Learn how to use helping verbs to say things like "I will," "I might," and "I'm afraid to"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hello, and welcome back to FinnishPod101.com! This is Lower Beginner, Season 1, lesson 8 - I Want To Have Some Finnish Coffee! I’m Brandon. |
| Nico: Hei, minä olen Nico. Hi, I’m Nico. |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn to use helping verbs in order to say things like “I’m going to have some coffee” or “You’re not allowed to park here”. The conversation takes place at a lunch restaurant. |
| Nico: The conversation is between Hanna, Mari, and Petri. They're colleagues, so they'll be speaking standard Finnish in the casual register. |
| Brandon: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Hanna: Meinaatteko ottaa vielä kahvia? |
| Mari: Minä ainakin aion ottaa. |
| Petri: Kyllä minäkin voisin juoda kahvia. |
| Hanna: Hyvä, haetaan sitten. Minä taidan oikeastaan ottaa tällä kertaa teetä. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Hanna: Meinaatteko ottaa vielä kahvia? |
| Mari: Minä ainakin aion ottaa. |
| Petri: Kyllä minäkin voisin juoda kahvia. |
| Hanna: Hyvä, haetaan sitten. Minä taidan oikeastaan ottaa tällä kertaa teetä. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Hanna: Meinaatteko ottaa vielä kahvia? |
| Brandon: Are you still going to take coffee? |
| Mari: Minä ainakin aion ottaa. |
| Brandon: I’m going to have some, at least. |
| Petri: Kyllä minäkin voisin juoda kahvia. |
| Brandon: Yes, I could have some coffee, as well. |
| Hanna: Hyvä, haetaan sitten. Minä taidan oikeastaan ottaa tällä kertaa teetä. |
| Brandon: Good, then let’s go and get it. Actually, I think I'll have tea this time. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: It seems our characters have finished their lunch and are going to get some coffee now. |
| Nico: That’s right. Hanna asked if the others are going to have some coffee, and they said yes. |
| Brandon: But where are they going to get it from? Isn’t it served to the table? |
| Nico: It’s probably on a table somewhere where people can just go and get it themselves. Coffee and tea are usually included in the lunch, so you don’t need to order them separately. |
| Brandon: I see. But if you go to a restaurant at some other time, you’ll have to order it? |
| Nico: Exactly. At lunch-time, restaurants usually operate on a more self-service system than at other times. The restaurant can manage with a smaller staff, and the customers don’t need to wait for someone to take their order and bring them what they want. |
| Brandon: That’s good to know. 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: meinata [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to intend |
| Nico: meinata [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: meinata [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: vielä [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: still, yet |
| Nico: vielä [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: vielä [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: ainakin [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: at least |
| Nico: ainakin [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: ainakin [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: voida [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to be able to, can |
| Nico: voida [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: voida [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: juoda [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: drink |
| Nico: juoda [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: juoda [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: taitaa [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to be possible, to be likely; to master |
| Nico: taitaa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: taitaa [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: oikeastaan [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: actually, incidentally |
| Nico: oikeastaan [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: oikeastaan [natural native speed] |
| : And last: |
| Nico: kerta [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: time (as in "this time," "next time") |
| Nico: kerta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: kerta [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, what kinds of words are we looking at? |
| Nico: Actually, all of our words are verbs that can be used as helping verbs. The first one is meinata. It can be used to mean “to intend”, just like aikoa. But it also has other meanings. It can mean “to mean”, as in Mitä meinaat? |
| Brandon: That’s the question “What do you mean?” Another situation where you commonly hear this word is when someone has barely escaped a situation, often an unpleasant one. |
| Nico: For example, Meinasin kaataa kukkamaljakon means “I almost knocked over the flower vase”. |
| Brandon: Okay. What’s the next verb? |
| Nico: Voida. It basically indicates ability or possibility, as in Voin tulla kolmelta, meaning “I can come at three o’clock” or Hän voi olla kärttyinen, which means “He may be grumpy.” But it’s often also used for permission, as in Voinko mennä Joonaksen kanssa ulos?, meaning “May I go out with Joonas?” |
| Brandon: Could you use it to say “I can sing”? |
| Nico: No, unless you want to say there’s nothing stopping you from singing. Voida doesn’t mean you have the skill to do something, only that it’s possible. For skills, you use osata. |
| Brandon: I see. What’s the next word? |
| Nico: Taitaa. |
| Brandon: It indicates probability, and it’s often used when the speaker draws conclusions from something they see or hear. |
| Nico: For example, someone might look out of the window and say Taitaa tulla sade for “It looks like it’s going to rain”. You can also use it to talk about your plans, as in Taidan mennä nukkumaan, meaning “I think I’ll go to bed”. |
| Brandon: Hmm, it doesn’t sound very decisive. |
| Nico: That’s right. It’s much weaker than aikoa. |
| Brandon: Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use helping verbs in a sentence. It’s very simple, and pretty much like in English. For example, in English you say “I want to go”. The helping verb “want” is the one that takes all the tense and person markers, while the main verb “go” is always in the infinitive. In the third person, it would be “He wants to go”, and in the past, “I wanted to go”. |
| Nico: It’s the same in Finnish. Minä haluan mennä, Hän haluaa mennä, and Minä halusin mennä. The verb mennä is always in the infinitive, while the helping verb haluta, for “to want,” is the active part of the sentence. |
| Brandon: So first you have a helping verb and then the infinitive form of the main verb. Are they always in this order? |
| Nico: Usually, yes. Sometimes you get adverbs between them, and the word order may change in some special cases, but basically, yes. |
| Brandon: Are there many verbs that can be used as helping verbs? |
| Nico: Yes, there are quite a few of them. In addition to meinata, aikoa, voida and taitaa that we had in the dialogue, other common helping verbs include haluta |
| Brandon: “to want”, |
| Nico: unohtaa |
| Brandon: “to forget”, |
| Nico: yrittää |
| Brandon: “to try”, |
| Nico: saada |
| Brandon: “to be permitted”, |
| Nico: alkaa |
| Brandon: “to begin”, |
| Nico: osata |
| Brandon: “to have the skill”. |
| Nico: And there are many more. |
| Brandon: How would you say “I want to read”? |
| Nico: Haluan lukea. As always, you can omit the first and second person pronouns, if there’s no special emphasis on them. |
| Brandon: How about “We forgot to go to the grocery store”? |
| Nico: Unohdimme käydä kaupassa. |
| Brandon: How would you say “Kalle is not allowed to watch TV”? |
| Nico: Kalle ei saa katsoa telkkaria. |
| Brandon: Listeners, now it’s your turn. I’ll say a sentence in English, and your job is to say it in Finnish. Say it out loud, so that you get practice in actually speaking! Nico will give the answer after a few seconds. Here’s the first sentence. “Sara can read already.” |
| Nico: In case you don’t remember, “to have the skill” is osata, and “already” is jo. (Pause)Sara osaa jo lukea. |
| Brandon: Now, say “I’m going to run a marathon”. |
| Nico: You’ll need the verbs aikoa and juosta. “Marathon” is maraton.[pause] It’s Aion juosta maratonin. How did you do? Aikoa is a bit tricky, because you have to omit the k in the first and second persons. |
| MARKETING PIECE |
| Nico: Do you know the number 1 reason people don't study a second language? |
| Brandon: Not enough time. |
| Nico: You’re very busy. |
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| Nico: Subscribe on iTunes. |
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Outro |
| Brandon: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Thanks for joining us, and we’ll see you next time! |
| Nico: Hei hei! |
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