What makes Finnish language so special

1. WHAT MAKES FINNISH SO…FINNISH?
gemination
long and short vowels
consonant gradation
RitvaTammi2015

2. Stem
VARTALO Sign
TUNNUS
Ending
PÄÄTE
Suffix
LIITE
MODE (verbs)
PLURAL (nouns)
PERSON (verbs)
CASE (nouns)
VARTALO is the base
where you add other morfemes
= JOHTIMET
• eg. noun -> becomes verb
-> another noun
KALA - STAA
KALA - STA - JA
A fish
To fish
A fisherman

3. Sign
TUNNUS MODE (verbs)
PLURAL (nouns)
KALA - STA - ISI - MME
We would fish/go fishing
• Sign –ISI- stands for the CONDITIONAL (Engl. ’would’)
KALA - STA -J - I - LLE
Ending
PÄÄTE
’PERSON’ = ’we’
’CASE’ = allativePLURAL
To (the) fishermen

4. KALA - STA - ISI - MME – KO?
KALA - STA -J - I - LLE – KIN
Suffix
LIITE
LIITEPARTIKKELIT:
-KO, -KÖ, -KAAN, -PA, -HAN
Would we fish?
To (the) fishermen as well.
’QUESTION’
’ALSO’, ’TOO’, ’AS WELL’

5. WORD STRUCTURE
FINNISH VERBS & NOMINALS
STEM SIGN ENDING SUFFIX

6. ”Asu-isi-mme-ko talo-i-ssa-ni?”
Would we live in my houses? (a rich person, owns MANY houses )
STEM- vartalo SIGN - tunnus ENDING - pääte SUFFIX - liite
asu-
= root > from dictionary form
’asua’
LIVE
isi
CONDITIONAL – Konditionaali
- ehto
mme
1st person plural
- Monikon 1. persoona
- Puhutaan ’meistä’
ko
ENDING signifying Yes/No-questions –
Kysymyspartikkeli
- Kysymyksesssä ei ole kysymyssanaa
-> siihen vastataan yleensä ‘Kyllä’ tai ‘Ei’
Asuisimmeko…
Would we live…
talo
HOUSE
i
Plural – Monikko
- taloja on monta
ssa
INESSIVE case
- Inessiivi (sijamuoto)
’jossakin’
ni
POSSESSIVE suffix
– Omistusliite
- ilmoittaa, että omistaja olen ’minä’
…taloissani?
…in my houses?

7. GEMINATION
The phenomenon in Finnish language where
the first consonant of the following word becomes geminated
• ’ rajakahdennus; jäännöslopuke’:
• If the next word begins with a vowel, there is
a double glottal stop between the words
Tule tänne!
Tule’ tänne
[tulet-tänne)]
Minullekin
Minulle’kin
[minullekkin]
For me, too
Pass me the ball!
Come here!

8. VOWEL and CONSONANT LENGHT
”Kiitos!”
Try making the ’i’ 1,5 times longer than the ’o’;
timing units:
k-i-i-t-o-s
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 -5
However, if you want to sound ironic, double the ’i’ = ’…thank you so-oo much, you jerk!’

9. Consonant gradation = KPT
In Finnish, instead of using prepositios, we add
something to the end of the word.
And that’s when consonant gradation takes place.
• It happens in words with K,P and T, and we often call
it simply the KPT phenomenon
• Before adding the relative suffix, we need to know
the word’s STEM (vartalo)
-> we change KPT from strong to weak
… or vice- versa
nk –> ng Helsinki -> Helsingissä
“in Helsinki”
nt –> nn Englanti -> Englannissa
“In England”
pp –> p Kauppa -> Kaupassa
“in a shop”
tt –> t Ekspertti -> Ekspertin
“the expert’s”
k –> 0 (disappears) Hakea -> Haen
“I fetch”
kk –> k Pankki -> Pankissa
“in a bank”
p –> v Kylpy -> Kylvyn
“of the bath”
t –> d Pitää -> Pidän
“I like”
KTP applies to verbs also!

10. takka taakka mato matto
sika siika kissakisa

11. DIPHTONGS
18DIFFERENT; four groups
• ending in –i -> ai, ei, oi, ui, yi, äi, öi
• ending in –u -> au, eu, iu, ou
• ending in –y -> ey, iy, äy, öy
• miscellaneous… -> ie, uo, yö
A gliding vowel
= two different vowels in one syllable

12. VOKAALIHARMONIA
• certain groups of letters do not appear within the same word.
back
neutral
front
TAKAVOKAALIT – the back vowels A, O, U do not mix with certain ETUVOKAALIT –front vowels Ä, Ö, Y.
– But, E and I (of front vowels) are called NEUTRAL vowels = they can be mixed with both groups.
Helsinki –> Helsingissä
Lontoo –> Lontoossa