Sounds and spelling (äänteet)
Finnish is written the way it is spoken: one letter, one sound, and every letter is pronounced. You need to know three things: how individual letters sound, that a double letter is a long sound, and which vowels go together in a word.
Stress
The stress falls always on the first syllable, even in long words and loanwords: Helsinki, banaani, ravintola. A long vowel further back in the word is long, but not stressed: tapaan (I meet).
Letters that sound different from German
| Letter | Sound | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| y | like German ü | yksi, hyvä | one, good |
| ä | open, like the a in English cat; more open than German ä | äiti, pää | mother, head |
| ö | like German ö | yö, pöytä | night, table |
| e | always fully pronounced, never like the weak e in bitte | kone, terve | machine, hello |
| v | like German w | vesi, kiva | water, nice |
| s | always voiceless, like ß; no sch even before t and p | sininen, stressi | blue, stress |
| h | always pronounced, even after a vowel; it does not make the vowel long | kahvi, lahti | coffee, bay |
| r | rolled with the tip of the tongue | ravintola, meri | restaurant, sea |
| j | like German j | joo, juna | yeah, train |
| k, p, t | without aspiration, softer than in German | kala, pallo, talo | fish, ball, house |
| ng, nk | ng as in singen (long), nk as in Bank | kaupungin, kaupunki | of the town, town |
The letters b, c, f, g (except in ng), q, w, x, z and å occur only in loanwords and names: banaani, filmi, Åbo.
Short and long
Every vowel and almost every consonant can be short or long. A long sound is written double and pronounced clearly longer. Length distinguishes words:
| Short | Long vowel | Long consonant |
|---|---|---|
| tuli fire | tuuli wind | tulli customs |
| mato worm | matto carpet | |
| kuka who | kukka flower | |
| tapan I kill | tapaan I meet | |
| sika pig | siika whitefish (a fish) | |
| takka fireplace | taakka burden |
Long vowels also appear in endings. There they decide the meaning: talon (of the house) – taloon (into the house), asun (I live) – asuu (he lives).
Two vowels in a row
Two different vowels are both pronounced, each with its own sound. German reading habits do not apply:
| Spelling | Sound | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| ei | e + i, not like German ei | ei, leipä | no, bread |
| ai | a + i, like German ei | aika, kaikki | time, all |
| ie | i + e, not a long i | tie, mies | road, man |
| eu | e + u, not like German eu | neula, Eurooppa | needle, Europe |
| au | a + u, like German au | auto, kauppa | car, shop |
| uo, yö | u + o, ü + ö | Suomi, työ | Finland, work |
| äi, öi, äy, öy | both vowels one after the other | äiti, täynnä, löytää | mother, full, to find |
Vowel harmony (vokaalisointu)
The vowels form three groups. In a simple word, back and front vowels never appear together:
| Group | Vowels | Example |
|---|---|---|
| back vowels | a, o, u | talo, katu, koulu |
| front vowels | ä, ö, y | kylä, pöytä, työ |
| neutral vowels | e, i | go with both: kieli, kesä, lasi |
That is why every ending with a, o or u comes in two forms. The word decides which form fits:
| The word has … | Ending with … | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a, o or u | a, o, u | talossa (in the house), Suomessa, asuuko? |
| ä, ö or y | ä, ö, y | kylässä (in the village), metsässä, syökö? |
| only e and i | ä, ö, y | kielessä (in the language), Helsingissä, meneekö? |
- Compound words: each part has its own vowels, and the ending follows the last part: työpaikka (workplace) → työpaikassa, syntymäpäivä (birthday) → syntymäpäivänä.
- ⚠ Newer loanwords sometimes mix the groups: olympialaiset (Olympic Games), analyysi. The ending then usually follows the last vowels.
How to practise
- Read new words aloud, syllable by syllable, and hold double letters audibly longer.
- The exercise Long and short sounds on the learning path tests the spelling of word pairs such as tuli, tuuli and tulli.
- For every ending: does the word have a, o or u? Then -ssa, -lla, -ko; otherwise -ssä, -llä, -kö. More about the endings under Case endings.
Overview for beginners (A1). There is nothing to listen to in the app yet; the descriptions of the sounds are approximations for German speakers.