Finnish IRL

Page 2

kato - a woman nudging an older friend and pointing across a sunlit Finnish street
kato written katso It means look, until it stops meaning anything
Could You Handle a Mökki Weekend? Quiz Lähdetään
Nobody explains a cottage weekend. You get handed a rake, or you get handed a chair. 6 questions
katotaan - a woman in an office doorway waiting on an answer while the man at his desk keeps his eyes on the screen and lifts one hand in a vague maybe
katotaan written katsotaan Nothing is a plan here until someone names a time
Finnish swearing has a grammar slot of its own
Reach for luoja to be polite and the sentence stops being Finnish 12 min read
käy - two friends agreeing on a plan at a Finnish street corner and starting to separate, one already walking backwards through wet yellow leaves
käy Käyks kuudelt? - Käy. That is the whole negotiation
Kela - a man sitting alone in a row of plastic chairs in a Kela waiting room holding a paper queue ticket, snow through the glass door
Kela The letter arrives before you have worked out who sent it
8 kinds of Finnish TV, ranked by how much you catch
Cartoons are the standard advice, and they are harder than the news 10 min read
kiitos - a waitress setting a beer down for an older man on a summer lake terrace
kiitos Finnish has no word for please, and this is what fills the gap
kippis - two women touching beer glasses across a table on a Finnish summer terrace, a lake and birches behind them in the late evening light
kippis The glass goes over your shoulder before the shot goes down
Finnish has no word for please. It has six moves
Saisinko does the polite work. Pliis does the begging 7 min read
Could You Pass as a Helsinki Local? Quiz Stadiin
Underneath ordinary Finnish there is a century of Swedish. No course mentions it. 6 questions
löyly - a man on a sauna bench tipping a ladle of water onto the hot stones while the younger man beside him braces
löyly The word meant soul for four thousand years before it meant steam
mä tykkään susta - a couple sitting side by side on a jetty in the Finnish summer night, bare feet over the water, not looking at each other
mä tykkään susta written minä tykkään sinusta The sentence that does the work "I love you" does in English
Does Finnish have 40 words for snow? Not quite
We put the viral list on trial 7 min read
mä - two people talking on the shore of an autumn lake beside a wooden jetty
mä written minä The word every textbook spells with three more letters
meen - a woman pulling her coat on in a dim Finnish hallway, half out of the door and calling back into the flat, snow outside
meen written menen In Finnish you do not get married - you go into marriages, and it is plural
10 ways to say yes in Finnish, ranked by use
The subtitles say kyllä. The person in front of you says joo 8 min read
mennään - two friends standing up from a café table at the same moment, one already pulling a coat on, melting snow outside the window
mennään written menemme "Let's go" and "we go" are the same word, and your textbook taught neither
moi - a woman at a Finnish supermarket checkout giving the smallest possible nod to the man stepping into the queue behind her
moi Say it once and it is hello, say it twice and you are leaving
Could You Survive a Finnish Sauna? Quiz Ylälauteille
Everyone warns you about the heat. Nobody warns you about the conversation. 6 questions
Finnish grammar is the cheap part
The same budget as Greek. The bill arrives elsewhere 11 min read
mökki - a man standing on the steps of a small red Finnish summer cottage with a coffee cup, a lake glinting through the birches
mökki Half a million of them, and the rules are all unwritten
mulla on - a woman holding up a loyalty card to show a Finnish shop cashier that she has one, bright spring daylight through the doors
mulla on written minulla on I'm hungry in Finnish is at me is a hunger, because the language never built a verb for have
Yes, Finnish is related to Hungarian. It barely shows
A Finn understands no Hungarian. Estonian is the one that pays 9 min read
mun - a woman lifting her coat off the back of a café chair as an older man reaches for the same one, melting snow outside
mun written minun Say the phrase your textbook drilled and a Finn hears you arguing over whose book it is
myötähäpeä - a woman in a bar watching something off to the side with both hands half over her face, unable to look away
myötähäpeä One word for the feeling that makes you cover your eyes at a wedding speech