Learn some common adjective forming suffixes in Finnish
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| Michael: What are some adjective-forming suffixes in Finnish? |
| Anni: And why are they useful to know? |
| Michael: At FinnishPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: There's a new employee in Mark Lee's company. Mark Lee hasn't had a chance to meet him yet. He asks his colleague, Kalle Koski: |
| "What is the new employee like?" |
| Mark Lee: Millainen uusi työntekijä on? |
| Dialogue |
| Mark Lee: Millainen uusi työntekijä on? |
| Kalle Koski: Hän on erittäin kohtelias. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Mark Lee: Millainen uusi työntekijä on? |
| Michael: "What is the new employee like?" |
| Kalle Koski: Hän on erittäin kohtelias. |
| Michael: "He's very polite." |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: Finnish words typically consist of a stem, a prefix, and/or a suffix. In this lesson, we will take a closer look at Finnish adjective endings, or |
| Anni: adjektiivien päätteet |
| Michael: In linguistics, suffixes are attached to the end of a root word to change the grammatical function or meaning of that word. It's important to be familiar with adjective-forming suffixes in Finnish because they allow you to get a sense of the construction and meaning of a word. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Mark Lee says "What is the new employee like?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Päivi as Mark Lee: Millainen uusi työntekijä on? |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let's take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Kalle Koski says "He's very polite?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Päivi as Kalle Koski: Hän on erittäin kohtelias. |
| Michael: In our dialogue, Mark Lee asks Kalle Koski what the new employee is like. Kalle describes the new employee as |
| Anni: erittäin kohtelias |
| Michael: or "very polite." Here, we have the adjective |
| Anni: kohtelias |
| Michael: or "polite." In Finnish, how an adjective is spelled depends on its grammatical case. In this case, the adjective is in the nominative case and is derived from the verb |
| Anni: kohdella |
| Michael: which means "to behave toward" or "to deal with." Here, we can also observe that the word ends in the suffix, |
| Anni: -ias |
| Michael: an adjective-forming suffix that means "reminding of," "a characteristic of," or "appropriate to." Combining the two, we get something like "reminding of how to behave," or, in other words, "polite." |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: So far, we've learned in this lesson that adjectives in Finnish are formed by adding suffixes to the root form of a word. Doing so changes the meaning and grammatical function of the root word. |
| Expansion/Contrast |
| Michael: Finnish has a number of adjective-forming suffixes besides the one we've already covered, one of which is |
| Anni: -inen |
| Michael: This is a common Finnish suffix that has more than one usage. For one, it is used to form adjectives that signify a certain quality. For instance, we have the word, |
| Anni: vuoristo |
| Michael: which refers to "mountain ranges." With the addition of the suffix in question, we get the word |
| Anni: vuoristoinen |
| Michael: or "mountainous." The same suffix is used to form adjectives indicating the material of which an object is made. Let's take the word, "gold," for example, or in Finnish |
| Anni: kulta |
| Michael: If we add the given suffix, we get the word, |
| Anni: kultainen |
| Michael: which means "golden." Next, we have the suffix |
| Anni: -kas |
| Michael: Like our first suffix, this one has a couple of uses as well. First, it is used to turn some nouns into adjectives that specify an abundance of the thing expressed by the root word. For instance, we have the word |
| Anni: uhma |
| Michael: which means "defiance." Adding the suffix we mentioned, we get the adjective |
| Anni: uhmakas |
| Michael: which means "defiant." In addition, the suffix is also used to form moderative adjectives, which are very rare in the Finnish language. One example would be the adjective |
| Anni: kuivakas |
| Michael: which means "dryish." One interesting adjective-forming suffix in Finnish is the suffix |
| Anni: -maton |
| Michael: whose main function is to form negative adjectives. One of the things this suffix does is form adjectives that indicate a lack of action from an intransitive verb. For example, we have the word |
| Anni: olematon |
| Michael: which means "nonexistent." The word is derived from the verb |
| Anni: olla |
| Michael: which means "to be." Another thing this suffix does is form adjectives that indicate a lack of action upon the object from a transitive verb. For example, there's the word |
| Anni: jakamaton |
| Michael: meaning "undivided." It comes from the verb |
| Anni: jakaa |
| Michael: which means "to divide." And, finally, the suffix in question also forms adjectives that indicate incapability from transitive verbs. For instance, we have the word |
| Anni: lukea |
| Michael: which means "to read." Add the suffix to the end and we get the word |
| Anni: lukematon |
| Michael: which means "innumerable," referring to something existing in such great numbers that it is impossible to read or to count them. |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion |
| Michael: Two main formations of adjectives in Finnish are the comparative and superlative formations. Both are also formed with the use of suffixes. Comparative adjectives are formed in principal by adding the suffix |
| Anni: -mpi |
| Michael: to the inflecting stem. For instance, the word "small," or, |
| Anni: pieni |
| Michael: becomes |
| Anni: pienempi |
| Michael: or "smaller." Meanwhile, superlative adjectives are formed by adding the suffix |
| Anni: -in |
| Michael: to the inflecting stem. For instance, the word |
| Anni: nätti |
| Michael: or "pretty," becomes |
| Anni: nätein |
| Michael: or "prettiest." |
| Michael. Sometimes, you may need additional words to express the comparative or superlative forms. These words are |
| Anni: enemmän |
| Michael: "more" |
| Anni: eniten |
| Michael: "the most" |
| Anni: vähemmän |
| Michael: "less," and |
| Anni: vähiten |
| Michael: "the least." You'll use them in some particular expressions—usually when talking about the state of being. For example, we have |
| Anni: vähemmän huolissaan |
| Michael: "less worried," or |
| Anni: enemmän haltioissaan |
| Michael: more spellbound |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Anni: Hei hei! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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