Animals

Yksi kiltti koira ja yksi tuhma kissa.

It and this

The word for "it" is se and the word for "this" is tämä. As in English, the latter can be used both independently and before a noun.

Se on pupu. It is a bunny.

Se on kiltti.

kiltti: well-behaved, nice, sweet, good

Tämä on söpö. This (one) is cute.

Tämä pupu on söpö. This bunny is cute.

Tämä söpö undulaatti on tuhma!

This cute parakeet is naughty!

To have

Finnish does not have a verb for "to have". Instead the verb olla, "to be", is combined with a subject in the adessive. You can recognise the adessive from the ending lla/llä.

Person	Nominative	Adessive	English
1st singular	minä	minulla	I, (on) me
2nd singular	sinä	sinulla	(singular) you, (on) you
3rd singular	hän	hänellä	s/he, (on) him/her

Sentences with olla follow the most-complete-noun-first rule, which is why an object ending the English translation is almost always translated with an indefinite article. Whenever the noun follows the verb, the verb always takes the same form: the 3rd person singular, on.

Minulla on koira. I have a dog.

Sinulla on yksi pieni koira.. You have one small dog.

Hänellä on kissa. S/he has a cat.

What kind of

In questions that begin with millainen, "what kind of"/"what...like", the verb is placed after the nouns and pronouns.

Millainen poni se on? What kind of pony is it/What is the pony like?

Millainen koira sinulla on? What kind of dog do you have/What is your dog like?

Incorrect!

The word väärin, meaning "wrong" or "incorrect", is an adverb, which is why it always appears independently and never attaches itself to a noun.

Väärin, se on undulaatti. Wrong, it is a parakeet.

Good dog!

Grownup people are always (fingers crossed) hyvä, "good". However, Finns use the word kiltti, more literally "kind" or "well-behaved", instead of hyvä when talking about children and animals. While some people may use both when talking to their pets, children are almost always kiltti.

Joni on hyvä mies. Joni is a good man.

Kuka on kiltti koira? Who is a good dog?

Colour my world

In this skill, you will be introduced to the first colour words in this course: blue, white, and some of the rest (which are not found in the most beautiful flag in the world).

Finnish	English
sininen	blue
valkoinen	white
musta	black
vihreä	green

Animal names

Name	Animal	Name	Animal
koira	dog	kissa	cat
pupu	bunny	poni	pony
undulaatti	parakeet	käärme	snake

Common Finnish names for pets and domestic animals

Name	Animal	Name	Animal
Musti	dog	Mirri	cat
Polle	horse	Mansikki	cow