Finsk på gøy!

A brief introduction to the Finnish language and its features.

Proto-Uralic

Proto-Finnic-Ugric

Finnish

Hungarian

Estonian

Saami

Language Features:

  • No grammatical gender
  • No gendered pronouns; hän = he/she
  • No definite/indefinite article
  • Extensive use of inflection
    • (Inflection: "hatt" -> "hatten")

Verb Conjugation!

Standard Forms

  • puhu (speak)
  • puhu/a (to speak)
  • minä puhu/n (i speak)
  • minä puhu/i/n (i spoke)
  • minä ole/n puhu/nut (i have spoken)

Verb Conjugation!

Special Forms

  • minä puhu/i/sin (I would speak)
  • minä puhu/nen (I might speak)
  • minä ole/n puhu/va (I am to speak)

Verb Conjugation!

Plurals

  • minä puhu/n (i speak) ➡ me puhu/mme (we speak)
  • minä puhu/i/n (i spoke) ➡ me puhu/i/mme (we spoke)

Noun Cases

Grammatical

  • Nouns are inflected to indicate
    what is happening with the verb
    in a sentence.
  • Talo: "House"
  • Talo/n: "House's"
  • Talo/a: "house" (as an object)

Noun Cases

Internal Locative

  • Talo/ssa: "in the house"
  • Talo/sta: "from in the house"
  • Talo/on: "into the house"

Noun Cases

External Locative

  • Talo/lla: "at/on the house"
  • Talo/lta: "from the house"
  • Talo/lle: "to/onto the house"

Noun Cases

Marginal

  • Talo/na: "as a house"
  • Talo/ksi: "turn into a house"
  • Talo/in: "using the house"
  • Talo/tta: "without a house"
  • Talo/ine: "[in combination] with the house"

Noun Cases

Possessive

  • Talo/ni: "my house"
  • Talo/si: "your house"
  • Talo/nsa: "her house"
  • Talo/mme: "our house"
  • Talo/nne: EnglishException "deres hus"
  • Talo/nsa: "their house"

Noun Cases

Plurals

  • Talo/t: "houses"
  • Talo/ja: "houses" (as objects)
  • Talo/jen: "houses'"

General Use Suffixes

  • Talo/pa: affirmation "det var jo et hus!"
  • Talo/han: exposition "et hus, vet du"
  • Talo/ko?: "the house?"
  • Talo/kin: "the house, too"
  • Talo/kaan: "[not] the house, either"

Case Composition!

  • Talo/i/-: plural infix operator!
  • Stem(plural)(case)(possessive)(general)
  • Talo/sta: from the house
  • Talo/i/sta: from the houses
  • Talo/i/sta/ni: from my houses
  • Talo/i/sta/ni/ko?: from my houses?
  • Talo/i/sta/ni/ko/han?: [I wonder if it's] from my houses?

Case Composition: Verbs!

  • Muista: remember
  • Muista/a: to remember
  • Muista/a/kse: as far as is rememberable
  • Muista/a/kse/ni: as far as I can remember
  • Muista/a/kse/ni/ko: as far as I can remember?

Slutt.

finsk på gøy

By jonpacker

finsk på gøy

  • 1,162