Language/Finnish/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

Finnish 🇫🇮 is the official language of Finland and is spoken by about 5.5 million people worldwide.

It uses the Latin alphabet, but with a few unique letters and sounds.

Happy learning!

After mastering the basics of Finnish pronunciation, you might also be interested to learn more about the basic Finnish phonetics and other aspects of the Finnish language and culture. For instance, you can dive into the world of Finnish traditional crafts to learn more about the rich cultural heritage of Finland. Additionally, you can expand your vocabulary by learning about Finnish family terms and how they are used in everyday conversations.

The Finnish Alphabet

The Finnish alphabet has 29 letters, with the following additional letters not found in English:

• Ä ä - pronounced like the "a" in "cat" Ö ö - pronounced like the "u" in "fur".
• The rest of the letters are the same as in English, except for "w", "x", "y", and "z", which are only used in loanwords.

Letter (Latin)	Letter (IPA)	English Approximation
A	[a:]	father
B	[be:]	baby
C	[se:]	set
D	[de:]	dog
E	[e:]	set
F	[æf]	off
G	[ge:]	go
H	[ho:]	hot
I	[i:]	meet
J	[ji:]	yes
K	[ko:]	coat
L	[æl]	let
M	[æm]	met
N	[æn]	net
O	[o:]	own
P	[pe:]	pet
Q	[ku:]	cue
R	[ær]	red
S	[æs]	set
T	[te:]	ten
U	[u:]	boot
V	[ve:]	vet
W	[ve:], [kaksoisve:]	vet, double-v
X	[æks]	axe
Y	[y:]	cute
Z	[tset]	zebra
Å	[o:], [ruotsalainen o:]	own, Swedish o
Ä	[æ:]	cat
Ö	[ø:]	bird

Finnish Pronunciation

Finnish is known for its vowel harmony, which means that the vowels in a word must all come from the same class of vowels. There are two classes of vowels: front vowels and back vowels.

Front Vowels: i, e, ä, ö Back Vowels: u, o, a

When you speak Finnish, it's important to pay attention to the vowel harmony. For example, in the word "mies" (man), both vowels are back vowels. But in the word "nainen" (woman), the first vowel is front and the second vowel is back. If you were to mix front and back vowels, the word would sound unnatural to a Finnish speaker.

Here are some other key pronunciation points to keep in mind:

1. Finnish is a syllable-timed language, which means that each syllable has an equal amount of time. This can make Finnish sound quite rhythmic and sing-songy.
2. The stress in Finnish is always on the first syllable of a word.
3. Finnish has a few unique sounds that might be challenging for English speakers. For example, the letter "r" is rolled like in Spanish or Italian, and the letter "l" is pronounced by touching the tongue to the roof of the mouth just behind the teeth.
4. Finnish also has a few diphthongs, which are two vowel sounds pronounced together as one sound. The most common diphthongs are "ai", "ei", "oi", "ui", and "yi".

Examples:

• "Mies" - "Mee-es"
• "Nainen" - "Nai-nen"
• "Helsinki" - "Hel-sin-ki"
• "Äiti" - "Äi-ti"
• "Kuusi" - "Kuu-si"
• "Öljy" - "Öl-jy"

Long and short sounds

Because Finnish uses few sounds, the length of similar sounds is important. As example - tapaan sinut "I meet you" and tapan sinut "I murder you".

ee, aa, oo, uu

So if you see ee, aa, oo, uu - read them loooong . Usual letters you read in a usual manner.

It is a bit trickier with long consonants , they are also important. Try to NOT speak them as two discrete k-k, t-t etc. Try instead :

• Set your mouth as if you are ready to say it.
• Take a very short pause.
• Say the sound - but strongly.

Congratulations, you've done it! :)

Perhaps it would be good if you train a bit with kk, pp, tt.

mm, ss, rr, nn, ll

Sounds mm, ss, rr, nn, ll don't need such an articulation, just say them a bit longer.

Ä, Y, Ö

Ä, Y, Ö are authentic for Finnish.

• Ä resembles "cAt" or "bAd" in English.
• Y resembles German Über or French vU
• Ö resembles the same sound in German

Finnish Online Virtual Keyboard

Authors

Alexofwermland