Learn to say that something is next to, behind, or in front of something else
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hello, and welcome back to FinnishPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, season 1, lesson 3, Welcome to Our Finnish Office. I’m Brandon, and I’m joined in the studio by Nico. |
| Nico: Hei, Nico tässä. Hi, Nico here. |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say something is behind, next to, or in front of something else. Where does the conversation take place? |
| Nico: Petri has just arrived at his new workplace and is given a tour of the office by a new colleague. They haven’t met before, but they're now colleagues, so they’ll speak standard casual Finnish. |
| Brandon: Okay, let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Mari: Tervetuloa! |
| Petri: Kiitos. |
| Mari: Tässä on toimiston avain. Tuossa nurkan takana on naulakko. Naulakon vieressä on keittiö. |
| Petri: Selvä. |
| Mari: Tuon ikkunan edessä on lehtihylly. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Mari: Tervetuloa! |
| Petri: Kiitos. |
| Mari: Tässä on toimiston avain. Tuossa nurkan takana on naulakko. Naulakon vieressä on keittiö. |
| Petri: Selvä. |
| Mari: Tuon ikkunan edessä on lehtihylly. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Mari: Tervetuloa! |
| Brandon: Welcome! |
| Petri: Kiitos. |
| Brandon: Thank you. |
| Mari: Tässä on toimiston avain. Tuossa nurkan takana on naulakko. Naulakon vieressä on keittiö. |
| Brandon: Here's a key to the office. There's a coat rack behind the corner. Next to the coat rack, there's a kitchen. |
| Petri: Selvä. |
| Brandon: Okay. |
| Mari: Tuon ikkunan edessä on lehtihylly.， |
| Brandon: In front of that window, there's a shelf with newspapers and magazines. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: Mari said there was a kitchen in the office. Do all offices have kitchens in Finland? |
| Nico: Basically, yes. I think it’s required by law. But they may not be fully-equipped kitchens with cooking stoves and ovens. Usually, there’s just a microwave oven so that you can warm up any food you’ve brought from home. |
| Brandon: And a coffee maker, maybe? |
| Nico: Of course, that’s crucial. (laughs) You’ll have a mutiny if people don’t get coffee! Usually, there’s an electric kettle as well for those who prefer tea. |
| Brandon: Are there any other facilities that are common in Finnish offices? |
| Nico: Many offices have showers for people who come to work by bike. If it’s a big company, they may even have a sauna—or two saunas, one for women and one for men. Some companies may also have a gym or other special stuff, but that’s not very common. |
| Brandon: I can’t imagine having a sauna at work! Now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Nico: toimisto [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: office |
| Nico: toimisto [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: toimisto [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: avain [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: key |
| Nico: avain [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: avain [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: nurkka [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: corner |
| Nico: nurkka [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: nurkka [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: takana [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: behind |
| Nico: takana [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: takana [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: naulakko [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: coat rack |
| Nico: naulakko [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: naulakko [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: vieressä [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: next to |
| Nico: vieressä [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: vieressä [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: keittiö [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: kitchen |
| Nico: keittiö [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: keittiö [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: ikkuna [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: window |
| Nico: ikkuna [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: ikkuna [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: edessä [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: in front of |
| Nico: edessä [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: edessä [natural native speed] |
| : And last: |
| Nico: lehtihylly [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: magazine shelf |
| Nico: lehtihylly [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: lehtihylly [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. |
| Nico: First, we have the words vieressä, meaning “next to,” and edessä, meaning “in front of.” If you listened to our previous lesson, lesson 2, you may have noticed that the double ss in these words sound a bit familiar. If you did, well done! These words are indeed in the inessive case that indicates existence somewhere. |
| Brandon: Oh, that makes sense. That’s just what these words mean. |
| Nico: That’s right. There are quite a few adverbs and post positions in Finnish that are also in one of the locative cases. And you know what’s the best thing about that? |
| Brandon: What? |
| Nico: It’s that when you learn one of these words, you basically learn two! |
| Brandon: What do you mean? |
| Nico: If you know the word vieressä, you can also say vierestä, which means "coming away from next to something," and viereen, which means "going next to something." |
| Brandon: Oh, I see. That’s really convenient. What’s our next word? |
| Nico: It’s lehtihylly, the first half of the word, lehti, means “leaf of a plant,” “newspaper,” “magazine”, and “comic.” If you want to be more specific, you can use sanomalehti for “newspaper,” aikakauslehti for “magazine,” and sarjakuvalehti for “comic,” but you can also just use lehti for any of them. |
| Brandon: And does the second half mean “shelf”? |
| Nico: That’s right. Hylly is any kind of shelf you can keep things on. Another common type of shelf is kirjahylly for “bookshelf,” and in the kitchen you may have a maustehylly or “spice-rack.” |
| Brandon: Great. Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say where something is, as in “behind the corner,” “next to the coat rack,” or “in front of the window.” In English you use prepositions, for example “in front of” is a preposition that comes before “the window.” |
| Nico: In Finnish, however, we mainly use postpositions, which means that the “in front of” part comes after “the window.” If you translate ikkunan edessä literally into English, it would be “of window in front.” |
| Brandon: Why did you leave “of” in front of the word “window”? |
| Nico: Because it’s a good mnemonic for our listeners. “Of window” might help you remember that the window—or whatever you’re using as a reference point—has to be in the genitive form. |
| Brandon: Oh, I see. The genitive indicates possession, just like “of” in “the frame of the window.” |
| Nico: That’s right. So, you have ikkunan edessä... |
| Brandon: “in front of the window” |
| Nico: nurkan takana |
| Brandon: “behind the corner” |
| Nico: naulakon vieressä |
| Brandon: “next to the coat rack” |
| Nico: Ikkunan, nurkan, and naulakon are all in the genitive form. |
| Brandon: Okay. Are there any other postpositions we can use in addition to the ones in the dialogue? |
| Nico: Sure. In the dialogue, we had takana for “behind,” vieressä meaning “next to”, and edessä for “in front of.” Other common postpositions include päällä meaning “on top of,” alla for “under,” and keskellä meaning “in the middle of”. |
| Brandon: How would you say “The cat is under the table”? |
| Nico: Kissa on pöydän alla. |
| Brandon: Listeners, now it’s your turn. I’ll say a sentence in English, and your job is to say it aloud in Finnish. Nico will give the answer after a few seconds. Here’s the first one. “The bowl is in the middle of the table.” |
| Nico: Here’s a hint for you. “Bowl” is kulho, and “in the middle” is keskellä. [pause] The whole sentence is Kulho on pöydän keskellä. |
| Brandon: Now, please say “The flower vase is on top of the cabinet” in Finnish. |
| Nico: “Flower vase” is maljakko.[pause] So the sentence is Maljakko on kaapin päällä. |
| Brandon: Let’s try one more. How about “The grocery store is next to the hairdresser’s”? |
| Nico: “Grocery store” is ruokakauppa and “hairdresser’s” is kampaamo. [pause] So it is Ruokakauppa on kampaamon vieressä. |
| Brandon: Remember to check the lesson notes for more vocabulary and examples. |
| MARKETING PIECE |
| Brandon: Listeners, do you know the reason flashcards are so popular? |
| Nico: It’s because they work! |
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| Nico: Learn vocabulary using your eyes and ears! |
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| Nico: Master words in your My Wordbank by practicing with Flashcards. |
| Brandon: Words in My Wordbank come with audio, so you learn proper pronunciation. |
| Nico: While you learn to recognize words by sight! |
| Brandon: Go to FinnishPod101.com now, and try My Wordbank and Flashcards today! |
Outro |
| Brandon: Okay, that’s all the time we have for this lesson. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Nico: Hei hei! |
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