Learn about the Finnish alphabet
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| Michael: Is the Finnish alphabet the same as the English alphabet? |
| Kati: And what are the differences? |
| Michael: At FinnishPod101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following situation, Katri Koski , a kindergarten student, is studying the alphabet with her mom, Kati Koski. She sees an unfamiliar letter and asks, |
| "What letter is that?" |
| Katri Koski: Mikä kirjain tuo on? |
| Dialogue |
| Katri Koski: Mikä kirjain tuo on? |
| Kati Koski: Se on å, ruotsalainen o. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Katri Koski: Mikä kirjain tuo on? |
| Michael: "What letter is that?" |
| Kati Koski: Se on å, ruotsalainen o. |
| Michael: "It's å, the Swedish o." |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this conversation, we hear Katri Koski say, |
| Kati: Mikä kirjain tuo on? |
| Michael: "What letter is that?" to which Kati Koski responds, |
| Kati: Se on å, ruotsalainen o. |
| Michael: "It's å, the Swedish o." |
| Michael: In this lesson, we'll talk more about the Finnish alphabet and how it may be similar or different from the English alphabet. |
| Michael: The Finnish alphabet |
| Kati: aakkoset |
| Michael: is based on a Latin script, which means that, in large part, it will look familiar to native English speakers and other native speakers of Latin-based languages. In total, Finnish consists of 29 letters. The first 26 letters are identical to the English alphabet in writing. In addition, the Finnish alphabet also includes the letters of |
| Kati: å, ä, |
| Michael: and |
| Kati: ö. |
| Michael: You may also see the letters |
| Kati: š (hattu-s) |
| Michael: and |
| Kati: ž (hattu-z). |
| Michael: The vowel letters |
| Kati: ä |
| Michael: and |
| Kati: ö |
| Michael: as well as the Swedish |
| Kati: å |
| Michael: are known as the |
| Kati: ääkköset. |
| Michael: It's good to notice that for the Finns these letters are just a normal part of the alphabet, and they are not considered to be diacritics, like, for example, in the Hungarian language. The |
| Kati: ä |
| Michael: sounds like the "a" in the English word "cat," and is always pronounced |
| Kati: ä. |
| Michael: For example, "mother" is |
| Kati: äiti |
| Michael: in Finnish, and "sound" is |
| Kati: ääni. |
| Michael: The |
| Kati: ö |
| Michael: sounds like "ur" in the British English "further" and is pronounced |
| Kati: ö. |
| Michael: For example, an "owl" is |
| Kati: pöllö |
| Michael: in Finnish, and "to find" is |
| Kati: löytää. |
| Michael: The letter |
| Kati: å |
| Michael: is read as "Swedish o," or |
| Kati: ruotsalainen O |
| Michael: in Finnish. It appears in Swedish names in Finland, like |
| Kati: Åbo |
| Michael: meaning "Turku," or |
| Kati: Åland, |
| Michael: meaning the Åland Islands. |
| Unlike English, diacritics are used in conjunction with specific letters to emphasize the sound of a letter in a specific context. Furthermore, certain letters, such as |
| Kati: š (hattu-s) |
| Michael: and |
| Kati: ž (hattu-z), |
| Michael: tend to only be used with words that are non-native to the Finnish language, or loanwords. Usually, the diacritics are retained in some foreign-based proper names, like |
| Kati: l, |
| Michael: but, many times, the diacritics are ignored, and you will very rarely come across these in normal daily life in Finland. |
| The Finnish vowels are pronounced a little differently than the English ones. "A" is pronounced like the vowel in the English word "car." It can be found in the Finnish words |
| Kati: aamu, |
| Michael: which means "morning" and |
| Kati: auto, |
| Michael: which means "a car." "E" is pronounced like the vowel in the English word "they." It can be found in the Finnish word |
| Kati: etana, |
| Michael: which means "a snail." "I" is pronounced like the vowel in the English word "me." It can be found in the Finnish word |
| Kati: kiitos, |
| Michael: which means "thank you." |
| "O" is pronounced like the vowel in the English word "boats." It can be found in the Finnish word |
| Kati: orava, |
| Michael: which means "a squirrel." |
| "U" is pronounced like the vowel in the English word "you" with the diphthong "ou." In Finnish, it can be found in |
| Kati: tuuli, |
| Michael: which means "wind," or |
| Kati: tuli, |
| Michael: which means "fire." |
| "Y" is pronounced a little bit like the vowels in the English word "you." It can be found in the Finnish words |
| Kati: kyllä, |
| Michael: which means "yes," or |
| Kati: yö, |
| Michael: which means "night." |
| Another speciality of the Finnish language is the double vowel and double consonant phenomenon. You will not, however, find Finnish words that have clusters of three or more consonants together. |
| The double vowels and consonants just become long sounds, and it is really important to notice the doubles because the meaning of the word changes often if one vowel or consonant is left out. |
| For example, |
| Kati: kuka |
| Michael: is "who," whereas |
| Kati: kukka |
| Michael: is "flower." |
| Kati: tuli |
| Michael: is "fire" and |
| Kati: tuuli |
| Michael: is "wind." |
| Michael: Another difference between Finnish and English is in aspiration. In English, when you pronounce certain words, you will find there might be a puff of air, aspiration, that comes out of your mouth after pronouncing a word. Using hard sounds, such as "t," "p," and "k" will produce more aspiration. In Finnish, you are not going to have much aspiration at all. The only letter that will have a bit of aspiration is going to be "h." Let's listen to a few examples: |
| Kati: teekuppi |
| Michael: "tea cup," |
| Kati: piirakka |
| Michael: "pie," |
| Kati: kissanpentu |
| Michael: "kitten," and |
| Kati: hattu |
| Michael: "a hat." |
| Michael: Another difference in pronunciation is in words that begin with the letter "j." In the Finnish language, the letter "j" has a pronunciation like "y" in English. For example, the word |
| Kati: joki, |
| Michael: which means "river," sounds almost as though you are saying "yoki" with a "y" instead. |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion |
| Kati: Mikael Agricola |
| Michael: was a Finnish Lutheran clergyman, who is known as the "father of literary Finnish." He reformed the Finnish church, translated the New Testament and other documents into Finnish, and set the basis for modern Finnish spelling through his work. The first work he published was the |
| Kati: Abckiria, |
| Michael: the "ABC book," which was the first book written in Finnish, published in 1543. |
| During that time, the written Finnish language looked a lot different than now. Letters like "W," "G," "X," "Z," "C," and "B" were used often, whereas these letters are nowadays used mainly in loanwords and are almost never seen in modern Finnish words. |
| Here's an example from Agricola's ABC book: |
| Kati: Oppe nyt wanha ia noori, joilla ombi Sydhen toori, |
| Michael: which means "Learn now the old and the young, who have a renewed heart." This would nowadays be written and pronounced |
| Kati: Opi nyt vanha ja nuori, jolla on sydän tuore. |
| Michael: and another example: |
| Kati: Catzo, lue, etzi, ia tutki, eij, senwooxi silmes puhke, |
| Michael: which means "Watch, read, seek and search, your eyes will not burst, because of that." This would now be written and pronounced |
| Kati: Katso, lue, etsi ja tutki, ei sen vuoksi silmäsi puhkea. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Kati: Hei hei! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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