Learn some business vocabulary and how to use the passive in the present tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to FinnishPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 20 - A Great Business Idea in Finland. Eric here. |
| Päivi: Hei! I'm Päivi. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn some business vocabulary and about using the passive in the present tense. The conversation takes place at home. |
| Päivi: It's between Linnea and Heikki. |
| Eric: The speakers are family members, so they’ll use informal Finnish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Heikki: Kuulin haastattelusi radiossa! Melko jännittävä bisnesidea. |
| Linnea: Kiitos! |
| Heikki: Mutta miten tämä voi kannattaa? |
| Linnea: No, ensinnäkin kauppa tiedetään jo melko hyvin. Saan yrityksiltä mallikappaleita ja sesongin viimeisiä vaatekappaleita edullisesti. |
| Heikki: Eivätkö asiakkaat halua omistaa vaatteita? |
| Linnea: Kyllä, joskus, ja sekin onnistuu kyllä. Täältä kuitenkin haetaan vaatteita usein erityisiä tilanteita varten. |
| Heikki: Eikö vuokraaminen ole kallista? |
| Linnea: Asiakkaille tulee edullisemmaksi, kun he voivat vuokrata vaatteen ostamisen sijaan. |
| Heikki: Aivan.. kuulostaa hyvältä. |
| Linnea: Huoltokustannukset ovat tietysti suhteellisen korkeat, mutta huoltamisella vältetään vaatteiden kuluminen. |
| Heikki: Hienoa. No, toivottavasti kauppa käy! |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Heikki: I heard your interview on the radio! Quite an exciting business idea. |
| Linnea: Thank you! |
| Heikki: But how can this be profitable? |
| Linnea: Well, first of all, the shop is quite well known already. I get samples and the last pieces of the season from companies for an inexpensive price. |
| Heikki: Don't the customers want to own the clothes? |
| Linnea: Yes, sometimes, and they can do that too. However, they are usually here seeking clothes for special occasions. |
| Heikki: Isn't renting expensive? |
| Linnea: It becomes more affordable for the customers when they can rent a garment instead of buying it. |
| Heikki: Right...sounds good. |
| Linnea: The maintenance costs are of course relatively high, but with maintenance we can avoid the clothes wearing out. |
| Heikki: Great. Well, I hope the business goes well! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Are there a lot of entrepreneurs in Finland, Päivi? |
| Päivi: Actually, around 9% of the work force are entrepreneurs. |
| Eric: As in the rest of the world, becoming an entrepreneur has its pros and cons. |
| Päivi: Right, entrepreneurs don’t have a steady monthly income and they are under different social security and pension coverage systems than regular employees. In Finland, young people are encouraged to try entrepreneurship, especially since the recession in 1990. |
| Eric: Are there specific services for that? |
| Päivi: There are services and courses that guide and help people in establishing their businesses, for example by teaching them how to do the proper paperwork and necessary calculations, helping them to plan their actions professionally, and helping them to seek funding. |
| Eric: Many universities are also offering courses and services for their students to help them establish small companies, sometimes even during their studies. What’s the Finnish name for public services for new entrepreneurs? |
| Päivi: työ- ja elinkeinopalvelut |
| Eric: which means "public employment and business services." Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Päivi: bisnesidea [natural native speed] |
| Eric: business idea |
| Päivi: bisnesidea[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: bisnesidea [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: kannattaa [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to support, to be profitable, to be worth the trouble |
| Päivi: kannattaa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: kannattaa [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: tietää [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to know |
| Päivi: tietää[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: tietää [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: mallikappale [natural native speed] |
| Eric: sample, model |
| Päivi: mallikappale[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: mallikappale [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: sesonki [natural native speed] |
| Eric: season |
| Päivi: sesonki[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: sesonki [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: vaatekappale [natural native speed] |
| Eric: garment, a piece of clothing |
| Päivi: vaatekappale[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: vaatekappale [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: omistaa [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to own |
| Päivi: omistaa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: omistaa [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: hakea [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to seek |
| Päivi: hakea[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: hakea [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: erityinen [natural native speed] |
| Eric: special |
| Päivi: erityinen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: erityinen [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Päivi: huoltaa [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to maintain |
| Päivi: huoltaa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: huoltaa [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Päivi: bisnesidea |
| Eric: meaning "business idea." |
| Päivi: This a loanword from English and you can use it whenever you’re talking about a business idea. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Päivi: Sure. For example, you can say.. Tämä bisnesidea vaatii vielä kehittelyä. |
| Eric: ..which means "This business idea still requires further development." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Päivi: mallikappale |
| Eric: meaning "sample." |
| Päivi: malli means "model," and kappale means "piece" or "item." |
| Eric: You can use this word when you’re referring to a sample of some kind, although usually this word is used for non-edible items. Can you give us an example using it? |
| Päivi: Sure. For example, you can say.. Rakennamme aina mallikappaleet ennen tuotannon aloittamista. |
| Eric: .. which means "We always build samples before starting the production." |
| Päivi: If you want to refer to a sample that is being eaten or drunk, you can use the word maistiainen meaning "taster," or näyte meaning "sample," instead. |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson you'll learn about business vocabulary and using the passive in the present tense. |
| Päivi: The passive present tense is used when we don’t know or don’t need to express the subject. |
| Eric: In English, this type of sentence usually has “you” or “we” as the subject, referring to people in general or “one.” |
| Päivi: We had some examples in the lesson, including Kauppa tiedetään jo melko hyvin. |
| Eric: “The shop is quite well known already.” |
| Päivi: “Täältä haetaan vaatteita erityisiä tilanteita varten.” |
| Eric: Literally “Clothes for special occasions are often sought from here.” |
| Päivi: In modern spoken language, the passive is also used together with the me, the “we” pronoun. |
| Eric: But that’s incorrect? |
| Päivi: Right, the correct version would be Me menemme huomenna ostoksille, |
| Eric: which means “We are going shopping tomorrow.” |
| Päivi: In spoken language, we often hear people say Me mennään huomenna ostoksille using the passive present tense. |
| Eric: How do we form the passive present tense? |
| Päivi: For verb type 1, you need to first find the heikko vartalo, the “weak stem of the verb.” |
| Eric: The weak stem is the same form as the first person singular in the present tense, minus the -n ending. |
| Päivi: Right. When the last letter of the stem is either a or ä, it must be removed and replaced by e. Finally, you add -taan or tään to form the passive present tense. For example hakea, “to fetch,” becomes haetaan and tietää meaning “to know,” becomes tiedetään. |
| Eric: Forming the passive present tense for these verb types is easy. |
| Päivi: Yes, because basically you take the infinitive of the verb and add the ending -an or -än. |
| Eric: What’s an example? |
| Päivi: viedä, “to take,” becomes viedään |
| Eric: We can also make the negative form, right? |
| Päivi: To form the negative passive present tense, you need to remove the -an or -än from the end of the verb, and add the negation ei meaning “no,” in front of it. For example, ei viedä. |
| Eric: Let’s have some examples. |
| Päivi: Kokouksessa päätetään ensi vuoden budjetti. |
| Eric: "The budget for next year will be decided in the meeting." |
| Päivi: Päivän aluksi pidetään aina aamupalaveri. |
| Eric: "A morning meeting is held at the beginning of each day." Ok, let’s conclude the lesson with some business and work vocabulary. When you want to give the pros and cons of a business strategy, it’s good to know some business-related phrases and vocabulary. |
| Päivi: We had a few examples in the lesson. No, ensinnäkin kauppa tiedetään jo melko hyvin. |
| Eric: meaning “Well, first of all, the shop is quite well known already.” |
| Päivi: This sentence contains the word Ensinnäkin meaning “first of all,” which is a good word to start a sentence with and catch people’s attention. |
| Eric: What are some similar words? |
| Päivi: sijasta or asemasta |
| Eric: both meaning “instead of,” |
| Päivi: or kuitenkin |
| Eric: “however”. Okay, how about another example from the dialogue? |
| Päivi: Saan yrityksiltä mallikappaleita ja sesongin viimeisiä vaatekappaleita edullisesti. |
| Eric: meaning “I get samples and the last pieces of the season from companies for an inexpensive price.” |
| Päivi: Here we had Edullinen, which means “inexpensive” or “profitable.” If you can get raw materials, contracts and so on for your company for an inexpensive price, it’s definitely a good point you might want to mention. Saan…[something] ...edullisesti, |
| Eric: which means “I get…[something] ...for an inexpensive price.” |
| Päivi: The same word edullinen, “inexpensive,” is also used in the sentence asiakkaille tulee edullisemmaksi, |
| Eric: which means “it becomes more affordable for the customers.” What are some other useful words? |
| Päivi: pomo and kollega |
| Eric: respectively meaning “boss” and “colleague,” |
| Päivi:harjoittelija |
| Eric: “trainee,” |
| Päivi: äitiysloma and isyysloma |
| Eric: respectively meaning “maternity leave” and “paternity leave.” Listeners, you can find a complete list in the lesson notes. |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Päivi: Hei hei! |
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