Dialogue - Finnish
| A: | Minä olen Petri Lahtinen. Olen ohjelmoija. Aloitan tänään uuden työn. Se on mielenkiintoista. Minulla oli onnea, kun sain paikan. |
Review the partitive, genitive and nominative cases, while listening to Petri introduce himself
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
| A: | Minä olen Petri Lahtinen. Olen ohjelmoija. Aloitan tänään uuden työn. Se on mielenkiintoista. Minulla oli onnea, kun sain paikan. |
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paikka place, position, seat, job | |||
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ohjelmoija programmer | |||
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mielenkiintoinen interesting | |||
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onni luck, fortune, happiness | |||
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saada to get, to receive | |||
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työ job, work | |||
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kun when | |||
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aloittaa to start, to begin | |||
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tänään today | |||
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uusi new |
The Focus of this Lesson is a Review of the Nominative, Partitive, and Genitive Cases.
Minä olen Petri Lahtinen. Minulla oli onnea, kun sain paikan.
"I'm Petri Lahtinen. I was lucky to get the job."
In this lesson, we review the basic use of the nominative, partitive, and genitive cases. They are the key to understanding Finnish since, unlike in English, the grammatical relationships between words are not tied to word order. Word order is relatively free in Finnish, and it is the case endings that show which word is the subject of the sentence and which is the object or complement. Let's look at each case in turn.
The Nominative Case
The nominative case is the dictionary form of a noun, adjective, numeral, or pronoun. It is often the case of the subject of a sentence. It indicates an entirety of some kind, as opposed to the partitive, which expresses a part of something. In A on B ("A is B") type sentences, B is in the nominative case when the subject is a specified, definite entity. In certain kinds of sentences (such as sentences with an unspecified human actor, also known as the Finnish "passive") there is no explicit subject, and then the object of the sentence may be in the nominative case.
For example:
Examples from the dialogue:
The Partitive Case
The partitive case indicates a part or an unspecified amount or number of something. The object is in the partitive case when the action only affects part of the object or is ongoing or habitual. In A on B type sentences, B is in the partitive when it's an adjective modifying a mass noun. Also the subject can be in the partitive if it's indefinite or unspecified. The partitive is used in negative sentences and questions. The partitive ending is -a/-ä or -ta/-tä, depending on the last letters of the word.
For example:
Examples from this Dialogue:
The Genitive Case
The genitive case indicates either possession or (when it's the object that is in the genitive case) the fact that the action affects the entire object or that the action in complete. The genitive ending is -n.
For example:
Examples from this dialogue:
Changes in the Word Stem
One of the trickier parts of Finnish grammar for beginners is consonant gradation. It means that certain kinds of word stems change depending on what kind of an ending is attached to them. It may seem daunting at first, but you will get a feeling for it, because you see it all the time. Consonant gradation affects the last consonants of a word if there is one or more k, p, or t. One of the consonants may be dropped (kk > k, pp > p, tt > t) or they may change into other consonants (e.g. t > d, p > v, mp > mm) when a single-consonant ending or an ending that begins with two consonants is attached. Note that this happens with all words that are inflected, including nouns, numbers, and adjectives, as well as verbs. Some recent loanwords, such as auto ("car") and muki ("mug"), are not affected.
For example:
aloittaa ("to start, to begin")
The verb aloittaa is a transitive verb, so it always takes an object (although the object can be dropped from the sentence if understood from the context). So you can say Tiina aloitti uuden kirjan ("Tiina started a new book"), but you cannot say "The book started well" using this verb. For that purpose, you would need the related intransitive verb alkaa: Kirja alkoi hyvin ("The book started well").
onni ("luck, fortune, happiness")
The Finnish word onni covers both the kind of luck you may or may not have when gambling, and the kind of happiness that may come from the small things in life, such as reading a good book or going to movies with a friend.
paikka ("place, position; seat; job")
The word paikka can be used in many of the contexts where you would use "place" in English, both in a concrete and a figurative sense. It can also be used for a seat, for example in a theater: Haluan hyvän paikan ("I want a good seat"). It may also be used for a job, and in this sense you will often see the compound word työpaikka, which can mean both a "job" and a "workplace," depending on the context.
Attitudes to Work in Finland
In the past, many people worked for the same company all their lives. These days, this is very seldom the case. Young people may stay in one company for 2-4 years before moving on to another company in search of a better salary or more interesting tasks. Young people may be anxious about the requirements set by employers, but on the other hand, many young people are also very particular about what they want to do. They are very much aware of the great portion of their time they spend working, and they want work to be interesting and enjoyable. Just making money is not good enough for many. If the work turns out to be boring or meaningless, they are quick to start investigating other options. The post-World War II generations worked hard because they were expected to. Their grandchildren work hard if they like what they are doing. If they don't like it, they do just what they have to or find another job—if they can. Unemployment, though not quite as bad as in some other European countries, is a big problem.
INTRODUCTION |
Brandon: Hello, and welcome to FinnishPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, season 1, Lesson 1 – Talking About Yourself in Finnish. My name is Brandon, and I’m hosting this series along with my co-host… |
Nico: Hei, minä olen Nico. Hello, I’m Nico. Thank you for joining us, listeners! |
Brandon: In the first two lessons of this new series we’ll be reviewing some basic grammar. In this lesson we will learn the nominative, partitive, and genitive cases. They're the first cases you need for saying anything at all in Finnish. |
Nico: We have only one person speaking in this lesson. He’ll be introducing himself by speaking standard Finnish. |
Brandon: Ok, let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
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Petri: Minä olen Petri Lahtinen. Olen ohjelmoija. Aloitan tänään uuden työn. Se on mielenkiintoista. Minulla oli onnea, kun sain paikan. |
English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
Petri: Minä olen Petri Lahtinen. Olen ohjelmoija. Aloitan tänään uuden työn. Se on mielenkiintoista. Minulla oli onnea, kun sain paikan. |
English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
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