How to read and say Finnish
Letters, sounds and stress from Wikivoyage's Finnish phrasebook. Then hear the phrases and practice them, free.
▶ Practice Finnish phrasesThe Finnish language is fairly easy to pronounce: it has one of the most phonetic writing systems in the world, with only a small number of simple consonants and relatively few vowel sounds.
Native English speakers tend to have the most problems with vowel length and the distinction between the front vowels (ä, ö, y) and back vowels (a, o, u). English does make similar distinctions – consider the "a" sounds of father (back) and cat (front), or the difference in the "i" sound for bit (short) and beat (long) – but you will need to pay extra attention to it in Finnish.
In Finnish, all vowels are single sounds (or "pure" vowels). Doubled letters are simply pronounced longer, but it's important to differentiate between short and long sounds. Example:
- tuli (TOO-ley) → fire
- tuuli (TOOO-ley) → wind
- tulli (TOOL-ley) → customs
- kuuluu (KOOO-looo) → is heard
- kuluu (KOO-looo) → is being worn down
- kulu (KOO-loo) → expense
The basic Finnish alphabet consists of the following letters:
- a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s t u v y ä ö
Additionally the letters š and ž appear in a small number of loanwords and are pronounced like English sh and as s in treasure, respectively. The letter w also occurs infrequently in proper names and is treated identically to v. q, x, and z are virtually absent in Finnish and are often replaced with k, ks, and s. Lastly, the letter å occurs in some Swedish proper names and is pronounced like a Finnish "oo" (similar to British English "awe"). The beginning learner need not worry about these minutiae.
Vowels
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The harmony of vowels
Finnish has an unusual feature called vowel harmony, which means that the front vowels (ä, ö, y) and the back vowels (a, o, u) can never be found in the same word (compound words don't count, and the mid-vowels i, e are OK anywhere). This extends even into loanwords and suffixes: most Finns pronounce Olympia as olumpia, and suffixes with "a" take "ä" instead when necessary (jaa → jaata, jää → jäätä). |
Long vowels are indicated simply by doubling the vowel in question.
- a
- like a in father, but short and clipped
- aa
- like a in father
- e
- like e in get
- ee
- not found in English, but just stretch out the e sound
- i
- like i in deli
- ii
- like ee in beet
- o
- like o in British English odd
- oo
- like British English awe
- u
- like u in rule, but short and clipped
- uu
- like u in rule — that's the same u as in German, Italian or Spanish
- y
- like German ü, similar to ew in few but with lips rounded (transcribed uu)
- yy
- not found in English, but just stretch out the y sound
- ä
- like a in cat
- ää
- like a in American English bad
- ö
- like German ö, similar to e in her, but short and clipped
- öö
- like German ö, similar to e in her (transcribed eu)
Diphthongs (vowel sequences) like the uo of Suomi (Finland) are common. They retain the individual sounds of their vowels, but are slightly blended together to be pronounced in one "beat".
Consonants
If a Finnish consonant is doubled, it should be pronounced lengthened. For plosives like p, t, k, this means getting your mouth ready to say it, but pausing for a moment. Hence mato (worm) is "MAH-taw", but matto (carpet) is "MAH-(pause)-taw".
- b
- as in English or approximated as p (rarely if ever used in native Finnish words)
- c
- only in loanwords, pronunciation approximated as s or k
- d
- as in English or approximated as t (in native words only before a suffix, with big variations between dialects: left out, pronounced as r, ...)
- f
- as in English or approximated as v (rarely if ever used in native Finnish words)
- g
- like g in get or approximated as k (rarely if ever used in native Finnish words, except in ng, see below)
- h
- like h in hotel, pronounced more strongly before a consonant
- j
- like y in yes
- k
- like k in sky (unaspirated)
- l
- like l in law
- m
- as in English
- n
- as in English (except in ng, see below)
- ng
- like ng in sing but longer, since it is actually a doubled consonant
- nk
- as in English, i.e. ng + k
- p
- like p in spy (unaspirated)
- q
- like k
- r
- trilled, as in Spanish perro
- s
- like ss in hiss
- t
- like t in sty (unaspirated)
- v w
- like English v
- x
- like x in axe (not used in native Finnish words)
- z
- like ts in cats (not used in native Finnish words)
Stress and tone
Word stress is always on the first syllable. In compound words, stress the first syllable of each part. Don't confuse stress with vowel length; they occur independently in Finnish. There is no tone whatsoever in Finnish speech, just a long string of fairly monotone sounds. Foreigners tend to think this makes the language sound rather depressing; Finns, on the other hand, wonder why other languages—including Russian—sound so sing-songy.