This article deals with the different ways to say “again” in Finnish. I often hear learners of Finnish ask what the difference is between the words uudestaan, uudelleen and taas. So let’s take a look at these words!

1. Uudelleen and uudestaan – Redoing something

If we look at the words uudelleen and uudestaan from a grammatical viewpoint, both words are based on the adjective uusi. The difference lies in the case ending: uudelleen has the allative marker -lle, while uudestaan has the elative marker -sta. This difference can be discerned in the semantics of these words.

Uudestaan means “again, in the same (or a similar) fashion, a second time”. Uudelleen means “again, in a different (often improved) way”. In some cases, the difference is considered so minor that both words are used in the same context.

Stores will often have a banner at their exit saying “Tervetuloa uudelleen“. The choice of uudelleen here makes sense: it expresses that you don’t have to redo your previous shopping trip; you’re just welcome to have another, similar shopping trip.

In theory we can use both uudelleen and uudestaan in the same sentence: “Yritys voi saada samaa tukea uudelleen [The business can get the same financial support a second time], jos se joutuu aloittamaan työn uudestaan” [if it’s forces to restart the work again from the beginning]. Here, uudelleen is used to express a second payment, while uudestaan is used to express that they have to redo everything the same way.

2. Taas – Repetition of an event

The word taas means “again” in the sense that something repeats yet another time. Taas isn’t used to express redoing anything. Rather, it expresses repetition of an event.

The word taas also has another function, which we won’t get into here. It’s used to express a contrast between two statements.

3. English verbs starting with re-

For sentences with the adverb uudelleen, English often has a verb that starts with re- (e.g. redo, rewrite, reassess, review) that can be used instead of the word “again”. For example, “to write again” is “to rewrite”. However, this is just a tendency, so don’t rely on it without also considering whether the repetition of the action happens in the same fashion or in a different way

3.1. Cases where re- is expressed using uudelleen or uudestaan

In English, the prefix re- is used regularly to express repetition (e.g. “to use” becomes “to reuse”). Sometimes these actions get expressed using uudelleen or uudestaan in Finnish.

3.2. Cases where re- is expressed using a different verb

In addition, there are many English verbs starting in re- which are expressed in Finnish with a separate verb rather than by adding the word uudelleen.

An example of this which you will need during your studies is how to ask “Could you say that again?” in Finnish. We could use the following phrase for this: “Voisitko sanoa sen uudelleen/uudestaan/vielä kerran?“. However, it’s much more common to request “Voisitko toistaa?” (Could you repeat?).

The phrase “sanoa uudestaan” could also be replaced with more advanced verbs such as toistella (to say repeatedly). You could learn the verbs hokea, jauhaa and tolkuttaa to mean “to say again and again”.

(Note that there are also many English verbs that don’t carry this meaning of a repetition, such as restrict, reply, retain, retire, reveal and reward.)

4. Once more – Once again – Yet again

There are also other words and phrases that are used to express repetition.

5. Again and again

Consider these English phrases: “again and again”, “over and over”, “over and over again”, “time and again” and “time and time again”. Finnish has similar phrases to express that something repeats many times.

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