• You also know some simple words such as poika, tyttö, Suomi, pöytä, kissa and kirja.
• You are able to say and understand very simple phrases, such as hei, kiitos, anteeksi, mitä kuuluu, minä olen englantilainen and minä rakastan sinua.
• You’ve learned, for example, the days of the week and the numbers.
• You can’t have a conversation yet, but you can answer questions such as Mikä sinun nimi on?

• You can ask and answer basic personal questions in something which resembles a conversation. For example:
  – Hei! Kuka sinä olet?
  – Moi! Minä olen Anna. Kuka sinä olet?
  – Minä olen Peter. Mitä kieltä sinä puhut?
  – Minä puhun englantia ja vähän suomea. Entä sinä?
  – Minä puhun ranskaa. Missä sinä asut?
  – Minä asun Helsingissä.
• You can have very basic interactions in the store. You can, for example, ask where certain products are, and ask for the price of things. You can understand prices if they’re spoken very slowly and clearly.
• You can say what you’re doing using very simple verbs (e.g. Minä istun, sinä seisot, me katsomme televisiota, hän syö ruokaa) and can make questions with these verbs (e.g. Istutko sinä? Missä sinä olet?). You can combine these verbs with, for example, telling the time.
• You’re unable to say more than a couple of sentences without needed help.

• Your language will still be more focused on listing items rather than having real conversations (e.g. Minulla on olohuone, makuuhuone, keittiö ja kylpyhuone. Minulla on kaksi siskoa ja veli. Minulla on isä ja äiti. Minä syön leipää, juustoa, voita ja kurkkua.).
• You can have simple conversations related to very basic everyday things, such as family, food, the weather or daily routines. You will constantly need prompting and a lot of help from the other person to keep the conversation going.
• You can conduct some business in Finnish, such as ordering something in a store, reserving an appointment or explaining your basic symptoms to a doctor.
• You can express where you are, where you come from and where you are going. You can combine this with everyday verbs to express your daily routines.

• Personal information:
  • What language do you speak?
  • What nationality are you?
  • What kind of a family do you have?
  • Where do you live?
• Basic words related to:
  • Basic adjectives
  • The colors
  • The cardinal numbers
  • Days of the week
  • Names of the months
  • The weather
• Basic phrases
  • Basic rooms and furniture vocabulary (kitchen, bedroom, bed, table, chair)
  • Most common foods and drinks (bread, cheese, tomato, coffee)
  • Most common clothing items (shirt, pants, socks, coat)
  • Most common body parts (head, nose, mouth, knee, foot)
  • Most common places in the city (shop, pharmacy, park, bank, school)
  • Most common animals (cat, dog, horse, lion, bird, cow)
  • Most common verbs (sit, eat, sleep, ask, tell, walk, write, watch)
  • Talking about simple illnesses (fever, cough, runny nose, pain)
  • Some survival Finnish phrases (thanks, help, toilet, sorry)
  • Basic knowledge about telling the time

A1-level Grammar

Here are the key grammar topics that are generally included in A1-level coursebooks. I’m adding links to said topics on my website, but do realize that, often, my website is much more detailed than what you need at A1-level. I’ve tried to specify which parts of these pages are A1-level in the list below.

• Vowel harmony
• The conjugation of verbtypes 1-5:
  • Ability to say what you’re doing now (only present tense).
  • Ability to ask and answer “Istutko sinä?”-type –ko/kö questions
  • Consonant gradation of simple, common verbs
• The T-plural
  • Only as the plural subject of a sentence (point 1.1)
  • Simple wordtypes only (point 2.1-2.5)
  • Consonant gradation of wordtype A only
• The genitive case:
  • Ability to say that something belongs to someone
  • Simple wordtypes only (point 2.1-2.5)
  • Consonant gradation of wordtype A only
• The partitive case:
  • The partitive after numbers
  • The partitive in negative sentences
  • The partitive when talking about food
  • Simple wordtypes only (point 2.1-2.7)
• Minulla on -sentences
  • Ability to expressing who owns something
• The missä, mistä and mihin forms
  • Ability to express where you are, go to or come from
  • Consonant gradation of wordtype A only
  • Understanding of when to use -ssa or -lla
• Most common question words
  • Mikä, mitä, missä, mistä, mihin, miksi, milloin?
• The imperative of simple verbs
• Very basic rections:
  • Ability to use the verb käydä
  • The verbs haluta, osata, voida and saada
  • Basic necessity sentences (täytyy, pitää)
  • Expressing you like something (tykätä)

Combining A1-level vocabulary and grammar

Grammar and vocabulary do very little if you can’t combine them. The following links lead you to lesson plans that show you how you can combine the grammar and vocabulary of the topics above to study topics properly.

• Family
• Furniture and rooms
• Clothing
• Body parts and illnesses
• Daily routine
• In the city