---
title: "18 Finnish filler words, sorted by their job"
description: "Tota buys time, niinku loosens precision, no opens a turn and eiku repairs it. Eighteen Finnish fillers sorted into six conversational jobs."
type: "article"
category: "spoken-finnish"
url: "https://finnishirl.com/blog/finnish-filler-words-ranked"
canonical: "https://finnishirl.com/blog/finnish-filler-words-ranked"
published: "2026-10-01"
updated: "2026-10-01"
author: "Andrey the Nomad"
site: "Finnish IRL"
license: "https://finnishirl.com/terms#ip"
---

# 18 Finnish filler words, sorted by their job
URL: https://finnishirl.com/blog/finnish-filler-words-ranked
Date: 2026-10-01
Updated: 2026-10-01
Category: spoken-finnish
Keywords: Finnish filler words, tota meaning Finnish, niinku meaning, Finnish discourse particles, spoken Finnish fillers
Summary: Tota buys time, niinku loosens precision, no opens a turn and eiku repairs it. Eighteen Finnish fillers sorted into six conversational jobs.

Quick answer:
- Use tota or öö to hold the floor while planning; tota is flexible enough to appear inside, at the end of, or alone as a turn.
- Niinku marks approximation, comparison or how something felt; siis often launches an explanation or forceful clarification.
- Eiku repairs your own words, ai nii retrieves something forgotten, and no niin can close, launch, accept or prod depending on timing.
- The list is organised by six jobs, including holding the floor, encouraging a speaker and replacing something just said. Position and tone decide the meaning.

What you'll learn:
- Sort eighteen small words into six jobs your ear can recognise
- Hear when joo means keep talking rather than I agree
- Use eiku to fix yourself without restarting the sentence
- Stop translating no niin as one impossible English phrase

Body:

A learner hears empty noise:

<ul class="examples"><li class="example"><div class="fi" lang="fi">No siis mä olin niinku lähössä, mut tota… eiku hetkinen.</div><div class="en" lang="en">Well, I mean, I was sort of leaving, but um… no, wait.</div></li></ul>

To an experienced listener, the same line has signposts. <span lang="fi">No</span> opens the lane. <span lang="fi">Siis</span> marks an explanation. <span lang="fi">Niinku</span> makes the description approximate. <span lang="fi">Tota</span> holds the turn. <span lang="fi">Eiku</span> reverses into a repair.

Calling all five "fillers" hides the interesting part. Research on Finnish conversation treats these items as particles whose work depends on sequence and position.[^visk-particles] The useful map has **six conversational jobs**, from keeping speech alive to changing what the previous sentence meant. It is not a league table of raw frequency.

## Job 1: buy two seconds without surrendering the floor

### 1. tota

Closest rough gloss: "um / well". A ten-hour conversation study found <span lang="fi">tota</span> highly flexible: most often inside a turn, but also turn-final or a turn by itself.[^tota-study]

<ul class="examples"><li class="example"><div class="fi" lang="fi">Voisitko sä tota lähettää sen uudestaan?</div><div class="en" lang="en">Could you, um, send it again?</div></li></ul>

<span lang="fi">Tota</span> occurs in patterned positions, including inside a turn, at its end and as a turn of its own. Newer corpus work finds it behaves more like a grammatical item than merely an involuntary noise.[^tota-corpus]

### 2. öö, and ää for some speakers

The audible search. <span lang="fi">Se oli öö tiistaina</span> keeps the turn while the date arrives. Write the hesitation only when representing speech; nobody needs it in an email.

### 3. hetkinen

Literally "a little moment": <span lang="fi">Hetkinen, mä tarkistan</span>, "hang on, I'll check." Unlike <span lang="fi">öö</span>, this openly requests time.

![A crowded radio studio in Jyväskylä, a group of people talking at once around a mixing desk](/images/words/optimized/blog-finnish-filler-words-ranked-1-e048e463da-1080.webp "Jyväskylä. Six people and one microphone is where holding the floor stops being a metaphor")

## Job 2: make the claim less geometrically exact

### 4. niinku

From <span lang="fi">niin kuin</span>, "like/as". It can mark comparison, approximation, reported experience or a search for formulation, and [<span lang="fi">niinku</span>](/words/niinku) has the written form beside the spoken one.

<ul class="examples"><li class="example"><div class="fi" lang="fi">Se oli niinku vähän vaivaannuttavaa.</div><div class="en" lang="en">It was, like, a little awkward.</div></li></ul>

Deleting it yields grammatical Finnish and changes the interpersonal texture.

### 5. silleen, often sillee in Helsinki-area speech

"Like that / kind of." <span lang="fi">Ei sillee pahalla</span> means "not in a bad way", usually moments before information with excellent potential to be taken badly.

### 6. tavallaan

"In a way." More at home in careful speech than <span lang="fi">niinku</span>: <span lang="fi">Se on tavallaan totta</span>, "that is true in a way." Watch what restriction follows.

### 7. ehkä

Literally "maybe", but often a softener: <span lang="fi">Voisit ehkä laittaa oven kiinni</span> is grammatically a possibility and pragmatically a request.

<div id="midpost-newsletter-slot"></div>

## Job 3: show the other person you have not died

### 8. joo

As an answer, yes. Inside somebody else's story, often "mm-hm, continue". Sorjonen's conversation research shows [<span lang="fi">joo</span>](/words/joo) and [<span lang="fi">niin</span>](/words/nii) operate across multiple sequential environments; neither maps cleanly to a single English yes.[^responses]

### 9. nii(n)

Agreement, recognition, continuation, or a prompt:

<ul class="examples"><li class="example"><div class="fi" lang="fi">Se muutti sit Turkuun.</div><div class="en" lang="en">Then she moved to Turku.</div></li><li class="example"><div class="fi" lang="fi">Niin.</div><div class="en" lang="en">Right / mm-hm.</div></li></ul>

Length and pitch matter. <span lang="fi">Niin?</span> can mean "and?"

### 10. mm / m-m

Closed-mouth listening tokens. A positive hum and a negative hum are distinguished partly by melody, which makes them terrible vocabulary-card material and excellent real-life listening material.

![The empty on-air studio of Radio Suomipop at Sanomatalo, Helsinki](/images/words/optimized/blog-finnish-filler-words-ranked-2-5c943a467f-1080.webp "Radio Suomipop, Helsinki. Live speech is produced here at the same speed it is heard, fillers included")

## Job 4: open, resume or finally finish the thing

### 11. no

Not English "no". Finnish [<span lang="fi">no</span>](/words/no) can launch an answer, shift footing or accept reluctantly: <span lang="fi">No voidaan me mennä</span>, "well, we can go."

### 12. no niin

[<span lang="fi">No niin</span>](/words/no-niin) changes with the moment: it can start the meeting, mark a finished task, hurry a child or acknowledge an unwelcome prediction.

| Scene | Finnish {fi} | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| meeting begins | No niin, alotetaas. | launch |
| lid clicks shut | Noniin! | completion |
| child delays | No niin, mennään. | prompt |
| prediction comes true | No niin. | recognition, possibly reproach |

### 13. sit(ten)

"Then", but also a step-marker: <span lang="fi">Sit laitetaan nää tänne</span>. In instructions it moves the activity, not only clock time.

## Job 5: explain what you meant, with increasing force

### 14. siis

"So / I mean / that is." Turn-initial <span lang="fi">siis</span> can reformulate prior talk and display the speaker's stance; it also prefaces emphatic claims about matters in the speaker's own domain.[^siis][^reformulation]

<ul class="examples"><li class="example"><div class="fi" lang="fi">Siis mä en luvannu mitään.</div><div class="en" lang="en">I mean, I didn't promise anything.</div></li></ul>

That is stronger than a neutral dictionary "therefore".

### 15. eli / elikkä

"In other words / so." Often packages a conclusion or proposed understanding: <span lang="fi">Eli nähdään kuudelta?</span>, "so, we meet at six?"

### 16. kato / ku

<span lang="fi">Kato ku</span> is roughly "you see, because": <span lang="fi">Kato ku mulla on huomenna töitä</span>. Literally translating [<span lang="fi">kato</span>](/words/kato) as "look" misses its explanatory job.

![A bus at a stop on Hämeentie in the blue dusk of a January afternoon](/images/words/optimized/blog-finnish-filler-words-ranked-3-5bd0ecc338-1080.webp "Hämeentie, Helsinki. Most of the Finnish you overhear arrives in places like this, at conversational speed and not aimed at you")

## Job 6: repair before anyone builds on the mistake

### 17. eiku

From <span lang="fi">ei kun</span>: "no, rather…" The [<span lang="fi">eiku</span>](/words/eiku) card has the repair in context.

<ul class="examples"><li class="example"><div class="fi" lang="fi">Nähään torstaina, eiku perjantaina.</div><div class="en" lang="en">See you Thursday, no, Friday.</div></li></ul>

This is one of the highest-return listening items in Finnish: what follows usually corrects or redirects something just said.

### 18. ai nii(n)

"Oh right!" It retrieves a fact: <span lang="fi">Ai niin, sun pitää lähtee aikasin</span>. It signals that memory has rejoined the chat.

![A wooden corner shop and kiosk on Intiankatu, Helsinki, in the 1970s](/images/words/optimized/blog-finnish-filler-words-ranked-4-beeea17f29-1080.webp "Intiankatu, Helsinki. These particles were doing the same jobs here fifty years ago; the list is not a trend report")

## The anti-list: what not to do with the ranking

Do not stuff <span lang="fi">niinku</span> into every sentence to manufacture authenticity. Do not assume every <span lang="fi">joo</span> promises compliance. Do not translate every <span lang="fi">no</span> as a negative. And do not clean particles out of listening practice: ArkiSyn exists precisely because morphologically annotated everyday conversation is a different object from edited prose.[^arkisyn]

After <span lang="fi">eiku</span>, revise what you just heard. A quiet <span lang="fi">joo</span> during your story usually lets you continue. <span lang="fi">Tota</span> tells you the speaker is still building the turn.

[^tota-study]: Etelämäki & Jaakola, [Tota ja puhetilanteen todellisuus](https://journal.fi/virittaja/article/view/4183), uses ten hours of audio- and video-recorded conversations.
[^tota-corpus]: Kirjavainen & Nikolaev, [Investigation into the Finnish planning particle tota](https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.21019.kir), reports two spoken-corpus analyses.
[^responses]: Sorjonen, [Responding in Conversation](https://benjamins.com/catalog/pbns.70), studies <span lang="fi">niin</span> and <span lang="fi">joo</span> in answers, directives, stance responses and tellings.
[^siis]: Hakulinen & Couper-Kuhlen, [Insisting on my side](https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/publications/insisting-on-my-side-siis-prefaced-utterances-in-finnish/), Journal of Pragmatics 75.
[^reformulation]: Sorjonen, [Turn-initial siis, eli(kkä), and nii(n) et(tä)](https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.31.09sor), compares their stance in reformulating prior talk.
[^arkisyn]: [ArkiSyn](https://www.kielipankki.fi/corpora/arkisyn/) is the Language Bank of Finland's annotated corpus of everyday conversations.
[^visk-particles]: [VISK §792](https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=792) introduces particle classes and their interactional functions.

FAQ:
Q: What is the Finnish equivalent of um?
A: Öö is a filled pause; tota is a lexical planning particle that can also hold the floor.

Q: What does niinku mean?
A: It comes from niin kuin, like or as, but in talk it also approximates, hedges and frames reported experience.

Q: What does siis mean?
A: Depending on position, so, I mean or that is. It can reformulate prior talk or preface an emphatic stance.

Q: Why do Finns say no niin?
A: To launch, resume, acknowledge, evaluate, prompt or close an activity. Timing and intonation do more than a dictionary gloss.

Q: Does joo always mean yes?
A: No. During another person's story it can be a continuer: I am listening, go on.

Q: Are filler words bad Finnish?
A: No. They organise turns and understanding. Heavy repetition can distract, but eliminating them can make speech harder to coordinate.

Q: Can I use these in formal writing?
A: Usually not with the same functions. They belong primarily to interaction and represented speech.

Sources:
- Tota ja puhetilanteen todellisuus: https://journal.fi/virittaja/article/view/4183
- Investigation into the Finnish planning particle tota: https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.21019.kir
- Responding in Conversation: https://benjamins.com/catalog/pbns.70
- Insisting on my side: siis-prefaced utterances: https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/publications/insisting-on-my-side-siis-prefaced-utterances-in-finnish/
- Turn-initial siis, eli(kkä), and nii(n) et(tä): https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.31.09sor
- ArkiSyn Database of Finnish Conversational Discourse: https://www.kielipankki.fi/corpora/arkisyn/
- Finnish particles: https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=792

Related words: eiku, joo, niinku, no-niin