Introducing oneself, Lesson 3


Itsen esittely

Finnish pastries

Learn how to introduce yourself and your friends in Finnish.

Matti ja Antti ovat kahvilla. Kaisa tulee paikalle.

Lexicon

Minun nimeni on... - My name is...

Mikä sinun nimesi on?
What is your name?
Minun nimeni on...
My name is...
Hänen nimensä on...
His/her name is...
Saanko esitellä...
May I introduce...

Finnish language has a thing called possessive suffix. It indicates possession, but it's different from the genitive case. It can be translated as ~ "my, your, his, ours, their"

Possessive suffixes
nimeni my name
nimesi your name
nimensä his/her name
nimemme our name
nimenne your name
nimensä their name

Fortunately in spoken language they can be left out:

Olen kotoisin - I come from

Suomesta, Englannista, Yhdysvalloista, Ranskasta, Venäjältä, Virosta
from Finland, England, United States, France, Russia, Estonia
Turusta, Helsingistä, Tampereelta, Oulusta, Vaasasta
from Turku, Helsinki, Tampere, Oulu, Vaasa
Lontoosta, Pariisista, New Yorkista, Moskovasta, Tokiosta, Tukholmasta
from London, Paris, New York, Moscow, Tokyo, Stocholm

Ending -sta or -lta means "from". Olen kotoisin Turusta - I come from Turku. See the grammar part for details. More names of the towns.

Minä olen - I am

conjugation of "to be"
minä olen I am me olemme we are
sinä olet you are te olette you are
hän on : he/she is he ovat they are
Minä olen suomalainen. Hän on ruotsalainen.
I'm a Finn. He's a Swede.

Ethnicities and names of the inhabitants are formed with -lainen suffix, wich is added after the name of the country. Names of the nationalities are spelled with the small initial letter.

Ranska -> ranskalainen
France -> French
Japani -> japanilainen
Japan -> Japanese
Rooma -> roomalainen
Rome -> Roman

Few exceptions:

They can be used also as a adjective-modifier:

venäläinen kirjallisuus
Russian literature
suomalainen musiikki
Finnish music
meksikolainen ruoka
Mexican food

Puhun... - I speak ...

Names of the languages are the same as the names of the country. Notice that the name of the language is spelled with small initial letter.

Or you can say "the language of Finland" (then you must use genitive case):

Examples:

Puhun suomea /suomen kieltä hyvin.
I speak Finnish well.
Ymmärrän viron kieltä.
I understand Estonian.
Osaan ruotsia huonosti.
I know Swedish bad.
Haluaisin osata venäjää / venäjän kieltä.
I'd like to speak Russian.

(You must use a partitive case with verbs "puhua", "ymmärtää" and "osata".)

More countries, nationalities and languages.

Exercises


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