Learn about diminutives in Finnish
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| Michael: What are diminutives and how are they formed in Finnish? |
| Anni: And are they commonly used? |
| Michael: At FinnishPod101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following situation, Kati Koski points out a cute kitten to her daughter, Katri Koski. She says, |
| "Look what a small kitten!" |
| Kati Koski: Katso miten pieni kissanpoikanen! |
| Dialogue |
| Kati Koski: Katso miten pieni kissanpoikanen! |
| Katri Koski: Söpö! |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Kati Koski: Katso miten pieni kissanpoikanen! |
| Michael: "Look what a small kitten!" |
| Katri Koski: Söpö! |
| Michael: "Cute!" |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: Did you notice how Kati replaces the word, |
| Anni: kissanpoika |
| Michael: with |
| Anni: kissanpoikanen? |
| Michael: She attaches the suffix, |
| Anni: -nen |
| Michael: to create what is called a diminutive, or, |
| Anni: diminutiivi. |
| Michael: A diminutive is a word that has been modified to convey the smallness of its root meaning. In Finnish, it is also used to express one's affection towards something, or, in some cases, it may be used to ridicule something. Thus, in Finnish, diminutives are often used for affectionate names. Diminutives are created by attaching certain affixes to nouns, and in some cases, adjectives and verbs. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Kati Koski says "Look what a small kitten?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Päivi as Kati Koski: Katso miten pieni kissanpoikanen! |
| Michael: Here, Kati attaches the suffix |
| Anni: -nen |
| Michael: to the word, |
| Anni: kissanpoika |
| Michael: which is one word for a "kitten" in Finnish. The whole word, |
| Anni: poikanen, |
| Michael: which means "puppy" or "cub" in Finnish, is a diminutive for the word |
| Anni: poika |
| Michael: which means "son" or "boy." The purpose of the suffix |
| Anni: -nen |
| Michael: is in this case to identify the name it is attached to as a small animal, or in this case, the offspring of a cat. |
| Anni: -nen |
| Michael: ..is a very common suffix used to form Finnish diminutives, such as the word, |
| Anni: hiirulainen |
| Michael: which means "small mouse" or "cute mouse." This suffix is used not only for animal names, but for just about any object. For instance, it's also used in the diminutive, |
| Anni: lehtinen |
| Michael: which refers to a "small sheet of paper," from the root word, |
| Anni: lehti |
| Michael: referring to a sheet of paper from a book or magazine. One interesting Finnish diminutive that uses this suffix is the word, |
| Anni: palanen |
| Michael: which is used to describe a small piece of just about any object. It's from the root word, |
| Anni: pala, |
| Michael: which means "piece." |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: So far, we have learned that diminutives are words that have been modified to convey the smallness of their root meaning. In Finnish, one of the most common suffixes used to form diminutives is |
| Anni: -nen |
| Expansion/Contrast |
| Michael: Another common suffix is |
| Anni: -kka |
| Michael: which is used for example in the word for ‘blueberry': |
| Anni: mustikka |
| Michael: This word is derived from the adjective ‘black,' |
| Anni: musta |
| Michael: Then, we have a double diminutive, which is using both of the previously mentioned suffixes, |
| Anni: -kka |
| Michael: and |
| Anni: -nen |
| Michael: A mother could, for example, tenderly call her child |
| Anni: lapsukainen |
| Michael: which means a small, dear child. A child in Finnish is |
| Anni: lapsi |
| Michael: One more diminutive is |
| Anni: -ke |
| Michael: which is the equivalent of the English diminutive suffix "-let." For instance, we have the word, |
| Anni: linnake |
| Michael: which means "a fort" or a "bastion," and comes from the word |
| Anni: linna |
| Michael: which means "castle." There's also the word, |
| Anni: levyke |
| Michael: or "floppy disk" which refers to a little "disc" or "record." |
| Yet another diminutive suffix used in Finnish is |
| Anni: -le |
| Michael: such as in the word |
| Anni: viipale |
| Michael: which means "a slice." It's derived from the verb, |
| Anni: viipaloida |
| Michael: which means "to slice." This suffix doesn't only connote smallness but also poorness of quality. A good example would be the word |
| Anni: tekele |
| Michael: which is used to describe a low-quality product. |
| Michael: In Finnish, diminutives are not only formed by simple derivation with the help of affixes. Some Finnish diminutives come in the form of compound words. For instance, there's the word |
| Anni: pienaakkonen |
| Michael: which means "lowercase." It's the compounding of the words, |
| Anni: pien |
| Michael: which means "small," and |
| Michael: aakkonen |
| Anni: which means "letter." |
| Michael: Another example is the word |
| Anni: pieneliö |
| Michael: or "microorganism." This time, we have the compounding of the words, |
| Anni: pien- |
| Michael: "small," and, |
| Anni: eliö |
| Michael: "organism." All three examples were formed with the Finnish word for "small." In many instances, the Finnish word for "little" is used. For example, we have the diminutive |
| Anni: pikkumies |
| Michael: which means "little man," a term that obviously refers to a boy. And then there's the word |
| Anni: pikkubussi |
| Michael: which means "little bus," or more appropriately, "minibus." |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion |
| Michael: Besides smallness, diminutives also express intimacy. They are especially used to express warm feelings toward a family member. For instance, "father" or |
| Anni: isä |
| Michael: may be modified to form the diminutive |
| Anni: isi |
| Michael: or "daddy." The term "sister" or |
| Anni: sisko |
| Michael: may be modified too to form the diminutive, |
| Anni: pikkusisko |
| Michael: or "little sister." In this case, a prefix was added instead of a suffix. The same thing is done with the word |
| Anni: pikkuveli |
| Michael: which means "little brother," and a diminutive of |
| Anni: veli |
| Michael: or "brother." |
| Michael: Be careful though, as sometimes the diminutives can also be used to express ridicule or contempt. For example, the word |
| Anni: naikkonen |
| Michael: from the word |
| Anni: nainen |
| Michael: meaning "woman," actually means an ill-mannered woman with a bad reputation. Likewise, there is a diminutive word for the word "man" |
| Anni: mies |
| Michael: too, which is |
| Anni: miekkonen |
| Michael: This word describes a man who is not so serious, but more of a playful dandy. |
| Finally, like in other languages, diminutive names also exist in Finnish. For instance, there's the name, |
| Anni: Arska |
| Michael: which is a diminutive of the male given name, |
| Anni: Ari |
| Michael: Then, there's the name |
| Anni: Ritu |
| Michael: which is a diminutive of the female given names, |
| Anni: Ritva and Riitta |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Anni: Hei hei! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
Comments
Hide