Finnish IRL
ei oo - a shop assistant and a customer both shrugging in front of a half-empty shelf in a Finnish supermarket

ei oo

/ei oː/

There isn't. It isn't. We don't have it. Written ei ole The sentence a shop assistant says to you, in the shape they say it

ei ole on paper, ei oo out loud

Kirjakieli · written ei ole
Puhekieli · spoken ei oo

One of the written-and-spoken pairs - every word on this site that exists in both forms is in that table, beside the change between them.

The same sentence, both ways
What you will hear What the book writes
- Onks teillä tätä? - Ei oo. - Onko teillä tätä? - Ei ole.
Mulla ei oo rahaa mukana. Minulla ei ole rahaa mukana.
Ei oo enää jäljellä. Ei ole enää jäljellä.

Quick answer

Ei oo is the spoken form of ei ole - "there isn't", "it isn't", or in a shop, "we don't have it".

  • The l drops from ole the same way it drops from olen and olet, giving oo, oon and oot.
  • On its own it is a complete answer to a question, and it is not curt.

What ei oo means

Ei oo is the negative of on. Because olla covers both "to be" and, with the adessive, "to have", this one short phrase covers a lot of ground: there isn't any, it's not, we don't have it, he's not here.

In a shop it is the sentence that ends the conversation, and it usually arrives with nothing else attached.

Why ei ole became ei oo

The written form is ei ole. Speech gives you ei oo, on the same pattern that produces oon and oot.

In ordinary speech the negative verb often stops agreeing, so me ei oo appears where writing would have me emme ole. That is documented, not an error.

The rule behind ei oo

The change in ei oo is not a one-off. It is one of the regular changes between written and spoken Finnish, and it applies well beyond this word.

Written Spoken What changed
Writtenei ole Spokenei oo What changedThe l drops out of olla in speech, the same loss that gives oon and oot.
Writtenen ole Spokenen oo What changedThe negative goes with it, and with the pronoun attached it becomes emmä oo.
Writtenemme ole Spokenme ei oo What changedThe negative verb stops agreeing for person, so the singular ei covers the plural.
Writtenei ollut Spokenei ollu What changedThe final t of the past participle drops, as it does across the tense.
Writteneivät ole Spokenne ei oo What changedThird person plural collapses on both the pronoun and the negative verb.

How Finns actually use ei oo

As a whole answer. Onks teillä tätä? - Ei oo. That is complete on its own; see ei for why Finnish answers with the verb.

About availability, presence and possession: ei oo enää, "there's none left"; se ei oo täällä, "he isn't here"; mulla ei oo, "I don't have any".

As part of a longer refusal with a reason attached, which is how Finnish softens a negative - ei oo, mut huomenna tulee lisää.

ei oo in a sentence

  • - Onks teillä tätä? - Ei oo. "Do you have this?" "We don't." · written: - Onko teillä tätä? - Ei ole.
  • Mulla ei oo rahaa mukana. I don't have any money on me. · written: Minulla ei ole rahaa mukana.
  • Ei oo enää jäljellä. There's none left. · written: Ei ole enää jäljellä.
ei oo - a man behind a Finnish kiosk counter shaking his head slightly at a customer's question, bare trees through the window
Ei ole, run together and a letter shorter.

ei oo in a conversation

Onks teillä tätä isompana?
Ei oo.
Tuleeks lisää?
Ensi viikolla.
Kiitos.

The mistake everyone makes with ei oo

Waiting for an apology or an alternative that is not coming, and reading its absence as hostility.

Saying ei on. The order is fixed: the negative verb comes first, and the main verb follows in its bare form.

Expecting ei ole in speech and not catching ei oo, which sounds like a single short word.

Where you will actually hear ei oo

The whole scene: the shop

Questions people ask about ei oo

What does ei oo mean?

There isn't, it isn't, or we don't have it. It is the spoken form of ei ole.

Why is it ei oo and not ei ole?

The l drops out of olla's forms in speech - ole becomes oo, olen becomes oon, olet becomes oot.

Is a bare ei oo rude?

No. Finnish service language is brief, and a short answer with no apology attached is normal rather than cold.

How do I say I don't have it in Finnish?

Mulla ei oo - literally "at me there isn't", since Finnish has no verb for have.

Does this come up in the YKI test?

Constantly, in the listening section, which is recorded in ordinary spoken Finnish rather than in textbook forms. Recognising ei oo, emmä oo and me ei oo is comprehension work, and it is the part courses drill least.

Can I say ei on?

No. The negative verb comes first and the main verb follows in its bare form: ei oo, en oo, me ei oo. Note the plural - emme oo would mix a written negative verb with a spoken main verb.

Is ei oo correct Finnish?

Yes. Ei oo is the spoken form; ei ole is the written one. Both are standard Finnish - they belong to different registers, and neither is a degraded version of the other.

oon - a young woman on the phone in an office kitchen doorway saying where she is, coffee cup already in hand, melting snow on the ledge outside
oon written olen Someone rings to say where they are. This is the word you will miss
onks - a man leaning on a Finnish kiosk counter asking whether something is in, the older vendor already reaching under the counter
onks written onko Move the question letter one word to the left and you have asked something else
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
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
sä - an older woman behind a Finnish kiosk counter leaning forward and asking a young customer something directly, pointing with an open hand
sä written sinä The polite version you are looking for does not exist
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
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
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

Sources for ei oo

  1. VISK § 108 - inflection of the negative verb Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - The negative verb carries the person and has no tense of its own.
  2. VISK § 109 - the negative form of the main verb Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - Why ole appears in its bare stem after ei.
  3. VISK § 1201 - answering with a verb or a particle Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - Why ei oo is a complete answer: Finnish answers by echoing the verb.
  4. VISK § 1289 - examples of the negative word failing to agree Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - Me ei oo in speech where writing would have me emme ole.
  5. Kielitoimiston sanakirja: olla Kotimaisten kielten keskus

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