Learn how to express your opinion
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to FinnishPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 3 - Deciding on Winter Activities in Finland. Eric here. |
| Päivi: Hei! I'm Päivi. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use particular phrases to express your opinion as well as how to use the conditional form to make suggestions. The conversation takes place at home. |
| Päivi: It's between Aino and Heikki. |
| Eric: The speakers are family members, so they'll use both formal and informal Finnish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Aino: Heikki, hiihtoloma lähestyy. Minne mentäisiin lomalla? |
| Heikki: Haluaisin taas lumilautailemaan. Voisimme varata taas saman lomamökin Lapista, kuin viime vuonna. |
| Aino: Hmm, minun mielestäni se viime vuoden paikka oli hiukan tylsä. Haluaisin mieluummin kylpylään. |
| Heikki: Minä en niin välitä uimisesta talvilomalla... Minusta talvella pitäisi nauttia lumesta! |
| Aino: No, onhan se toki niinkin. Voisimme silti etsiä paikan, missä voimme sekä lautailla, että käydä kylpylässä. |
| Heikki: Joo, mikä ettei. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Aino: Heikki, the skiing holiday is approaching. Where should we go? |
| Heikki: I would like to go snowboarding again. We could reserve the same cabin in Lapland as last year. |
| Aino: Hmm, I think the place last year was a little bit boring. I would rather go to a spa. |
| Heikki: I don't care for swimming that much during winter vacation... In my opinion you're supposed to enjoy snow during winter! |
| Aino: Well, sure, that too. We could still search for a place where we can snowboard and go to a spa. |
| Heikki: Yeah, why not. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Päivi, is "winter holiday" synonymous with "skiing holiday" in Finland? |
| Päivi: Yes, skiing holiday, or winter holiday, is a week-long holiday that is held in schools between February and March. The interesting thing is that the timing of the holiday is staggered according to municipalities to avoid congestion in the northern skiing resorts. |
| Eric: Is it just a school holiday? |
| Päivi: Yes, it’s mostly related to school and was introduced in the 1930s to encourage children to exercise, and to give them the enthusiasm and strength to study for the rest of the spring. Nowadays many parents also ask for a week-long holiday from work so they can go to the skiing centers in Lapland with their children. |
| Eric: Does is have to be skiing? Are there any exceptions? |
| Päivi: Sure! It has also become popular to travel to tropical holiday destinations like Thailand or the Canary Islands to escape the Finnish winter for a moment. |
| Eric: I suppose that many children also stay home, or just visit their relatives during their holiday. |
| Päivi: Definitely. Here's a sentence related to this topic- Hiihtoloma on viikon mittainen loma kevät-talvella. |
| Eric: which means "Skiing holiday is a week-length holiday in late winter or early spring." Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Päivi: hiihtoloma [natural native speed] |
| Eric: skiing holiday |
| Päivi: hiihtoloma[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: hiihtoloma [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: lomamökki [natural native speed] |
| Eric: holiday cottage, cabin |
| Päivi: lomamökki[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: lomamökki [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: minun mielestäni [natural native speed] |
| Eric: in my opinion |
| Päivi: minun mielestäni [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: minun mielestäni [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: tylsä [natural native speed] |
| Eric: boring, dull |
| Päivi: tylsä[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: tylsä [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: välittää jstk [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to care about something |
| Päivi: välittää jstk[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: välittää jstk [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: pitäisi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: be supposed to |
| Päivi: pitäisi[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: pitäisi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Päivi: sekä... että [natural native speed] |
| Eric: both... and |
| Päivi: sekä... että[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: sekä... että [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: hiihtoloma |
| Eric: meaning "skiing holiday." |
| Päivi: hiihto means "skiing," and loma means "holiday." |
| Eric: You can use this word when you’re talking about a skiing holiday. In Finland, it's most commonly used to refer to the regular skiing holiday in schools. |
| Päivi: As we already said, since the skiing holiday is at different times in different parts of Finland, it is quite common to hear the question koska teillä on hiihtoloma? |
| Eric: "When do you have your skiing holiday?" |
| Päivi: Another common phrase is minne menette hiihtolomalla? |
| Eric: "Where do you go for skiing holiday?" What could be a possible answer to one of these questions? |
| Päivi: For example, you can say.. Hiihtoloma on ensi viikolla. |
| Eric: ..which means "The skiing holiday is next week." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Päivi: lomamökki |
| Eric: meaning "holiday cottage." |
| Päivi: loma means "holiday," and mökki means "cottage" or "cabin." |
| Eric: You can use this word when you’re talking about a holiday cabin or a cottage. Päivi, what if it’s a cottage you own? |
| Päivi: Then a better word is kesämökki, "summer cottage," or just mökki, "cottage." |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using the first word? |
| Päivi: Sure. For example, you can say.. Haluaisin vuokrata lomamökin Lapista. |
| Eric: .. which means "I would like to rent a holiday cottage in Lapland." Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Päivi: ei välitä jstk |
| Eric: meaning "to not care for or about something." |
| Päivi: This expression is formed with the negation ei, "no" or "not," the verb välittää, "to care," and the object you don’t care about or aren’t fond of. |
| Eric: You can use this expression when you want to say you don't really like something, but you don't want to be too blunt about it. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Päivi: Sure. For example, you can say.. Hän ei välitä lukemisesta. |
| Eric: .. which means "He does not care for reading." |
| Päivi: If you want to express clearly that you don't like something, you can say en pidä jostakin, meaning “I don't like something.” |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn about using particular phrases to express your opinion and how to use the conditional form to make suggestions. |
| Päivi: There are several phrases we can use to express an opposing viewpoint. For example, Toisaalta.. |
| Eric: Which means "On the other hand..." |
| Päivi: Voi olla, mutta... |
| Eric: "Can be, but..." |
| Päivi: Minulla on kuitenkin eri mielipide. |
| Eric: “However, I have a different opinion.” |
| Päivi: For example, imagine you saw a boring movie with a friend of yours and he says Se oli tylsä elokuva, mutta toisaalta, se oli myös erittäin informatiivinen. |
| Eric: which means "That was a boring movie, but, on the other hand, it was also really informative." |
| Päivi: If you don’t agree, you could say, Voi olla, mutta minun mielestäni jos elokuva on tylsä, en jaksa seurata sitä. |
| Eric: “Maybe, but I think that if the movie is boring I can’t be bothered to follow it.” |
| Päivi: We can also introduce pros and cons by using phrases like paras puoli on... |
| Eric: Which means “The best part is …” |
| Päivi: For example, someone might say Tämä on kaunis hotelli. Paras puoli on sen hinta! Se on niin edullinen! |
| Eric: which means "This is a beautiful hotel. The best part is the price! It's so affordable!" |
| Päivi: If the hotel has a weak point, you could say Huono puoli on sen sijainti; se sijaitsee kilometrejä kaupungin keskustasta. |
| Eric: "The bad point is its location; it's located miles from the city center." Now let’s take a look at how to make suggestions using the conditional. Päivi, can we quickly review the formation of the conditional? |
| Päivi: Sure. The conditional is formed by taking the strong stem of the verb, then adding the -isi suffix and the personal ending. If the stem has an e or i at the end, it disappears. |
| Eric: Let’s consider “to eat” |
| Päivi: The strong stem is söi, to which we add -isi- and the personal ending. For example, for the first person singular the ending is -n and the complete version would be Minä söisin. |
| Eric: Meaning “I would eat.” Listeners, you can review the formation of the conditional in the Lesson Notes. Let’s see how to use it effectively when making suggestions. |
| Päivi: If you want to create a polite suggestion or polite question, you can use the conditional with the -ko/-kö ending, which is the question particle. For example Menisimmekö kahville? |
| Eric: which means “Shall we go for a coffee?” |
| Päivi: Voisitteko siirtyä hieman oikealle? |
| Eric: “Could you move a little to the right, please?” |
| Päivi: Please remember that the -ko/-kö ending is also used in indirect questions, such as En tiedä, lähtikö opettaja jo kotiin. |
| Eric: Which means “I don’t know, did the teacher go home already?” Ok. Let’s finish the lesson with a couple of sample sentences. |
| Päivi: Minun mielestäni tämä keitto on hiukan mautonta. |
| Eric: "In my opinion, this soup is a little bit bland." |
| Päivi: Sinä pidät auringon ottamisesta, mutta minun mielestäni se ei ole kuitenkaan hyväksi ihollesi. |
| Eric: "You like sunbathing, but in my opinion it’s not good for your skin.” |
| Päivi: Lähtisimmekö kesän alussa risteilylle? |
| Eric: "Shall we go on a cruise at the beginning of summer?" |
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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