#finnish notes

hei = hi

joo = yes

kiitos = thank you

ei = no

heihei = bye-bye

olen... = I'm...

sori = sorry

anteeksi = sorry (formal)

ole hyvä = you're welcome

miten voit? = how are you?

hyvin = well

.

Finnish (like any foreign language) can be really confusing.

For a long time now I’ve thought the Finnish word “niitä” was the elative of “ne” (they (it)), just like “siitä” is the elative of “se” (it). Now I just learned that it isn’t. “Niitä” is actually the partitive of “ne”, not the elative. “Niistä” is the elative.

niitä - partitive of “ne” sitä - partitive of “se”

niistä - elative of “ne” siitä - elative of “se”

Mä rakastan sitä. / Mä rakastan niitä. I love it. / I love them.

Mä tykkään siitä. / Mä tykkään niistä. I like it. / I like them.

Same with the word “niinä”. I thought that was the inessive of “ne”, just like “siinä” is the inessive of “se”. But no, the inessive of “ne” is “niissä”. “Niinä” is the essive. 

niissä - inessive of “ne” siinä - inessive of “se”

niinä - essive of “ne” sinä - essive of “se”; you

Vesi on siinä. / Vesi on niissä.  The water is in it. / The water is in them.

In Finnish, the accusative case is used mainly for completed direct objects.

Key word there is completed (confusing sometimes :P)

Examples of completed direct objects in English:

I ate the (whole) apple

I drank (all of) the water

In English, telicity (whether an action is completed or not) is often expressed by either using the present progressive vs. the perfect and the preterite tenses.

Compare:

I am eating an apple (and still eating it) vs. I ate the apple (and there is no more apple left)

I am drinking water (but I have not finished drinking all of it) vs. I drank water (so it is all gone now)

Forming the accusative case:

It is identical to the the genitive case (except for personal pronouns, which take a -t ending instead of the usual -n ending for genitives)

Consonant gradation does occur

Examples:

omena -> omenan 

The imperative in Finnish is one of the easier verb forms in Finnish (yay :D)

Singular Imperative:

Take the inflectional root of the verb

Consonant gradation occurs (otta -> ota)

Plural 

Take the inflectional root of the verb

Add kaa/kää

Any final e preceded by n, m, l or r is dropped (mene -> menkää)

Since kaa/kää ends in a vowel sound (and not a glottal stop), there is no consonant gradation

Examples (singular / plural):

mene / menkää

ota / ottakaa

Possession is very different in Finnish than it is in English.

There is no verb "to have" in Finnish :(

Instead, the adessive case (generally translated as on) is used with the 3rd person singular form of olla (on).

Forming the singular adessive case:

Take the inflectional stem (genitive singular stem) of the noun

If it ends in an e, double the e

Add lla/llä

Consonant gradation occurs

vesi -> vete -> vetellä -> vedellä

minä -> minu -> minulla ( or coloquially, mä -> mu -> mulla )

Forming the plural adessive case:

Take the inflectional stem

Add i (plural marker)

Add lla/llä

Consonant gradation occurs

Most commonly, the adessive case in this usage will be with personal pronouns and names

Minä -> Minulla

Mä -> Mulla

Sinä -> Sinulla

Sä -> Sulla

Se -> Sillä

Hän -> Hänellä

Me -> Meillä

Te -> Teillä

He -> Heillä

Ne -> Niillä

Fred -> Fred:llä

Aulis -> Auliksella

If the possessor and the possessed thing are both concrete and inanimate, the inessive case is used.

The inessive case is formed the same way as the adessive case, except the llä/lla is replaced with ssa/ssä.

Then, just add on and the possession, and you'll have a possessive phrase ^o^