Learn how to address someone politely
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hello, and welcome back to FinnishPod101.com! This is Lower Beginner Season 1, lesson 19 - Sir, Here’s A Perfect Finnish Necktie For You. I’m Brandon. |
| Nico: Hei, minä olen Nico. Hi, I’m Nico. |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to address the person you’re talking to politely. |
| Nico: The conversation takes place at a store. A salesperson comes up and asks if she can help Petri. |
| Brandon: She is being polite, so she will be speaking standard Finnish in the polite register. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Myyjä: Voinko auttaa? |
| Petri: Etsin solmiota. |
| Myyjä: Tuleeko se Teille? |
| Petri: Kyllä. |
| Myyjä: Millaista solmiota olette ajatellut? Tämä vihreä sopisi Teille hyvin. |
| Petri: Ehkä ottaisin mieluummin jonkin hillitymmän. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Myyjä: Voinko auttaa? |
| Petri: Etsin solmiota. |
| Myyjä: Tuleeko se Teille? |
| Petri: Kyllä. |
| Myyjä: Millaista solmiota olette ajatellut? Tämä vihreä sopisi Teille hyvin. |
| Petri: Ehkä ottaisin mieluummin jonkin hillitymmän. |
| Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Myyjä: Voinko auttaa? |
| : May I help you? |
| Petri: Etsin solmiota. |
| : I’m looking for a necktie. |
| Myyjä: Tuleeko se Teille? |
| : Will it be for you? |
| Petri: Kyllä. |
| : Yes. |
| Myyjä: Millaista solmiota olette ajatellut? Tämä vihreä sopisi Teille hyvin. |
| : What kind of a tie do you have in mind? This green one would suit you well. |
| Petri: Ehkä ottaisin mieluummin jonkin hillitymmän. |
| : I think I’d rather have something more conservative. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: Petri is buying himself a tie. Do you think he’ll need it for work? |
| Nico: Well, he’s a programmer, and programmers are usually quite casual at work, so it’s probably for some other occasion. |
| Brandon: What do you think he wears at work as a programmer in Finland? |
| Nico: I’d guess a t-shirt and jeans with a sweater. |
| Brandon: What about other workplaces? Do Finnish workplaces usually have dress codes? |
| Nico: Not very often, I think. I believe some banks and such do, but most don’t. If you work in a bank, you’re expected to dress quite formally, typically in a suit. |
| Brandon: But in most other workplaces you don’t? |
| Nico: No. It depends very much on if you’re in a customer-facing position. |
| Brandon: If you regularly meet customers, you should probably dress more smartly than if you’re just among colleagues. Okay. Now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| auttaa [natural native speed] |
| to help |
| auttaa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| auttaa [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| etsiä [natural native speed] |
| to search |
| etsiä [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| etsiä [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| solmio [natural native speed] |
| necktie |
| solmio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| solmio [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Millainen [natural native speed] |
| what kind of |
| Millainen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Millainen [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| ajatella [natural native speed] |
| to think |
| ajatella [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| ajatella [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| sopia [natural native speed] |
| to suit, to fit |
| sopia [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| sopia [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| mieluummin [natural native speed] |
| rather |
| mieluummin [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| mieluummin [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| hillitty [natural native speed] |
| conservative, subdued, calm, composed |
| hillitty [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| hillitty [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson.What’s our first word? |
| Nico: It’s Millainen. This is a short variant of minkälainen, which means “what kind of”. |
| Brandon: You should answer this with an adjective, right? |
| Nico: Yes. It belongs to a set of words that all begin with a pronoun and end in -llainen. |
| Brandon: What are the other words in the set? |
| Nico: There’s Tällainen “this kind of”, tuollainen “that kind of”, and sellainen “that kind of”. |
| Brandon: Hmm, let me guess… They begin with the pronouns that mean “this”, “that” and “it”. |
| Nico: Very good! Tämä is “this”, tuo is “that”, and se is “it”. Even though -llainen is not a word by itself, there’s no vowel harmony in tällainen. But in casual spoken Finnish, people often say it tälläinen, with vowel harmony. |
| Brandon: Okay. What’s next? |
| Nico: Solmio. That’s the word for “necktie”. |
| Brandon: And what is a bow tie called? |
| Nico: It’s solmuke or rusetti. Both solmio and solmuke come from the word solmu, which means “knot”. |
| Brandon: They sound pretty similar so be sure to review these with your lesson notes listeners! |
| Nico: If you don’t remember which one of them meant “tie”, you can use kravatti. That’s another word for the ordinary tie. |
| Brandon: That’s good to know. Do we have more words to look at? |
| Nico: Yes, there’s one more word, hillitty. |
| Brandon: You can use this word about behavior and colors, among other things. In the context of behavior, it means you are calm and composed, and you don’t show off. |
| Brandon: Nico, when you’re talking about colors, it would be the opposite of bold, right? |
| Nico: yes, Hillityt värit means colors that don’t stand out. In the dialogue, Petri actually said hillitymmän, which is the comparative form of hillitty. |
| Brandon: That’s good to know, But that’s our topic for the next lesson, so stay tuned. Okay, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to address someone politely. |
| Nico: The basic idea is simple – you just use the plural second person forms instead of the singular, that is, Te instead of sinä. |
| Brandon: In Finnish, usage of polite forms is a bit tricky, because there aren’t any clear-cut rules. In principle, you can use them whenever you talk to someone you don’t know, especially if the other person is clearly older than you. But in practice, you don’t do that, right? |
| Nico: Right. There are a lot of people who hardly ever use the polite forms. Young people especially prefer to talk casually. |
| Brandon: Where would you be most likely to hear polite speech? |
| Nico: … from People like waiters, salespeople, and receptionists. They typically use the polite forms when they’re talking to customers, and also radio and TV reporters usually use them when they’re interviewing people. |
| Brandon: Okay. What did the salesperson say to Petri? |
| Nico: The first sentence where she addressed him directly was Tuleeko se Teille?. Teille is the second person plural pronoun. |
| Brandon: That means “Will it be for you?”. Then she asked “What kind of a tie do you have in mind?”. |
| Nico: Yes, that was Millaista solmiota olette ajatellut? There’s one point to make in this sentence. The regular second person plural verb you’d use when addressing several people would be olette ajatelleet, instead of olette ajatellut. |
| Brandon: Oh, I see. Isn’t this last word the singular past participle? |
| Nico: Yes, that’s just it. Even though the pronoun and the helping verb olette are plural, the past participle is in the singular form. It’s the same for adjectives. |
| Brandon: That’s interesting. So you’re mixing the numbers, using both plural and singular forms. Can you give us an example of an adjective. |
| Nico: Let’s say “Are you happy with the service?”. When addressing a single person casually, you’d say Oletko tyytyväinen palveluun? Oletko is the second person singular verb form, and tyytyväinen… |
| brandon... is the nominative singular form of the adjective that means “content” or “pleased”. |
| Brandon: Okay, how about when you’re addressing many people? |
| Nico: Then you’d say Oletteko tyytyväisiä palveluun? Oletteko is the second person plural form, and tyytyväisiä is the partitive plural form. |
| Brandon: And what’s the polite form? |
| Nico: Oletteko tyytyväinen palveluun? Here you have the plural verb but a singular adjective. |
| Brandon: All right. Listeners, time for a quick quiz. How would you ask politely “Are you looking for a tie?” |
| Nico: Remember that “to look for” is etsiä, and “tie” is solmio. |
| [Pause] |
| Nico: The answer is.. Etsittekö solmiota? |
| Brandon: Listeners, remember to check the lesson notes for more information and examples. |
Outro |
|---|
| Brandon: Well, that’s about all the time we have. Thanks for joining us, and we’ll see you next time! |
| Nico: Hei hei! |
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