Conceito novo

Two Finnishes

Here is the biggest surprise for every learner. The Finnish you read — books, news, signs, this course — is kirjakieli, written Finnish. The Finnish you hear in cafés, on the tram and among friends is puhekieli, spoken Finnish. It can look like a different language.

Written (kirjakieli) Spoken (puhekieli) English
minä / sinä mä / sä I / you
minulla / sinulla mulla / sulla I have / you have
minun / sinun mun / sun my / your
minä olen / sinä olet mä oon / sä oot I am / you are
hän / he (people) se / ne he, she / they
tämä / tuo tää / toi this / that
en tiedä en mä tiiä / emmä tiiä I don't know
kyllä joo yes

Both are correct Finnish — just different registers, like I do not know and dunno. You should understand puhekieli; you don't have to speak it yet. In this course, spoken forms are always marked as spoken.