mä tykkään susta
/mæ ˈtykːæːn ˈsustɑ/
I like you. Written minä tykkään sinusta The sentence that does the work "I love you" does in English
minä tykkään sinusta on paper, mä tykkään susta out loud
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.
| What you will hear | What the book writes |
|---|---|
| Mä tykkään susta tosi paljon. | Minä tykkään sinusta todella paljon. |
| Tykkäätsä musta? | Tykkäätkö sinä minusta? |
Quick answer
Mä tykkään susta means "I like you", and in practice it carries much of the weight English puts on "I love you".
- Rakastan sinua exists and is correct, but Finns say it far less readily than English speakers say its equivalent. It is kept rare so that it keeps its force.
- The same verb about a song or a colleague is nothing at all. Said to somebody's face, unprompted, it is a declaration and everyone in the room knows it.
What mä tykkään susta means
Mä tykkään susta is how a Finn tells you they like you, and it carries most of what English puts on "I love you".
The verb underneath, tykätä, is ordinary: it covers food, music, weather and people.
What matters is where it sits on the scale. Because the strongest phrase is held in reserve, the middle of the scale carries more than its literal translation suggests. Mä tykkään susta from someone who means it is not a lukewarm statement.
Why minä tykkään sinusta became mä tykkään susta
The written version is minä tykkään sinusta - the same verb, the full pronouns. Tykätä is standard Finnish, not a colloquial substitute; what changes between the registers is mä/sä and susta/sinusta, not the word for liking.
Pitää and tykätä are close, but tykätä is the warmer, more everyday one and the one that appears in this phrase. Pitää also means "must", which is a separate problem for learners.
The case is the part that goes wrong. Tykätä governs the elative: tykkään susta, tykkään sinusta, tykkään kahvista. Tykkään sua is not a milder version, it is not Finnish.
How Finns actually use mä tykkään susta
The verb is mild in general use. Mä tykkään siitä about a colleague, or mä tykkään tästä about a song, is nothing at all. Said to someone's face as mä tykkään susta, unprompted, it is a declaration and everyone present knows it. Same verb, entirely different weight.
Rakastan sua is said, and routinely, to partners and family. What surveys suggest is a difference in appetite for repetition rather than in whether it is said at all: one Finnish survey found 12% of single respondents wanted to hear it daily, against 46% of French respondents. Treat that as a difference in frequency, not as evidence that Finns withhold the word.
The ladder is what a learner actually needs, and it is steeper than the English one: mä tykkään susta, then mä oon ihastunu suhun - I have a crush on you - then mä oon rakastunu suhun, I have fallen in love with you, then mä rakastan sua. Note the case: tykätä takes the elative susta, but ihastua and rakastua take the illative suhun. That switch is a bigger trap than the elative itself.
mä tykkään susta in a sentence
- Mä tykkään susta tosi paljon. I like you a lot. · written: Minä tykkään sinusta todella paljon.
- Tykkäätsä musta? Do you like me? · written: Tykkäätkö sinä minusta?
- Oot mulle tosi tärkee. You're really important to me.
One word.
Every morning.
One real Finnish word every morning - what it means, what the book form is, and when Finns actually say it.
mä tykkään susta in a conversation
The mistake everyone makes with mä tykkään susta
Reaching for rakastan sinua early because it is the phrase the phrasebook teaches. It is not wrong, but it is a heavier word here than its English translation, and used casually it reads as performance.
Getting the case wrong. Tykkään sua is what learners reach for, and it is not Finnish.
Questions people ask about mä tykkään susta
How do you say I like you in Finnish?
Mä tykkään susta in speech, minä pidän sinusta in writing. The person takes the elative case - susta, sinusta.
Do Finns say I love you?
Yes - rakastan sua, routinely, to partners and family. Survey evidence points to less appetite for saying it daily than in some other countries, not to the word being withheld.
Why is it susta and not sua?
Tykätä governs the elative case, so the thing or person liked appears as -sta or -stä. Tykkään susta, tykkään kahvista. Sua is the partitive and belongs with other verbs.
Is tykkään susta romantic?
It depends who you say it to. About a third person it is mild. Said to someone's face without prompting, it is a declaration and will be heard as one.
What is the difference between tykätä and pitää?
Both mean to like and both take the elative. Tykätä is the warmer everyday one and is standard Finnish in its own right; pitää is more neutral and also means "must" in other constructions.
Is mä tykkään susta correct Finnish?
Yes. Mä tykkään susta is the spoken form; minä tykkään sinusta is the written one. Both are standard Finnish - they belong to different registers, and neither is a degraded version of the other.
Is mä tykkään susta a bad word?
Safe and warm. The risk is under-reading it when it is said to you.
Words that go with mä tykkään susta
Sources for mä tykkään susta
- Näin usein parisuhteessa tulisi sanoa "minä rakastan sinua" MTV Uutiset - Survey figures on how often Finns want to hear the phrase - 12% daily, against 46% of French respondents - and comment from a researcher on love.
- VISK § 716 - minä, sinä, hän, me, te, he Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - The pronouns in the phrase - mä and the spoken forms of sinä - as neutral features of spoken Finnish.
- Kielitoimiston sanakirja: tykätä, pitää, rakastaa Kotimaisten kielten keskus - For the case government of each verb, which is where the learner error sits.
- Kotus - Institute for the Languages of Finland Kotimaisten kielten keskus
- VISK § 717 - grammatical properties vs. reference to people Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - The spoken pronoun system the phrase runs on - mä, and sinä appearing as susta.
One word.
Every morning.
One real Finnish word every morning - what it means, what the book form is, and when Finns actually say it.
