Learn how to express surprise and interest using consonant gradation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to FinnishPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 23 - Do You Need a Finnish Handyman? Eric here. |
| Päivi: Hei! I'm Päivi. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use phrases related to expressing feelings such as surprise and interest, and about consonant gradation in names. The conversation takes place at home. |
| Päivi: It's between Linnea and Aino. |
| Eric: The speakers are family members,so they’ll use informal Finnish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Linnea: Aino, miten remontti sujuu? |
| Aino: No, Heikin pitäisi aloittaa tapetointi, mutta hänellä ei ole oikein kokemusta siitä. |
| Linnea: Ai niinkö? Markku on tapetoinut tuttaviemme koteja. Voin kysyä, jos Markulla olisi aikaa tulla auttamaan Heikkiä. |
| Aino: Ihanko totta? En tiennytkään! |
| Linnea: Kyllä vain. Markun ensimmäinen työpaikka oli rautakaupassa. |
| Aino: Minulla ei ollut aavistustakaan! |
| Linnea: No, siitä on toki aikaa. Hän oli siellä ensin kesätöissä. |
| Aino: Jos Markku vain ehtisi auttaa Heikkiä, niin se olisi Heikille suuri apu. |
| Linnea: No minä kysyn Markulta, ja ilmoitan sitten sinulle! |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Linnea: Aino, how is the renovation going? |
| Aino: Well, Heikki should start wallpapering, but he doesn't really have experience with it. |
| Linnea: Oh, really? Markku has wallpapered some of our acquaintances’ homes. I can ask if Markku would have time to come and help Heikki. |
| Aino: Oh really? I didn't know! |
| Linnea: Oh yes. Markku's first job was in a hardware store. |
| Aino: I had no idea! |
| Linnea: Well, some time has passed since then, of course. He was there doing a summer job at first. |
| Aino: If Markku only had time to help Heikki, it would be a big help for Heikki. |
| Linnea: Well, I’ll ask Markku and then let you know! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Päivi, is the idea of team spirit strong in Finland? |
| Päivi: Team spirit and helping each other have always been a part of the Finnish mentality. |
| Eric: Is there a word for it? |
| Päivi: There is. It’s Talkoot, and it refers to a traditional Finnish form of collaboration, where people work together to achieve something from which everyone can benefit, for example, building a church or a road, harvesting, or spinning wool. In Talkoot everybody does what they are good at, and nobody gets paid. |
| Eric: Were there any historical events where this team spirit played a role? |
| Päivi: Yes, it was especially important between 1939 and 1944, during the Winter War and the Continuation War. The majority of Finnish men had to go to the war front and those who were left – women, children, and the elderly – had to work together to keep the country running. |
| Eric: How about in the present? |
| Päivi: Nowadays, housing associations and neighborhoods organize communal efforts as a fun way for people to meet each other and to work together for a common cause. There are also special events, such as the Talkoopäivä, which is the “Communal Effort Day.” |
| Eric: Listeners, you’ll find more information about the Finnish “communal spirit” in the lesson notes, be sure to check them out! Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Päivi: remontti [natural native speed] |
| Eric: renovation |
| Päivi: remontti[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: remontti [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: tapetointi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: wallpapering |
| Päivi: tapetointi[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: tapetointi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: tuttava [natural native speed] |
| Eric: acquaintance |
| Päivi: tuttava[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: tuttava [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: työpaikka [natural native speed] |
| Eric: workplace, job |
| Päivi: työpaikka[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: työpaikka [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: rautakauppa [natural native speed] |
| Eric: hardware store |
| Päivi: rautakauppa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: rautakauppa [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: aavistus [natural native speed] |
| Eric: hunch |
| Päivi: aavistus[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: aavistus [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Päivi: kesätyö [natural native speed] |
| Eric: summer job |
| Päivi: kesätyö[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: kesätyö [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And lastly.. |
| Päivi: olla mielissään [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to be pleased |
| Päivi: olla mielissään[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Päivi: olla mielissään [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Päivi: tapetointi |
| Eric: meaning "wallpapering." |
| Päivi: In Finnish Tapetti means “wallpaper” and tapetoida is "to wallpaper." |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using the word meaning “wallpapering”? |
| Päivi: Sure. For example, you can say.. Tapetointi on aikaa vievää puuhaa. |
| Eric: ..which means "Wallpapering is a time-consuming task." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Päivi: rautakauppa |
| Eric: meaning "hardware store." |
| Päivi: rauta means "iron" and kauppa "store" or "shop." So literally rautakauppa is an “iron store.” It refers to a store selling supplies for renovation work, construction work, or decoration work. |
| Eric: Let’s have an example of this. |
| Päivi: You can say.. Menen ostamaan lisää nauloja rautakaupasta. |
| Eric: .. which means "I will go and buy some more nails from the hardware store." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson you'll learn about using phrases related to expressing feelings such as surprise and interest, and you’ll also master consonant gradation in names. Let’s get started. There are certain phrases and exclamations that you can use when you are expressing amazement, surprise, interest, and disbelief. There were a few of these featured in the lesson. |
| Päivi: Right, for example Ai niinkö? |
| Eric: meaning “Oh really?” or “Is that so?” |
| Päivi: Ihanko totta? En tiennytkään! |
| Eric: “Oh really? I didn’t know!” |
| Päivi: Minulla ei ollut aavistustakaan! |
| Eric: “I had no idea!” |
| Päivi: Other expressions could be ei voi olla! or vau! |
| Eric: “It can’t be!” or “Wow!” |
| Päivi: and uskomatonta! |
| Eric: meaning “Unbelievable!” Listeners, you’ll find a longer list in the lesson notes. Let’s now focus on consonant gradation. |
| Päivi: As we have seen several times during this series, endings and cases are usually added to the stem of the word, and sometimes this causes changes in the stem. |
| Eric: One common change is called “consonant gradation.” |
| Päivi: In Finnish it’s called konsonanttien astevaihtelu, and it most often happens with the consonants k, p, and t. Consonant gradation is either vahva, “strong,” or heikko, “weak.” |
| Eric: Double consonants, which are strong, can become a single consonant, which is weak. Single consonants can become their weak equivalent or disappear completely. |
| Päivi: Basically, the strong grade is used in syllables which are open, meaning they end with a vowel, and the weak grade is used in syllables which are closed, meaning they end with a consonant. |
| Eric: For example, when you add endings that close the syllable, like the genitive -n, you use the weak consonant gradation. Päivi, please give us some examples. |
| Päivi: For example, laukku meaning “a bag” changes into laukun in the genitive. Punta, “a pound,” changes into punnan. |
| Eric: Some new words and loanwords don’t have consonant gradation at all. |
| Päivi: Right, but sometimes Finns like to gradate words playfully in the wrong way on purpose, to sound cute or funny. |
| Eric: In Finnish names also gradate according to the consonant gradation rules, so this means that names can sound different. |
| Päivi: Right. In Finnish first names, consonant gradation is usually present in names which have the consonant combination of kk, pp or tt. |
| Eric: Let’s give some examples. |
| Päivi:Let’s consider the name Markku. If we want to say “Markku’s,” we’ll say Markun. Another example can be seen with the name Teppo. If we want to say “for Teppo,” we’ll say Tepolle. |
| Eric: Now let’s see a sentence. |
| Päivi: Jutta sai Markulta syntymäpäivälahjan ja näytti sen myös Tepolle. |
| Eric: “Jutta received a birthday present from Markku and also showed it to Teppo.” |
| Päivi: There were similar cases in the dialogue. Markun ensimmäinen työpaikka oli rautakaupassa. |
| Eric: “Markku’s first job was in a hardware store.” |
| Päivi: Heikin pitäisi aloittaa tapetointi, mutta hänellä ei ole oikein kokemusta siitä. |
| Eric: “Heikki should start wallpapering, but he doesn’t really have experience with it.” |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Päivi: Hei hei! |
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