Learn how to use the polite positive and negative imperative to give instructions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to FinnishPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 7 - Which Finnish Restaurant Are You Dining At? Eric here. |
| Päivi: Hei! I'm Päivi. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use polite positive and negative imperatives to give instructions. The conversation takes place between a speaker and an answering machine. |
| Päivi: It's between Aino, whose answering machine this is, and Linnea. |
| Eric: The speakers will use both formal and informal Finnish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Answering Machine: Tämä on vastaaja. Numero jota yritätte tavoittaa, on tällä hetkellä varattuna. |
| Answering Machine: Jättäkää viesti äänimerkin jälkeen. |
| Linnea: No hei Aino, Linnea tässä. Soitan sunnuntaista. Vaihdoimme ravintolaa! |
| Linnea: Eli älkää tulko ravintola Kukkoon, vaan tulkaa ravintola Kissaan. |
| Linnea: Olemme Markun kanssa ehkä hiukan myöhässä, joten menkää vain Heikin kanssa jo pöytään istumaan. |
| Linnea: Nähdään sunnuntaina! Hei hei! |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Answering Machine: This is an answering machine. The number you are trying to reach is currently busy. |
| Answering Machine: Please leave a message after the beep. |
| Linnea: Well hey Aino, Linnea here. I'm calling about Sunday. We changed the restaurant! |
| Linnea: So please don't come to restaurant Rooster, but come to restaurant Cat. |
| Linnea: We might be a little late with Markku, so please go ahead and sit at the table with Heikki. |
| Linnea: See you on Sunday! Bye bye! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Päivi, mobile phones are popular in Finland, right? |
| Päivi: Right! Mobile phones and Finns are inseparable, largely thanks to the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia. |
| Eric: What’s the Finnish word for “mobile phone”? |
| Päivi: Matkapuhelin. The other commonly known Finnish word for “mobile phone,” kännykkä, was actually originally a trademark of Nokia. |
| Eric: They registered it in 1987, when mobile phones were still a rarity. The word has since become a normal part of speech, and it’s the most common word used to describe a mobile phone in the spoken language. |
| Päivi: Right! |
| Eric: Is there any specific etiquette about using mobile phones in Finland? |
| Päivi: There is no strict etiquette, but some general guidelines do exist. It’s okay to use mobile phones on public transport in Finland, but some trains have 'silent cars.' It’s also good manners to put your mobile phone on silent mode when you’re in churches, libraries, theaters, museums and other places like that. Also talking about business or private matters in public places is somewhat questionable. |
| Eric: So keep that in mind, listeners. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Päivi: varattu [natural native speed] |
| Eric: busy, reserved |
| Päivi: varattu[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: varattu [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: jättää [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to leave |
| Päivi: jättää[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: jättää [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: äänimerkki [natural native speed] |
| Eric: signal, tone |
| Päivi: äänimerkki[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: äänimerkki [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: vaihtaa [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to change, to exchange |
| Päivi: vaihtaa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: vaihtaa [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: kukko [natural native speed] |
| Eric: rooster |
| Päivi: kukko[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: kukko [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: hiukan [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a little |
| Päivi: hiukan[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: hiukan [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Päivi: olla myöhässä [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to be late |
| Päivi: olla myöhässä[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: olla myöhässä [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 phrase is.. |
| Päivi: Jättäkää viesti. |
| Eric: meaning "Please leave a message." |
| Päivi: jättäkää means "please leave," and the noun viesti means "message." It’s very common to hear this in recorded messages. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Päivi: Sure. For example, you can say.. Hän ei ole nyt paikalla, jättäkää viesti tähän kirjaan. |
| Eric: ..which means "He is not here at the moment, please leave a message in this book." This sentence refers to a kind of guestbook you might see in someone’s office. Okay, what's the next word? |
| Päivi: äänimerkki |
| Eric: meaning "signal,” or “tone." |
| Päivi: ääni' means "sound," and merkki means "sign," "signal," or "mark." Therefore the word äänimerkki literally means "sound mark." |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Päivi: Sure. For example, you can say.. Palovaroittimen äänimerkki alkaa piipata, kun patterit ovat lopussa. |
| Eric: .. which means "The fire alarm's signal starts to beep when the batteries are running out." Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Päivi: Nähdään lauantaina! |
| Eric: meaning "See you on Saturday!" |
| Päivi: This expression derives from the verb nähdä, "to see," which is in the passive present tense here, and the name of a place or an adverb defining the time is added. |
| Eric: You can use this expression whenever you want to say you want to see someone at some place or some time. It can be also used as a parting phrase. You can’t use this expression if you know you are not likely to see someone again. |
| Päivi: This expression is also not usually used in customer service situations or formal situations. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using it? |
| Päivi: Sure. For example, you can say.. Nähdään huomenna! Ei vaan itse asiassa, nähdään lauantaina! |
| Eric: .. which means "See you tomorrow! No as a matter of fact, see you on Saturday!" |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson you'll learn how to use polite positive and negative imperatives to give instructions. |
| Päivi: We’ve already seen the imperative in lesson 4. |
| Eric: Let’s review it quickly. This time, we'll take a look at how the same form can be used to give more polite reminders and propositions. |
| Päivi: As we learned in lesson 4, the imperative is used in the plural 2nd person when you want to be polite or respectful. The imperative in the plural 2nd person is formed by adding the -kaa or -kää ending to the stem of the infinitive form. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example? |
| Päivi: For example istua, meaning “to sit,” becomes Istukaa! |
| Eric: Using the plural 2nd person to express politeness is not a strict rule, but it’s a useful thing to know as it’s often used in customer service situations. |
| Päivi: For young people and in very casual, relaxed situations, you can still use the normal singular person. |
| Eric: Let’s hear some sentences with the polite version. |
| Päivi: Emme ole juuri nyt paikalla, jättäkää viesti äänimerkin jälkeen, niin palaamme asiaan. |
| Eric: Which means “We are not here at the moment, please leave a message after the tone and we will get back to you.” |
| Päivi: Odottakaa, kunnes kuulette äänimerkin. |
| Eric: “Please wait until you hear the signal.” |
| Päivi: When giving polite suggestions or instructions, aside from some adverbs that make the sentence smoother, you can add the expression olkaa hyvä, meaning “please.” For example, Menkää vain jo istumaan, olkaa hyvä. |
| Eric: “Please, go ahead and sit already.” Ok, now let’s see the formation of the negative form. |
| Päivi: It’s exactly the same as what we talked about in lesson 4. The negative imperative for the plural 2nd person is formed by adding the plural negation älkää, meaning “do not,” in front of the stem of the infinitive form, and the ending -ko or -kö to the stem. |
| Eric: For example? How about one with “to help”? |
| Päivi: The negative imperative in the second person plural for Auttaa is Älkää auttako! |
| Eric: which means "Don't help!" You can make the sentence more polite by adding a clarifying sentence before or after the negative sentence. |
| Päivi: Right, you can use the coordinating conjunctions mutta or vaan. |
| Eric: Both mean “but.” |
| Päivi: For example, Uskokaa tai älkää, mutta näin äsken poron. |
| Eric: “Believe it or not, I just saw a reindeer.” Ok, let’s wrap up this lesson with some sample sentences. |
| Päivi: Kirjoittakaa nimenne vieraskirjaan, olkaa hyvä. |
| Eric: "Write your name in the guest book, please." |
| Päivi: Älkää olko huolissanne, hän soittaa varmasti pian. |
| Eric: "Don't worry, he will surely call soon." |
| Päivi: Juokaamme hääparin malja. |
| Eric: "Let us drink a toast to the wedding couple." |
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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