Finnish IRL

Every word, A to Ö

Every word on the site, in Finnish alphabetical order - which means ä and ö come at the end, after z and å, because they are letters and not decorated vowels. 23 of the 49 carry the written form beside the spoken one.

A

  • anteeks written anteeksi Sorry. Excuse me. Pardon? Puhekieli

D

  • duuni Work. A job. Slang

E

  • ei No. Not. Doesn't. Isn't. Puhekieli
  • ei hassumpaa Not bad. Meaning: pretty good. Set phrases
  • ei oo written ei ole There isn't. It isn't. We don't have it. Puhekieli
  • ei tartte written ei tarvitse No need. You don't have to. Don't bother. Puhekieli
  • eiku written ei kun No wait. I mean. Scratch that. Puhekieli
  • en jaksa I haven't got the energy. I can't face it. I can't be bothered. Set phrases
  • en tiiä written en tiedä I don't know. Puhekieli

I

  • ihan Quite. Completely. Really. Puhekieli
  • ihan sama Whatever. Same to me. Doesn't matter. Set phrases

J

  • joo Yes. Yeah. Mm-hm. Interjections
  • joo joo Yeah yeah. I heard you. Set phrases
  • just joo Sure. Right. Of course you did. Set phrases

K

  • kaamos The polar night. Standard Finnish
  • kalsarikännit Drinking at home, alone, in your underwear, with no intention of going out. Slang
  • kato written katso Look. And, half the time, nothing at all. Puhekieli
  • katotaan written katsotaan We'll see. Let's see. Let's have a look. Puhekieli
  • Kela Finland's social insurance agency. Loan words
  • kiitos Thanks. Thank you. Greetings
  • kippis Cheers. Greetings
  • käy That works. That suits me. Fine. Standard Finnish

L

  • löyly The wave of vapour that rises when water hits the sauna stones. Standard Finnish

M

  • meen written menen I go. I'm going. I'm off. Puhekieli
  • mennään written menemme Let's go. We go. We're going. Puhekieli
  • moi Hi. Also bye. Greetings
  • mulla on written minulla on I have. Puhekieli
  • mun written minun My. Mine. Puhekieli
  • myötähäpeä Second-hand embarrassment. Standard Finnish
  • mä written minä I. Me. Puhekieli
  • mä tykkään susta written minä tykkään sinusta I like you. Set phrases
  • mökki A cottage. Specifically the summer place a Finnish family disappears to. Standard Finnish

N

  • ne written he They. Those. Puhekieli
  • nii written niin Yeah. Right. Mm. Go on. Puhekieli
  • niinku written niin kuin Like. As. You know. Puhekieli
  • no Well. So. Right. Interjections
  • no niin Right then. Well. There we go. Interjections

O

  • onks written onko Is there? Is it? Do you have? Puhekieli
  • oon written olen I am. Puhekieli

P

  • perkele The national swear word. Roughly "damn it", with considerably more force. Interjections
  • puhutko englantia Do you speak English? Greetings
  • punanen written punainen Red. Puhekieli

S

  • sauna Sauna - the room, the building, and the practice. Standard Finnish
  • se written hän It. And, in spoken Finnish, he or she. Puhekieli
  • semmonen written semmoinen That kind of. Like that. Puhekieli
  • sisu Extraordinary perseverance. Standard Finnish
  • sä written sinä You (singular). Puhekieli

V

  • vessa written käymälä Toilet. Loo. Puhekieli
  • vittu The strongest Finnish swear word. Interjections

What this list is

Same words as the words page, arranged for looking one up rather than for browsing. Every entry links to its full page, and where a word has a kirjakieli form it is shown right here so you can recognise the pair without opening anything.

For those pairs grouped by the change behind them rather than by letter, see puhekieli and kirjakieli.

About this glossary

Why does ä come at the end of the list?

Because in Finnish it is a letter in its own right, not an a with dots on it. The Finnish alphabet ends z, å, ä, ö - so äiti files at the bottom of this page, nowhere near aika. Sorting it as an a is one of the most common ways software quietly gets Finnish wrong.

How is the glossary different from the words page?

Same words, different order. The glossary is A-Ö, which is what you want when you have just heard something and need to know what it meant. The words page is newest first, which is what you want when you are browsing. Both land on the same full pages.

Are these words in Kielitoimiston sanakirja?

Many are, in their written form. The spoken forms often are not - a dictionary of standard Finnish is not the place to look up oon or meen, which is exactly the gap this site fills. Where a word has a formal definition that has drifted from street usage, the word page says which is which.

Why do the URLs not have ä and ö in them?

Slugs fold ä to a and ö to o, because a URL with a percent-encoded diaeresis is unshareable and hard to search. The displayed word never folds - Kärkkäinen is a name and Karkkainen is a typo, and that distinction is not negotiable in the text.

Can I search this page?

Use Ctrl+F, or Cmd+F on a Mac. Every published word is on this one page rather than split across paginated screens, specifically so your browser can find all of it in one go.

How often does the glossary grow?

A new word every morning, appearing here the same day it publishes. Nothing is ever removed, and existing entries get quietly corrected whenever a native speaker points something out.

More questions →