Learn how to specify the period when something happens
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Matt: Hi everyone! Welcome back to FinnishPod101.com! This is Lower Beginner Season 1, lesson 23. I Wish I Could Go To Finland In The Summer! I’m Matt. |
| Nico: Hei, minä olen Nico. Hi, I’m Nico. |
| Matt: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about seasons and times of the day. Specifically, we’re going to learn how to say “in the summer”, “in the afternoon”, and so on. The conversation takes place at home. |
| Nico: Satu and Petri are talking about seasons. They're a couple, so they’ll be speaking standard Finnish in the casual register. |
| Matt: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Satu: Ihanaa, kun on kevät! |
| Petri: Niinpä. Talvella sitä vain odottaa, että tulee valoisaa ja lämmintä. |
| Satu: Kesällä on mukavaa, mutta syksy tulee aina liian aikaisin. |
| Petri: Joo… Syksyllä on niin synkkää ja pimeää. |
| Matt: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Satu: Ihanaa, kun on kevät! |
| Petri: Niinpä. Talvella sitä vain odottaa, että tulee valoisaa ja lämmintä. |
| Satu: Kesällä on mukavaa, mutta syksy tulee aina liian aikaisin. |
| Petri: Joo… Syksyllä on niin synkkää ja pimeää. |
| Matt: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Satu: Ihanaa, kun on kevät! |
| : It’s wonderful now that it’s spring! |
| Petri: Niinpä. Talvella sitä vain odottaa, että tulee valoisaa ja lämmintä. |
| : Definitely. In the winter you just wait for it to get light and warm. |
| Satu: Kesällä on mukavaa, mutta syksy tulee aina liian aikaisin. |
| : It’s nice in the summer, but autumn always comes too early. |
| Petri: Joo… Syksyllä on niin synkkää ja pimeää. |
| : Yeah… It’s so gloomy and dark in autumn. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Matt: Finland is quite far in the north, so that means there's a big difference in daylight in the summer and in the winter, right? |
| Nico: That's right. On the southern coast, the longest day in the summer is almost 19 hours from sunrise to sunset, but the shortest day in the winter is less than 6 hours. |
| Matt: And the further north you go, the bigger the difference gets. Is there somewhere the sun doesn’t set at all in the summer? |
| Nico: Sure, in Lapland, the very northernmost part of Finland. But even in Helsinki, where the sun sets for several hours in midsummer, it doesn’t really get dark, because the sun isn’t very far below the horizon. |
| Matt: I think I’d love that… But I don’t think I’d love the dark winter. |
| Nico: [laughs] Yea, You're not alone. A lot of Finns hate the darkness. |
| Matt: Well, at least you have plenty of light in the summer. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| : Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| : ihana [natural native speed] |
| : lovely, wonderful |
| : ihana [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : ihana [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| : kevät [natural native speed] |
| : spring |
| : kevät [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : kevät [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| : talvi [natural native speed] |
| : winter |
| : talvi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : talvi [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| : valoisa [natural native speed] |
| : light, having plenty of light |
| : valoisa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : valoisa [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| : kesä [natural native speed] |
| : summer |
| : kesä [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : kesä [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| : aina [natural native speed] |
| : always |
| : aina [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : aina [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| : syksy [natural native speed] |
| : fall, autumn |
| : syksy [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : syksy [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| : aikaisin [natural native speed] |
| : early |
| : aikaisin [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : aikaisin [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| : synkkä [natural native speed] |
| : gloomy, dark |
| : synkkä [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : synkkä [natural native speed] |
| : And Last: |
| : pimeä [natural native speed] |
| : dark, lacking light |
| : pimeä [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : pimeä [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Matt: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What’s the first word we’ll look at? |
| Nico: Well, we’re actually continuing with the topic of light and darkness. We have three words, valoisa meaning “light”, pimeä meaning “dark”, and synkkä meaning “gloomy”. |
| Matt: Okay. |
| Nico: Valoisa is an adjective that means “light”, or “well-lit” - something that has plenty of light. |
| Matt: For example, you would use this word for a room with big windows facing south. In English, the word “light” is also used for colors. Can you use this word in this context in Finnish too? |
| Nico: No, you can't. And you also can’t use it to mean the opposite of heavy. |
| Matt: It’s only related to light from the sun or a lamp. What’s the opposite of this word? |
| Nico: It's pimeä meaning “dark”. And just like valoisa means having plenty of light, pimeä means “dark” in the sense of lacking light. |
| Matt: Let’s say we are in a room. Does it have to be completely dark in order to qualify as this word? |
| Nico: Not necessarily, but it would probably be quite dark. A room that’s neither valoisa nor pimeä is called hämärä, which is “dim” or “dusky” in English. |
| Matt: Okay. Is our third word somehow related to the first two? |
| Nico: Yes. Synkkä means “dark” or “gloomy”, so it has something to do with darkness. |
| Matt: But maybe it’s even more about how the darkness makes you feel… It’s often used in connection with dark clouds or dense forests, and it feels a bit ominous. So when you use this word to talk about clouds, it carries the feeling that rainclouds or thunderclouds are making the sky dark. |
| Nico: [laughs] Something like that, yes. Synkkä can also be used to describe a person’s mood, just like “gloomy” in English. In that context, valoisa is its opposite, and it means something like “cheerful and optimistic”. Pimeä isn’t used in that context. |
| Matt: Okay, I think that’s enough of light and darkness. Let’s move onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say something happens “in the summer”, “in the morning”, and so on. Nico, where do we start? |
| Nico: Let’s start by learning some words to use with this grammar. |
| Brandon: Sounds like a good idea. In the dialogue, we had the four seasons. Let’s have a quick review. What’s “winter” in Finnish? |
| Nico: That’s Talvi. |
| Brandon: Spring? |
| Nico: Kevät. |
| Brandon: Summer? |
| Nico: Kesä. |
| Brandon: Fall? |
| Nico: Syksy. |
| Brandon: We can also use the times of the day, from morning till night. |
| Nico: We already know päivä meaning “day”, because it’s in the greeting Hyvää päivää, which means “Hello”. We’ve also had ilta, or “evening”. |
| Brandon: Okay. So what’s “morning”? |
| Nico: Aamu. |
| Brandon: And “Night”? |
| Nico: That’s yö. You also have the combinations aamupäivä meaning “forenoon” or “before noon”, and iltapäivä meaning “afternoon”. And the word viikko, or “week”, can also be used with this grammar. |
| Brandon: Great. All you need to do is use the word of your choice in the adessive case form. |
| Nico: For example, in the dialogue, Satu said Kesällä on mukavaa, meaning “It’s nice in the summer”. |
| Brandon: She used it in a general sense, not referring to a specific summer, right? |
| Nico: That’s right. |
| Brandon: That’s a typical situation where you use this grammatical structure to say what usually, or often, happens during a specific season or time of the day. How would you say “I read a lot in the winter”? |
| Nico: Luen paljon talvella. |
| Brandon: You can also use this adessive structure to talk about an event that only happens once. |
| Nico: But in that case, you don’t specify it by using words such as ensi meaning “next,” or viime meaning “last”. |
| Brandon: You just have to let the listener understand the meaning of what you said from the context. What are some examples, Nico? |
| Nico: For example, Katsoin illalla hyvän elokuvan meaning “I watched a good movie in the evening”. Here, you don’t say katsoin viime illalla elokuvan because that’s not correct – you just say Katsoin illalla hyvän elokuvan. |
| Brandon: The listener will understand that you watched it the previous evening. |
| Nico: The only exception to this is the word viikko meaning “week”. |
| Brandon: You mean you can specify which week you’re talking about? |
| Nico: That’s right, and you actually have to. If you wanted to say it rained a lot last summer, you’d say Kesällä satoi paljon, but if you wanted to say it rained a lot last week, you’d have to say Viime viikolla satoi paljon. The same goes if you want to say it will rain a lot next week. That’s ensi viikolla sataa paljon. |
| Brandon: Okay. Listeners, remember to check the lesson notes for more examples and explanations. And now it’s quiz time! I’m going to say a sentence in English, and your job is to say it in Finnish in a clear, loud voice. Remember, it’s also good pronunciation practice. The first sentence is “It’s cold in the fall”. |
| Nico: Here’s a hint. “Cold” is kylmä. |
| [Pause] |
| Brandon: The answer is.. |
| Nico: Syksyllä on kylmää. |
| Brandon: Here’s another one. “It’s light during the day”. |
| [Pause] |
| Brandon: The answer is.. |
| Nico: Päivällä on valoisaa. |
Outro |
| Matt: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Thanks for listening everyone, bye! |
| Nico: See you next time! Hei hei! |
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