Learn about compounding in Finnish
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| Michael: What is compounding in Finnish? |
| Anni: And what is the longest Finnish word? |
| Michael: At FinnishPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben Lee is always happy to learn something new about the Finnish language. He asks Miia Maeki. |
| "What's the longest word in Finnish?" |
| Ben Lee: Mikä on suomen kielen pisin sana? |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: Mikä on suomen kielen pisin sana? |
| Miia Mäki: Se on "lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas." |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: Mikä on suomen kielen pisin sana? |
| Michael: "What's the longest word in Finnish?" |
| Miia Mäki: Se on "lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas." |
| Michael: "It is "aircraft jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned student."" |
Lesson focus |
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| Michael: In this lesson, you will be learning about compound words in Finnish. Compound words are words that have been formed by putting two or more full words together. Sometimes, these words can get quite lengthy, which, naturally, leads one to wonder what the longest word in Finnish is. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue to find out. |
| Do you remember how Ben Lee says "What's the longest word in Finnish?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Päivi as Ben Lee: Mikä on suomen kielen pisin sana? |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let's take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Miia Maeki says "It is "aircraft jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned student?"" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Päivi as Miia Mäki: Se on "lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas." |
| Michael: That word you heard right there is the longest word in Finnish, and it's 61 letters in length! To break this word down, you need to first understand that compounds in Finnish follow a rule referred to as the "Right Hand Head Rule." In grammar, what this means is that the rightmost morpheme in a compound word is always the head or nucleus of that word. In this case, the head is the word |
| Anni: oppilas |
| Michael: which means "pupil." This word is modified by the words preceding it. Moving to the left, it is followed by the word |
| Anni: aliupseeri, |
| Michael: which stands for "non-commissioned officer." Then, there's the word |
| Anni: apumekaanikko |
| Michael: which means "assistant mechanic." Next, we have the word |
| Anni: suihkuturbiinimoottori |
| Michael: which is also a compound word meaning "jet turbine engine." And, finally, there's the word |
| Anni: lentokone |
| Michael: which means "aircraft." All of these give us the longest word in Finnish. Don't worry though, this word is very rarely—if ever—used, so it's completely ok if you find this particular word hard to memorize. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: So far, you've learned about compound words in Finnish. These are formed when two or more words are combined. The rightmost word, or the last word, is called the "head." This is the most important part of the compound word, with the words preceding modifying its meaning. Another thing you need to remember is that the most common types of compound words in Finnish are those that are composed of two underived nouns. One such example is the word |
| Anni: puistotie |
| Michael: which means "parkway." Here, the root or head word is |
| Anni: tie |
| Michael: which means "road" or "way." It is then modified by the word |
| Anni: puisto |
| Michael: which means "park." Another example would be the word "footrest," |
| Anni: jalkatuki |
| Michael: which combines the words |
| Anni: tuki |
| Michael: which means "support" and |
| Anni: jalka |
| Michael: which means "foot." Here's another one: |
| Anni: tiedonala |
| Michael: Here, we have the head word |
| Anni: ala |
| Michael: which means "field" or "area." It is modified by the word, |
| Anni: tiedon |
| Michael: which means "knowledge's." Taken literally, we get "knowledge's field." Properly translated, we get "field of knowledge" or "discipline." |
| Expansion/Contrast |
| Michael: Sometimes, one of the nouns in a Finnish compound word is also a compound word itself. For instance, we have the word |
| Anni: huonekalutehdas |
| Michael: Here, the head word is |
| Anni: tehdas |
| Michael: or "factory." It is preceded by the word |
| Anni: kalu |
| Michael: or "object." This word is modified by the word |
| Anni: huone |
| Michael: which means "room," giving us the compound word |
| Anni: huonekalu |
| Michael: which literally means "room object," or, more appropriately, "furniture." When compounded with the original head word, we get the word |
| Anni: huonekalutehdas |
| Michael: "furniture factory." |
| And, in case you're wondering, some Finnish compounds combine nouns with adjectives. For instance, you have the word |
| Anni: extreme-urheilu |
| Michael: which is composed of the noun |
| Anni: urheilu |
| Michael: or "sport," and the adjective |
| Anni: extreme |
| Michael: or "extreme," a loan word from English. This gives us "extreme sport." |
| Michael: Another example of compound words, where adjectives are used, would be |
| Anni: mustasukkainen |
| Michael: which is formed from the adjective |
| Anni: musta |
| Michael: or "black," and |
| Anni: sukkainen |
| Michael: which means "socked," or "with socks." This compound adjective |
| Anni: mustasukkainen |
| Michael: actually means "jealous!" |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion |
| Michael: Theoretically speaking, there is no limit to the length of compound words that one can form using the Finnish language. However, compound words with more than three components are rarely used in Finnish and are anecdotal at best, some of them invented just for the sake of having fun. Many of them have meanings that can be quite amusing too. For instance, there's the word |
| Anni: hyppytyynytyydytys |
| Michael: It sounds funny when pronounced because it has a funny meaning, which is "bouncy cushion satisfaction." It's that satisfying feeling you get when you settle down on a really cushiony seat. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Anni: Hei hei! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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