Finnish IRL
semmonen - a man describing a shape with both hands to a shop assistant who is nodding along, bare trees through the window

semmonen

/ˈsemːonen/

That kind of. Like that. Written semmoinen Finnish has three words for "that kind of", and one is how bad news arrives

semmoinen on paper, semmonen out loud

Kirjakieli · written semmoinen
Puhekieli · spoken semmonen

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
Se on semmonen pieni juttu. Se on semmoinen pieni juttu.
Mä haluun semmosen ku sulla. Minä haluan sellaisen kuin sinulla.
Se kestää semmonen kaks tuntii. Se kestää noin kaksi tuntia.

Quick answer

Semmonen means that kind of, or a sort of. It is the spoken form of semmoinen.

  • It comes in a set of three, because Finnish sorts things by distance: tämmönen for something here, tommonen for something over there, semmonen for the thing already under discussion.
  • Its second job is hedging, and that is the one that trips people up. When a Finn says semmonen vähän hankala tilanne, the situation is not slightly difficult. It is bad, and they are handing it to you gently.

What semmonen means

It describes something by kind instead of by name, and it points back at something both speakers already have in mind.

English gets by with this and that. Finnish makes you choose between tämä for what is next to you, tuo for what is over there, and se for what is already in play, and it carries that same choice all the way through the vocabulary.

So tämmönen, tommonen and semmonen are the kind-of versions of the three. Finnish has three precise words here, and the third is the one that went soft.

Why semmoinen became semmonen

Written semmoinen, spoken semmonen. The -inen ending loses its i exactly as punainen becomes punanen.

Sellainen is the more neutral written equivalent and turns up in speech too, usually as sellanen. Semmonen is the warmer and more colloquial of the pair.

The rule behind semmonen

The change in semmonen 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
Writtensemmoinen Spokensemmonen What changedThe -inen ending loses its i. It happens to the whole class.
Writtensellainen Spokensellanen What changedSame rule, applied to the neutral twin of this word.
Writtentämmöinen Spokentämmönen What changedThis kind, here. Its neutral written twin is tällainen.
Writtentuommoinen Spokentommonen What changedThat kind, over there and visible. Neutral twin: tuollainen.
Writtensemmoisen Spokensemmosen What changedThe inflected forms follow the base down: semmosen, semmosta, semmoset.

How Finns actually use semmonen

As a plain description: semmonen iso vihree talo, that big green house of the kind we mean.

As a hedge in front of an opinion. It softens whatever follows: se on semmonen vähän outo tyyppi. English gives that job to sort of, and Finns use it more.

Se oli semmonen, no, semmonen laatikko. It also holds the place while the right noun is being found, and nobody minds the stall.

As an approximator with numbers and times, where it means roughly. Semmonen kaks tuntii, about two hours. Se makso jotain satasen, it cost about a hundred.

The distance rule still applies underneath all of it: tämmönen is this kind here, tommonen that kind over there, semmonen the kind we were talking about.

semmonen in a sentence

  • Se on semmonen pieni juttu. It's a small sort of thing. · written: Se on semmoinen pieni juttu.
  • Mä haluun semmosen ku sulla. I want one like yours. · written: Minä haluan sellaisen kuin sinulla.
  • Se kestää semmonen kaks tuntii. It'll take about two hours. · written: Se kestää noin kaksi tuntia.
semmonen - a woman describing something to a friend across a bar table with one hand, a bright window behind them
It buys you a second while your hands do the explaining.

Same semmonen, different weight

  • Plain description Semmonen iso vihree talo. That big green house, the one we mean.
  • Softening an opinion Se on semmonen vähän outo. He's a bit of an odd one. Read: odd.
  • Bad news, delivered carefully Meil on semmonen vähän hankala tilanne. We have a slightly tricky situation. Read: a real problem.
  • Stalling for the word Se oli semmonen, no, semmonen laatikko. It was a sort of, well, a sort of box.
  • Roughly, with a number Semmonen kaks tuntii. About two hours.

semmonen in a conversation

Millanen se uus pomo on?
No, semmonen. Vähän hiljanen.
Ai jaa.
Ei se paha oo.

The mistake everyone makes with semmonen

Treating semmonen and sellainen as different words. They are near-synonyms and sellainen is the more neutral.

Missing the hedge. This is the one that actually costs you: semmonen vähän hankala tilanne means the situation is difficult, and the speaker is handing it to you gently.

Answering the hedge with reassurance. If the words have been softened, the useful reply asks what the actual problem is.

Questions people ask about semmonen

What does semmonen mean?

That kind of, or a sort of. It is the spoken form of semmoinen.

What is the difference between semmonen and sellainen?

Very little. Sellainen is the more neutral form and dominates in writing; semmonen is warmer and more colloquial. Sellainen itself usually comes out sellanen in speech.

What are tämmönen and tommonen?

The same word at different distances. Tämmönen is this kind here, tommonen that kind over there, semmonen the kind already under discussion.

Why does Finnish need three of them?

Because its demonstratives split three ways where English splits two. Of the 234 languages surveyed in the World Atlas of Language Structures, 88 make a three-way distance contrast and 126 make the two-way one English uses.

Why do Finns use semmonen so much?

Because it hedges. Putting it in front of an adjective softens the adjective, which matters in a culture that does not enjoy delivering a blunt verdict.

Is semmonen bad Finnish?

No. It is spoken Finnish, and semmoinen is the written form.

Is semmonen correct Finnish?

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

Is semmonen a bad word?

Safe. Leaning on it makes you sound vague, and sometimes that is the point.

punanen - a man holding up a red jumper and a grey one in a Finnish shop, telling the friend beside him which he means, snow through the window
punanen written punainen The national dream is a punainen tupa, and nobody pronounces the i
niinku - a woman explaining something to a younger colleague across a Finnish canteen table with one hand circling in the air, snow outside the window
niinku written niin kuin Finns are teased for this one and say it anyway
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
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
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
ei oo - a shop assistant and a customer both shrugging in front of a half-empty shelf in a Finnish supermarket
ei oo written ei ole The sentence a shop assistant says to you, in the shape they say it

Sources for semmonen

  1. Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives, chapter 41 The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, Holger Diessel - The 234-language survey behind the two-way and three-way counts: 126 languages with a two-way contrast, 88 with a three-way one.
  2. VISK § 720 - tämä, tuo, se, nämä, nuo, ne Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - The three-way distance system that tämmönen, tommonen and semmonen are built on.
  3. VISK § 261 - Laaja johdostyyppi ja sen alatyypit Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - The -(i)nen class this word belongs to, and the reason its spoken form loses the i.
  4. VISK § 713 - what pronouns are Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - Where the pro-words that point instead of naming sit in the grammar.
  5. VISK § 862 - particles in self-repair: eiku, tai, siis, niinku Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - The placeholder and repair work semmonen does when the noun will not come.
  6. Kielitoimiston sanakirja: semmoinen, sellainen Kotimaisten kielten keskus

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