Key Concepts from Lecture on Finnish Vocabulary
Introduction
- The list of 1000 most common Finnish words was derived from statistical analysis of Finnish articles.
- Finnish is not an Indo-European language, which makes its vocabulary significantly different from languages like English, French, or Spanish.
- Finnish shares similarities with Estonian, while having fewer similarities with Hungarian.
Highlights of Common Finnish Words
Verbs
- olla: (to be) - Most frequently-used Finnish word, translates to "to be" or "to have".
- voida: (can) - Used as "may" or "can", or as "to be" when intransitive.
- saada: (to get)
- tehdä: (to make)
- pitää: (to keep)
- kertoa: (to tell)
- ottaa: (to take)
- antaa: (to give)
- sanoa: (to say)
- alkaa: (start)
- kuulla: (to hear)
- tietää: (to know)
- joutua: (to get)
- lisätä: (to add)
- kestää: (take)
- hyväksyä: (to accept)
- muuttaa: (change)
- ymmärtää: (understand)
Pronouns
- se: (it)
- joka: (which) - Relative pronoun.
- tämä: (this)
- minä: (I)
- hän: (he, she) - Reflects genderless nature of Finnish.
Conjunctions
- ja: (and)
- että: (that)
- tai: (or)
- mutta: (but)
Nouns
- vuosi: (year)
- maa: (land)
- lapsi: (child)
- kaupunki: (city)
- tieto: (knowledge)
- kuva: (picture)
- mies: (man)
- nainen: (woman)
- perhe: (family)
- koti: (home)
- kirja: (book)
- auto: (car)
- pallo: (ball)
Adjectives
- uusi: (new)
- hyvä: (good)
- pieni: (small)
- iso: (big)
- suuri: (large)
Adverbs
- myös: (also)
- juuri: (just)
- nyt: (now)
- aina: (always)
- nopeasti: (quickly)
- aluksi: (initially)
- tietysti: (of course)
Proper Nouns
- Helsinki - Capital of Finland.
- Tampere
- Espoo
Linguistic Insights
- Genderless Language: Finnish does not have grammatical gender distinctions.
- Compound Words: Many Finnish words are compound forms, e.g., "maailma" (world) from "maa" (earth) and "ilma" (air).
- Finnish Articles: Lacks definite and indefinite articles, uses demonstrative pronouns like "se", "tämä", "tuo".
Cultural Connections
- Finnish emphasizes gender neutrality and the use of demonstrative pronouns instead of articles.
- Words like "vihreä" (green) are frequently used due to ecological connections.
- Linguistic connection to Estonian and Hungarian.
Study and Usage
- Understanding these commonly used words and their functions can significantly aid in learning Finnish.
- Note the similarity between Finnish and Estonian for cross-linguistic insights.
This guide provides an overview of the most common Finnish words, offering linguistic insights and cultural connections to aid in language learning.