. |
| Michael: Which means “I would like to send this letter by airmail.” Ok, and what do you say if you want to buy something, like postage stamps? |
| Nico: You can say Haluaisin ostaa ykkösluokan postimerkkejä. |
| Michael: Before we go, do you have any other useful examples? |
| Nico: Sure! Tarvitsen ykkösluokan postimerkkejä. |
| Michael: "I need some priority mail stamps." |
| Nico: Minä lähetän harvoin postipaketteja. |
| Michael: "I rarely send packages." |
| Nico: Yritykset lähettävät kirjeet usein kakkosluokassa. |
| Michael: "Companies often send letters economy class." |
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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