Learn how to ask about someone's nationality
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| Hei, minun nimeni on Paula. Hi everybody! I’m Paula. |
| Welcome to FinnishPod101.com’s “Suomea kolmessa minuutissa”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Finnish. |
| In the last lesson, we learned how to talk about your plans. In this lesson, we are going to take a look at the verb olla, ”to be”. |
| We will also go through how to talk about your nationality. |
| One of the first questions you might be asked in Finland is mistä sinä olet kotoisin?, “where are you from?” |
| Mistä is the question “from where?”, |
| and as you might remember from the earlier lessons, sinä is “you”. |
| olet is the conjugated form of the verb olla, “to be” |
| and kotoisin is another way to say “from”, or “be a native of”. |
| All together it's Mistä sinä olet kotoisin? |
| [slowly] Mistä sinä olet kotoisin? |
| There are a few different ways you can answer this question. |
| You can simply start with minä olen “I am”, and then add your nationality. |
| For example- Minä olen amerikkalainen |
| I am American. |
| [slowly] Minä olen amerikkalainen. |
| Just replace amerikkalainen with your own nationality. |
| Here are a few more. |
| "I’m German" is Minä olen saksalainen. |
| "I’m Italian" is Minä olen italialainen. |
| "I’m Russian" is Minä olen venäläinen. |
| Here’s another way you could answer. Start in the same way minä olen, and then add the case -sta to the end of the name of the country you are from. This would be the same as simply saying “I’m from-” in English. |
| For example, the word for France in Finnish is Ranska. |
| To say you're *from* France say- |
| Minä olen Ranskasta. |
| Here’s another one. Australia in Finnish is simply Australia. |
| To say you're *from* Australia say- |
| Minä olen Australiasta. |
| To keep the conversation going, you can ask your friend entä sinä? which means “how about you?” |
| Now it’s time for Paula’s Points. |
| There are some irregularities with conjugating the names of the countries. For example, if you would like to say “I’m from Russia”, instead of Minä olen Venäjästä, you would say Minä olen Venäjältä. Also, “I’m from England” would be Minä olen Englannista instead of Minä olen Englantista. This also applies to other countries ending with a -lanti, such as Skotlanti, Scotland, and Islanti, Iceland. |
| Now you can talk about your nationality and homeland in Finnish! |
| In the next lesson we will find out another usage for the verb olla. It is also used when talking about locations. So instead of saying where you are from, how would you say where you are now? We will get into the details in the next Suomea kolmessa minuutissa lesson. |
| Nähdään pian! |
Comments
HideHi listeners! Let's practice: What is your nationality?
Hei Zoltán!
On hienoa kuulla, että olet unkarilainen. (It's great to hear that you are Hungarian.)
Jos sinulla on kysymyksiä suomen kieleen liittyen, autamme mielellämme! (If you have any questions related to the Finnish language, we are happy to help!)
Let us know if you have any questions.
Kiitos!
Team FinnishPod101.com
Minä olen unkarilainen.
Hello Arne,
Great question! Your suggestions are mostly correct:
Minä olen tanskalainen (I am Danish)
Minä olen Tanskasta (I am from Denmark)
Minä puhun tanskaa (I speak Danish)
For the phrase "minä olen Tanskasta," this is the standard way to say "I am from Denmark," and it works for most countries. For example, you can say "minä olen Venäjältä" (I am from Russia). The ending changes depending on the country, but "olen [maasta]" is the typical format. Unfortunately, I don't have a Fully covered list of the nationalities but you can find more information about this topic in our BLOCK section.
Let us know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Aarni
Team FinnishPod101.com
Do you have a list of the many nationalities you are asking about? I am e.g. a Dane- how do I say: I am Danish, I am from Denmark and i speak Danish. My suggestions are: Minä olen tanskalainen. Minä olen Tanskasta. Minä puhun tanskaa.
Especially the suggestion where one is taking about "minä olen Tanskasta" you might use another sentence - or is it only certain countries like "minä olen venejästä" or "minä olen "venejälla" or something different?
Hello Tiffany,
Thank you for your comment! Your sentence is correct but nationality is always written without capital letters in Finnish. (amerikkalainen)! 👍
Let us know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Aarni
Team FinnishPod101.com
Minä olen Amerikkalainen.
Hello Wai Wai Aung,
Kiitos lauseestasi! Only a small correction is needed. "Mniä (Minä) olen Myanmarilainen." Otherwise, good work, Wai Wai Aung! 👍
Let us know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Aarni
Team FinnishPod101.com
Mniä olen Myanmarilainen.
Hei Laura,
Kiitos kommentistasi! A small correction is needed here. Hei, minä olen amerikkalainen, olen yhdisvallatista (Yhdysvalloista). otherwise, good work Laura! 👍
Let us know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Aarni
Team FinnishPod101.com
Hei, minä olen amerikkalainen, olen yhdisvallatista.
Hei Iva,
Kiitos kommentistasi! (Thank you for your comment!) Minä olen suomalainen. Hauska tutustua! 😄
Let us know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Aarni
Team FinnishPod101.com
Hei! Minä olen tšekkiläinen. Entä sinä?
Hei Asaki,
Kiitos kommentistasi. Se on aivan oikein! 😄
Let us know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Aarni
Team FinnishPod101.com
Minä olen japanilainen
Moi Robby,
Kiitos kommentistasi. Se on aivan oikein! 😄
Let us know if you have any question.
Cheers,
Aarni
Team FinnishPod101.com
Moi. Minä olen Amerikkalainen :)
Hei Jóhannes Guðjónsson,
Kiitos vastauksestasi! Islanti on kaunis maa. ❤️️
Let us know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Aarni
Team FinnishPod101.com
Minä olen islannista :)
Hei Nikolay,
Kiitos vastauksestasi! Hienoa. 😄
Let us know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Aarni
Team FinnishPod101.com
Minä olen venäläinen.