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Guidebook · Unit 1 · A1

First Steps

Pronouns and the verb olla

  1. 1

    Hei, and who's who

    Your first Finnish greetings — and the personal pronouns, from minä to he.

    • Hei and moi both mean hi; huomenta is good morning.
    • Mitä kuuluu? — Kiitos, hyvää. Entä sinulle? is the everyday how are you exchange.
    • Minä olen… (or just Olen…) gives your name; Hauska tavata! means nice to meet you.
    • The pronouns: minä, sinä, hän, me, te, he — hän is both he and she.
    • Careful: me = we and he = they. Animals and things are se (it).
    • In speech you'll hear mä and sä for minä and sinä.
    Open lesson
  2. 2

    Olla: who you are

    The verb “to be” — for where you're from, your nationality, your job and where you are.

    • Olla = to be: olen, olet, on, olemme, olette, ovat.
    • The ending shows the person, so minä, sinä, me, te are usually dropped: Olen Marina.
    • Use it for origin (-sta: Olen Bostonista), nationality, job, place (-ssa: Olen Helsingissä) and what someone is like.
    • Nationalities and languages have no capital letter; jobs take no article: Hän on kokki.
    • Words don't change for men and women: Hän on väsynyt fits both.
    Open lesson
  3. 3

    Sinä or te — and saying no

    Choose the right “you”, and make any sentence negative with the little verb en, et, ei…

    • Sinä = one person — and in Finland that's almost anyone; te = two or more, or very formal politeness.
    • Oletko…? / Oletteko…? and Entä sinulle? / Entä teille?
    • “Not” is a verb that conjugates: en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät.
    • The main verb drops to its stem and stays put: en ole, et ole, ei ole… — never en olen.
    • To say no, the negative verb is enough: Oletko väsynyt? — En (ole).
    Open lesson
  4. 4

    How Finnish sounds

    One letter, one sound; stress on the first syllable; long and short sounds — and the vowel teams behind every ending.

    • One letter, one sound — every letter is pronounced, always the same way.
    • Stress is always on the first syllable: HEL-sin-ki.
    • Length changes meaning: tuli (fire), tuuli (wind), tulli (customs).
    • Ä, ö, y are separate letters; j sounds like English y; r is rolled.
    • Vowel harmony: back (a, o, u) or front (ä, ö, y) — endings match: kahvilassa, Helsingissä.
    Open lesson
Unit review