Who, What, Where in spoken Finnish

Real spoken Finnish for Who, What, Where, with the written form (kirjakieli) beside every line, word-by-word notes and audio on every sentence. Free to read.

Question words: kuka, mis, koska, miks

The question words themselves barely change, but their endings wear down in speech: 'missä' becomes 'mis', 'miksi' becomes 'miks', and 'milloin' is usually just 'koska'. Learn the short ones and you can ask about almost anything.

Mis sä oot? = Where are you? (spoken 'missä')
Miks sä kysyt? = Why do you ask? (spoken 'miksi')

Kuka toi on?

Who is that?

Written Finnish: Kuka tuo on?

kuka: who
toi: that - spoken 'tuo'
on: is - from 'olla'

Mis sä oot?

Where are you?

Written Finnish: Missä sinä olet?

mis: where - spoken 'missä', the last syllable drops
sä: you - spoken 'sinä'
oot: you are - spoken 'olet'

Minne sä meet?

Where are you going?

Written Finnish: Minne sinä menet?

minne: where to
meet: you go - spoken 'menet'

Koska se alkaa?

When does it start?

Written Finnish: Milloin se alkaa?

koska: when - in speech this mostly replaces 'milloin'
se: it
alkaa: starts - from 'alkaa'

Miks sä kysyt?

Why do you ask?

Written Finnish: Miksi sinä kysyt?

miks: why - spoken 'miksi', the final -i drops
kysyt: you ask - from 'kysyä'

Miten tää laite toimii?

How does this device work?

Written Finnish: Miten tämä laite toimii?

miten: how
tää: this - spoken 'tämä'
laite: device
toimii: works - from 'toimia'

Mitä sä sanoit?

What did you say?

Written Finnish: Mitä sinä sanoit?

mitä: what - partitive of 'mikä'
sanoit: you said - past of 'sanoa'

Kenen toi takki on?

Whose jacket is that?

Written Finnish: Kenen tuo takki on?

kenen: whose - genitive of 'kuka'
takki: jacket

Spoken forms in this lesson

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