--- title: "mennään" book_form: "menemme" translation: "Let's go. We go. We're going." type: "word" category: "puhekieli" url: "https://finnishirl.com/words/mennaan" canonical: "https://finnishirl.com/words/mennaan" published: "2026-10-01" updated: "2026-10-01" author: "Andrey the Nomad" site: "Finnish IRL" license: "https://finnishirl.com/terms#ip" --- # mennään URL: https://finnishirl.com/words/mennaan Book form (kirjakieli): menemme Translation: Let's go. We go. We're going. Pronunciation: /ˈmenːæːn/ Category: puhekieli Archetypes: spoken, move Region: Finland Register: neutral spoken Finnish Literal meaning: "It is gone" - the passive of mennä, doing the work of the first person plural. Tone and safety: Safe with everyone in speech. Write menemme. Published: 2026-10-01 Updated: 2026-10-01 Quick answer: - Mennään covers both we go and let's go. Spoken Finnish puts the passive where writing puts the first person plural, so the written form is menemme. - With me in front of it the sentence is a statement, and without it the same word is a proposal. That is the difference between we are going and shall we. - The pattern is general: otetaan for otamme, ollaan for olemme, tehdään for teemme. What it means: - Mennään is the passive of mennä, to go. Formally it means something like "there is going", with no named subject. - In practice it does two jobs: it proposes something to the group, and it states what the group is doing. Which one is meant comes from whether me is there and from the tone. Book form vs spoken form: - Menemme is what a course drills and what a written report uses. You will rarely hear it in casual conversation, though it survives in speeches, teaching, reading aloud, and among older and western speakers. - What replaced it is the passive, and the swap is complete across the verb system: otetaan, tehdään, lähdetään, ollaan, syödään. Learn the pattern once and it applies everywhere. - It applies to the past tense too, which is the half most learners never meet: menimme becomes me mentiin, otimme becomes me otettiin, olimme becomes me oltiin. Me mentiin eilen elokuviin is an ordinary sentence. - And to the negative: me ei mennä rather than me emme mene. - The one wrinkle: because me mennään carries an explicit subject, it is not a passive in the ordinary sense any more. Finnish has quietly repurposed a form. How Finns use it: - As a proposal, alone: Mennään. It is how plans get made, and it is why Finnish sounds less hedged than English here, no "shall we", no "do you fancy". - With the question clitic, as an invitation: mennäänks meille, "shall we go to ours" - a construction the standard grammar treats as an ordinary way of proposing. - As a plain statement with me: me mennään kesällä Ruotsiin, "we're going to Sweden in the summer". - As a nudge to start moving, said while standing up, which is where you will hear it most often. Tone and safety: - No register risk in speech. It is not casual in a way that could be inappropriate. It is simply what people say. - In writing, menemme. Mennään in a meeting invitation makes it unclear whether you are proposing or announcing, which is the practical problem rather than the tonal one. Common mistake: - Producing menemme in conversation. Not wrong, but it sounds like reading aloud. - Hearing mennään and assuming a passive with no subject, then losing track of who is going. In speech, assume it means we. - Missing that it can be a proposal. If someone says mennään and looks at you, they are not describing anything - they are asking. Examples: - Mennään. - Let's go. - Me mennään kesällä Ruotsiin. - We're going to Sweden in the summer. (written: Me menemme kesällä Ruotsiin.) - Mennäänks jo? - Shall we go already? (written: Menemmekö jo?) Mini dialogue: A: Mennään. B: Nyt heti? A: Mä sanoin sen jo kaks kertaa. B: Mä luulin et sä kerroit mitä me tehdään. FAQ: Q: What does mennään mean? A: Both "let's go" and "we go". Spoken Finnish uses the passive where written Finnish uses the first person plural. Q: Why don't Finns say menemme? A: They do in writing, and in formal speech, teaching and reading aloud. In casual conversation the passive has taken over that job across the whole verb system - otetaan, ollaan, tehdään - in the past tense as well: me mentiin. Q: How do I tell whether mennään is a proposal or a statement? A: If me is in front of it, it is usually a statement. On its own, especially with a question intonation or the -ks ending, it is a proposal. Q: What is mennäänks? A: Mennään plus the spoken question ending -ks: "shall we go?" The standard grammar treats this as an ordinary way of making an invitation. Q: Does this passive work for other verbs? A: Yes, all of them. Otamme becomes otetaan, teemme becomes tehdään, olemme becomes ollaan, lähdemme becomes lähdetään. Q: How do you say "we went" in spoken Finnish? A: Me mentiin. The same swap works in the past: menimme becomes me mentiin, otimme becomes me otettiin. The negative is me ei menty. Related words: oon, onks, meen, ma, sa, mun, ei-oo, mulla-on, kay Sources: - VISK § 802 - Mennäänks meille, jooko, kai mä voin tulla (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=802 - VISK § 144 - osaatsä, emmä, kuulittekste (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=144 - VISK § 716 - minä, sinä, hän, me, te, he (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=716 - VISK § 1201 - answering with a verb or a particle (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=1201 - Kielitoimiston sanakirja: mennä (Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://www.kielitoimistonsanakirja.fi/#/mennä