Survival Finnish – Basic Phrases
March 19, 2019
September 2, 2024
Are you just visiting Finland? Do you just need enough Finnish to get through the very basic phrases? Here are some survival Finnish words and phases!
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Ongelmia | Problems |
| varo! | watch out! |
| apua! | help! |
| tulipalo! | fire! |
| varas! | thief! |
| poliisi | police |
| ambulanssi | ambulance |
| vaara | danger |
| seis | stop |
| huomio! | attention! |
| rikki | broken |
| epäkunnossa | out of order |
| kielletty | forbidden (pic) |
| suljettu | closed |
| eksynyt | lost |
| mene pois! | go away! |
| en ymmärrä | I don’t understand |
| Kohtelias | Polite |
| hei / moi | hello |
| anteeksi | sorry |
| kyllä / joo | yes (link) |
| ei | no (link) |
| kiitos | thank you |
| ei kiitos | no thank you |
| hetkinen | just a moment |
| ole hyvä | here you are |
| onneksi olkoon | congratulations |
| hauska tutustua | nice to meet you |
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Kylttejä | Signs |
| myydään | for sale |
| vuokrataan | for rent |
| varattu | reserved |
| vapaa | free |
| ilmainen | free of charge (pic) |
| sisään | entrance “in” (pic) |
| ulos | exit “out” |
| varauloskäynti | emergency exit |
| ei sisäänkäyntiä | no entry |
| ale | sales |
| hissi | elevator (pic) |
| rullaportaat | escalator |
| taksi | taxi |
| avoinna ma-pe | open Mon-Fri |
| suljettu la-su | closed Sat-Sun |
| vedä | pull |
| työnnä | push |
| loppuunmyynti | final sales |
| loppuunmyyty | sold out |
| vuoronumero | queue number |
| WC N | ladies bathroom |
| WC M | men’s bathroom |
| tervetuloa | welcome |
| läpikulku kielletty | no thoroughfare |
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Kysymyksiä | Questions |
| Missä hotelli Sokos on? | Where is the Sokos hotel? |
| Missä Itsenäisyydenkatu on? | Where is the street Itsenäisyydenkatu? |
| Missä sairaala on? | Where is the hospital? |
| Missä vessa on? | Where is the toilet? |
| Missä naisten vessa on? | Where is the ladies toilet? |
| Missä miesten vessa on? | Where is the men’s toilet? |
| Entä muuta? (in the store) | Do you want anything else? |
| Kuittia? (in the store) | Do you want the receipt? |
| Mitä saisi olla? (in the store) | What would you like? |
| Minkämaalainen sinä olet? | What nationality are you? |
| Puhutko englantia? | Do you speak English? |
| Voisitko puhua englantia? | Could you speak English? |
| Puhuuko kukaan täällä englantia? | Does anyone speak English here? |
| Voisitko kirjoittaa sen ylös? | Could you write that down? |
| Voisitko toistaa? | Could you please repeat that? |
| Voisitko auttaa minua? | Could you help me? |
| Mitä kuuluu? | How are you? |
| Oletko kunnossa? | Are you okay? |
| Onko tämä paikka vapaa? | Is this spot free? |
| Missä saan tupakoida? | Where am I allowed to smoke? |
| Saisinko vettä? | Could I get some water? |
| Paljonko se maksaa? | How much does it cost? |
Are there any other survival Finnish phrases you’d like to learn about? Let me know in the comments! Perhaps you could check out some verb basic Finnish loanwords out next.
this website is really good. Thanks for your efforts 🙂
Exit and entrance …is this right???
Sisään expresses a movement towards “in” (so it points at the entrance) and ulos expresses a movement towards “out” (so it points at the exit). Picture.
You can also come across the words sisäänkäynti and uloskäynti.
The translation for läpikulku kielletty is “no trespassing”?
Hmmm.. It’s close but not exactly… I suppose you could use that as a translation, too. However, as I understand it, “trespassing” means ENTERING a place. The Finnish word läpikulku means “passing THROUGH a place”, for example when you cross a building’s yard as a shortcut rather than going around the proper way. People don’t like it when you cross their property to get to the next street, so they put up these signs. You often find them near apartment buildings.
“No thoroughfare” is the actual translation. “No trespassing” is probably easier for people to understand though and the meaning is similar.
My survival Finnish started from “Anteeksi, en puhu suomea”. Solved almost all cases in Finland but the YKI-testi 🙂
I’ve come across this resource while just looking for question words collected in one place and found so nicely structured vocabularies and grammar articles. Thank you so much for your work!
hello, thank you for such an advance and helpful website, i can’t imagine the hardwork that must have gone behind this project. There was something I thought the admins should know about, I was trying to print some pages but there’s a banner in the middle of the most impost important page that covers the information. The banner is the websites’ own logo. Sharing because I am assuming it is not an intended thing.
Hmm, yes, that is not as intended. I will try to find a solution for that.