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Finnish is written with the Latin alphabet and three letters more, å, ä and ö. Its spelling is very regular: one letter stands for one sound, every letter is said, and no letter is silent, so that once the letters are known, any Finnish word can be read aloud. The difficulties for an English speaker are elsewhere. A vowel or a consonant written twice is a long sound, and a change of length makes another word: tuli (“fire”), tuuli (“wind”) and tulli (“customs”). The vowels ä and ö have no English letter, and y is always a vowel, said as German ü. The stress is always on the first syllable, however long the word is; r is rolled; and many words hold two different vowels side by side, said in one syllable.
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The Finnish alphabet
The Finnish alphabet has twenty-nine letters. Å, ä and ö are letters of their own, sorted after z in this order: å, ä, ö. In a dictionary, äiti (“mother”) comes after every word in z, never among the words in a. The letters b, c, f, g, q, w, x, z and å are found only in loanwords and names (bussi, golf, pizza, Åland); the words of daily life are written with the other twenty letters. The vowels are named after their long sound (aa, ee, ii); most consonants are named with a long e after them (bee, dee, pee) or with ä before them (äf, äl, äm).
A letter’s name is what you say when you spell a word aloud, for example your name or address on the phone.
| Letter | Name | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A a | aa /ɑː/ | /ɑ/ | talo | like the “a” of “father”, but short (talo); never “ay” as in “name” said aa, the “a” of “father” held long |
| B b | bee /beː/ | /b/ | bussi | as in English (bussi); found in loanwords only said bee, “bay” with no glide at the end |
| C c | see /seː/ | “s” or “k”, as in the language the word comes from; found in names and loanwords only said see, “say” with no glide at the end | ||
| D d | dee /deː/ | /d/ | sade | as in English but lighter, close to a quick tap of the tongue (sade) said dee, “day” with no glide at the end |
| E e | ee /eː/ | /e/ | me kolme | like the “e” of “bed” (me), and said at the end of a word too (kolme) said ee, the “e” of “bed” held long; never “ee” as in “see” |
| F f | äf /æf/ | /f/ | farkut | as in English (farkut); found in loanwords only said äf, with the “a” of “cat” |
| G g | gee /ɡeː/ | /ɡ/ | golf | the “g” of “go” (golf); found in loanwords only said gee, “gay” with no glide at the end |
| H h | hoo /hoː/ | /h/ | hyvä kahvi | the “h” of “hat”, said in every place, before a consonant too (kahvi) said hoo, with the Finnish o held long |
| I i | ii /iː/ | /i/ | kirja | like “ee” in “see”, but short (kirja); never “eye” said ii, like “ee” in “see” |
| J j | jii /jiː/ | /j/ | ja | the “y” of “yes” (ja); never the “j” of “jam” said jii, “yee”, with the “y” of “yes” |
| K k | koo /koː/ | /k/ | kala | as in English, with no puff of air after it (kala) said koo, with the Finnish o held long |
| L l | äl /æl/ | /l/ | lapsi | the clear “l” of “leaf”, in every place, never the dark “l” of “full” (lapsi) said äl, with the “a” of “cat” |
| M m | äm /æm/ | /m/ | maito | as in English (maito) said äm, with the “a” of “cat” |
| N n | än /æn/ | /n/ | nimi | as in English (nimi) said än, with the “a” of “cat” |
| O o | oo /oː/ | /o/ | ovi | like the “o” of British “hot”, with the lips more rounded (ovi); never “oh” as in “go” said oo, the same sound held long, with no glide at the end as in “go” |
| P p | pee /peː/ | /p/ | pöytä | as in English, with no puff of air after it (pöytä) said pee, “pay” with no glide at the end |
| Q q | kuu /kuː/ | “k” (Qatar); found in names only said kuu, “koo” | ||
| R r | är /ær/ | /r/ | ruoka kirja | rolled with the tip of the tongue, as in Scottish English, and said in every place (kirja) said är, with the “a” of “cat” and a rolled r |
| S s | äs /æs/ | /s/ | sauna | the “s” of “see” (sauna), said a little further back, towards “sh”; never “z” said äs, with the “a” of “cat” |
| T t | tee /teː/ | /t/ | talo | as in English, the tongue against the upper teeth, with no puff of air after it (talo) said tee, “tay” with no glide at the end |
| U u | uu /uː/ | /u/ | kuka | like the “oo” of “food”, but short (kuka); never “you” said uu, like “oo” in “food” |
| V v | vee /ʋeː/ | /ʋ/ | vesi | the “v” of “van”, said lightly, the lip barely touching the teeth (vesi) said vee, “vay” with no glide at the end |
| W w | kaksoisvee /ˈkɑksoisʋeː/ | “v”, the same sound as v; found in names only said kaksoisvee, “double v” | ||
| X x | äks /æks/ | “ks”, as in “box”; found in names and loanwords only, since Finnish words are written with ks (taksi) said äks, with the “a” of “cat” | ||
| Y y | yy /yː/ | /y/ | yksi | always a vowel, the German ü: say “ee” with the lips rounded as for “oo” (yksi); never the “y” of “yes” said yy, the same sound held long |
| Z z | tset /tset/ | “ts”, as in “cats” (pizza); found in loanwords only said tset, “tset” | ||
| Å å | ruotsalainen oo /ˈruotsɑlɑinen oː/ | like Finnish o; found in Swedish names only (Åland) said ruotsalainen oo, “Swedish o” | ||
| Ä ä | ää /æː/ | /æ/ | tämä | like the “a” of “cat” (tämä); never the “a” of “father” said ää, the “a” of “cat” held long |
| Ö ö | öö /øː/ | /ø/ | tyttö | the German ö: round the lips as for “oh” and say the “ay” of “day”, with no glide at the end (tyttö) said öö, the same sound held long |
Spelling aloud. A word is spelt aloud with the name of each letter: talo (“house”) is spelt tee – aa – äl – oo. A double letter is spelt as two letters, so kukka is spelt koo – uu – koo – koo – aa. The question Miten se kirjoitetaan? means “How is it written?”. The three letters after z are named by their sound, ää and öö, except å, which is called ruotsalainen oo, “Swedish o”.
- talohouse
- tämäthis
- yksione
- tyttögirl
Most consonants are said much as in English: d, h, k, l, m, n, p, s, t and v. Said differently are j, which is always the “y” of “yes”, and r, which is rolled. Every vowel is pure: it does not glide as English vowels do, where “no” ends in “oo” and “day” in “ee”. A vowel at the end of a word is said in full: kolme (“three”) has two syllables.
Difference from English
English spells one sound in many ways and one letter in many sounds. Finnish has one sound for each letter, and every letter is said, the h of kahvi and the r of kirja included. The traps for an English reader are the vowels: a is the “a” of “father” and ä the “a” of “cat”, two different letters that make different words; y is always a vowel, never the “y” of “yes”; and ö has no English sound.
Front and back vowels
The eight vowels are grouped by where the tongue is: back a o u, front ä ö y, and the neutral vowels e i, which are found in words of both groups. The vowels of a Finnish word come from one group, and the endings added to it are written with vowels of the same group. This is called vowel harmony, and it is taught with the grammar of A1.
Common mistakes
[ˈjuksi]→ [ˈyksi]In yksi, y is a vowel, the “ee” of “see” said with rounded lips; the final i is said too.[ˈtɑmɑ]→ [ˈtæmæ]In tämä, ä is the “a” of “cat”, never the “a” of “father”.[kolm]→ [ˈkolme]In kolme, the final e is said: the word has two syllables.
Practise
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Long sounds and letter groups
A vowel or a consonant written twice is a long sound: it is held about twice as long as the single one. The length is part of the word, and a change of length makes another word. The vowel pairs of this part are diphthongs, said in one syllable as a glide from the first vowel to the second; both vowels are heard, each with its own sound. Ie, uo and yö are found only in the first syllable of a word. Ng and nk are the two spellings of the “ng” sound: ng is a long “ng”, and in nk the n is said “ng” before the k.
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| aa | /ɑː/ | maa | the “a” of “father” held long (maa) |
| ee | /eː/ | tee | the “e” of “bed” held long (tee); never “ee” as in “see” |
| ii | /iː/ | kiitos | like “ee” in “see”, held long (kiitos) |
| oo | /oː/ | kooko | the Finnish o held long (ooppera); no glide at the end as in “go” |
| uu | /uː/ | tuuli | like “oo” in “food”, held long (tuuli) |
| yy | /yː/ | tyyny | the Finnish y held long (tyyny) |
| ää | /æː/ | sää | the “a” of “cat” held long (sää) |
| kk | /kː/ | kukka | a long “k”, held for two beats, as in “bookcase” (kukka) |
| tt | /tː/ | tyttö | a long “t”, held for two beats, as in “cat tail” (tyttö) |
| pp | /pː/ | kappi | a long “p”, held for two beats, as in “top part” (kuppi) |
| ll | /lː/ | pallo | a long “l”, held for two beats, as in “full load” (pallo) |
| ss | /sː/ | kissa | a long “s”, held for two beats, as in “this sauce” (kissa) |
| ai | /ɑi/ | maito | like “i” in “time” (maito) |
| ei | /ei/ | ei | like “ay” in “day” (ei) |
| oi | /oi/ | poika | like “oy” in “boy” (poika) |
| ui | /ui/ | uida | “oo” gliding to “ee”, like “ooey” said as one syllable (uida) |
| äi | /æi/ | äiti | the “a” of “cat” gliding to “ee” (äiti) |
| öi | /øi/ | töissä | the Finnish ö gliding to “ee” (töissä) |
| au | /ɑu/ | auto | like “ow” in “cow” (auto) |
| eu | /eu/ | leuka | the “e” of “bed” gliding to “oo” (leuka) |
| ou | /ou/ | koulu | the Finnish o gliding to “oo” (koulu); never the “ow” of “cow” |
| äy | /æy/ | käydä | the “a” of “cat” gliding to the Finnish y (käydä) |
| öy | /øy/ | pöytä | the Finnish ö gliding to the Finnish y (pöytä) |
| ie | /ie/ | tie | “ee” gliding to the “e” of “bed” (tie); never “tie” as in English |
| uo | /uo/ | ruoka | “oo” gliding to the Finnish o (ruoka) |
| yö | /yø/ | yö | the Finnish y gliding to the Finnish ö (yö) |
| ng | /ŋː/ | ongelma | a long “ng” as in “singer”, with no “g” heard (ongelma) |
| nk | /ŋk/ | sänky | like “nk” in “bank” (sänky) |
- tuuliwind
- kukkaflower
- maitomilk
- ruokafood
- ongelmaproblem
Difference from English
A double letter is held longer, as the “t” where English “cat” meets “tail” is held across both words. In Finnish, a change of length makes another word: tuli (“fire”), tuuli (“wind”) and tulli (“customs”) differ only in the length of u or l, and kuka (“who”) and kukka (“flower”) only in the length of k. English never makes this distinction, so the length must be heard and said.
Remember
One letter is one sound, and every letter is said. A double letter is a long sound and makes another word (tuli, tuuli, tulli; kuka, kukka). The stress is always on the first syllable: ta-lo, kii-tos, on-gel-ma. The vowels ä, ö and y are front vowels, a, o and u back vowels.
Common mistakes
[ˈtuli]→ [ˈtuːli]Tuuli (“wind”) has a long u; said short, the word is tuli (“fire”).[ˈkukɑ]→ [ˈkukːɑ]Kukka (“flower”) has a long k; said short, the word is kuka (“who”).[tɑi]→ [tie]In tie (“road”), both vowels are said, “ee” gliding to “e”: never English “tie”.
Practise
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In short
| Written | Said | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a | “a” of “father”, short | talo |
| ä | “a” of “cat” | tämä |
| y | German ü: “ee” with rounded lips | yksi |
| ö | German ö: lips of “oh” saying “ay” | tyttö |
| j | “y” of “yes” | ja |
| r | rolled | kirja |
| aa, uu, kk, tt | held twice as long | maa, tuuli, kukka, tyttö |
| ie, uo, yö | both vowels said, in one syllable | tie, ruoka, yö |
| ng | long “ng” of “singer” | ongelma |
| first syllable | always stressed | ta-lo, kii-tos |