Learn how to use the perfect tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hello, and welcome to FinnishPod101! My name is Brandon. This is Lower Beginner season 1, lesson 11. Have You Seen a Finnish Bathroom? |
| Nico: Hei, minä olen Nico. Hi, I’m Nico. |
| Brandon: Nico, what are we going to learn in this lesson? |
| Nico: In this lesson, we’re going to learn another past tense, the perfect tense. |
| Brandon: The conversation takes place at home. |
| Nico: The conversation is between Petri and his daughter, Viivi. Viivi seems to be old enough to brush her own teeth, but young enough to get a bedtime story. Petri and Viivi will be speaking standard Finnish in the casual register. |
| Brandon: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Petri: Viivi, oletko harjannut hampaasi? |
| Viivi: Joo. |
| Petri: Oletko käynyt vessassa? |
| Viivi: Joo. |
| Petri: Oletko vaihtanut yöpuvun? |
| Viivi: Joo. |
| Petri: Hyvä. Mene sänkyyn, niin luen iltasadun. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Petri: Viivi, oletko harjannut hampaasi? |
| Viivi: Joo. |
| Petri: Oletko käynyt vessassa? |
| Viivi: Joo. |
| Petri: Oletko vaihtanut yöpuvun? |
| Viivi: Joo. |
| Petri: Hyvä. Mene sänkyyn, niin luen iltasadun. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Petri: Viivi, oletko harjannut hampaasi? |
| Brandon: Viivi, have you brushed your teeth? |
| Viivi: Joo. |
| Brandon: Yup. |
| Petri: Oletko käynyt vessassa? |
| Brandon: Have you been to the bathroom? |
| Viivi: Joo. |
| Brandon: Yup. |
| Petri: Oletko vaihtanut yöpuvun? |
| Brandon: Have you changed into your pajamas? |
| Viivi: Joo. |
| Brandon: Yup. |
| Petri: Hyvä. Mene sänkyyn, niin luen iltasadun. |
| Brandon: Good. Go to bed, and I'll read you a bedtime story. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: What kinds of bathrooms do Finnish homes have? |
| Nico: Very small apartments only have one room with a shower and a toilet, but usually there are two separate rooms. Vessa is a small room with a toilet and a sink. |
| Brandon: What do you have in the other room? |
| Nico: Usually at least a shower and a sink. Often, also the laundry machine is there, and there may be another toilet. |
| Brandon: And that room is not called a vessa? |
| Nico: No, it’s called pesuhuone or kylpyhuone. Kylpyhuone literally means “bathroom”, but bath tubs are actually quite rare. Usually you have a shower. |
| Brandon: I see. Is there anything else special? |
| Nico: Well, both vessa and pesuhuone have tiled floors in Finland. Finns find it very odd when they see fitted carpets in bathrooms in some other countries. |
| Brandon: That’s interesting. Now, let’s have a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Nico: harjata [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to brush |
| Nico: harjata [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: harjata [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: hammas [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: tooth |
| Nico: hammas [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: hammas [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: käydä [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to visit, to go and come back |
| Nico: käydä [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: käydä [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: vessa [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: bathroom, restroom, loo |
| Nico: vessa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: vessa [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: vaihtaa [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to change, to exchange, to swap |
| Nico: vaihtaa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: vaihtaa [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: yöpuku [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: pajamas, nightdress |
| Nico: yöpuku [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: yöpuku [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nico: sänky [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: bed |
| Nico: sänky [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: sänky [natural native speed] |
| : And the last word is..: |
| Nico: iltasatu [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: bedtime story |
| Nico: iltasatu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nico: iltasatu [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What’s our first word? |
| Nico: The first word is vessa. It’s a bit on the casual side, but perfectly usable in most situations. |
| Brandon: When wouldn’t you use it? |
| Nico: Well, that’s a tough question, actually. In signs, you always have WC, and it may also be used in some formal contexts. |
| Brandon: Do you have terms like “ladies’” and “gents’”? |
| Nico: Yes, in restaurants and other places where there are separate restrooms for men and women, you can use miestenhuone, which literally means “men’s room” in English, and naistenhuone, which is “women’s room”. |
| Brandon: There are also various euphemisms, right? |
| Nico: Yes. For example, mukavuuslaitos, which means “comfort establishment”, or pieni huone, which would be “the small room” in English, but you can just use vessa. |
| Brandon: Okay. What’s the next word? |
| Nico: Yöpuku. Yö is “night” and puku is “suit” or “clothing”. It covers all kinds of nightwear. |
| Brandon: Do you also have specific words for different kinds of nightwear? |
| Nico: Yes, we have pyjama for “pajamas” and yöpaita for “nightdress”. Paita is “shirt” in English. |
| Brandon: Alright. What’s next? |
| Nico: The next word is vaihtaa. It can mean “to change,” “to exchange”, or “to swap”, and it can be used in many contexts. |
| Brandon: In the dialogue, we had it for changing clothes. Can it be used for exchanging money to another currency? |
| Nico: Sure. Minun pitää vaihtaa rahaa would be “I need to exchange some money”. It can also be used as vaihtaa kuulumisia, meaning “to exchange news with an acquaintance”, or vaihtaa paristo for “to replace a battery”, among other uses. |
| Brandon: Okay. Let’s move on to the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Brandon: In this lesson, we’re going to learn another way of talking about the past. We already know the imperfect tense, and now we’ll learn the perfect tense. |
| Nico: And just like the imperfect was a lot like the English imperfect, the Finnish perfect is a lot like the English perfect tense. |
| Brandon: Let’s have a look at the formation first. I believe it’s formed with a helping verb, like the English perfect, right? |
| Nico: That’s right. The helping verb is olla, meaning “to be”. It’s the helping verb that agrees with the subject in person and number. |
| Brandon: What about the main verb? |
| Nico: It’s in a past participle form. The past participle is formed by adding to the verb stem -nut or -nyt in the singular and -neet in the plural. |
| Brandon: Oh, you have different forms for the singular and plural? |
| Nico: Yes, but other than that, the participle doesn’t change with person. |
| Brandon: Okay. Please give us an example. |
| Nico: Let’s take the verb vaihtaa, meaning “to change”. The stem is vaihta-, so the singular participle is vaihtanut and the plural is vaihtaneet. |
| Brandon: And the full perfect tense form? |
| Nico: In the singular persons olen vaihtanut, olet vaihtanut, and on vaihtanut, and in the plural persons olemme vaihtaneet, olette vaihtaneet, and ovat vaihtaneet. |
| Brandon: That’s not too bad. |
| Nico: There are some consonant changes in certain kinds of verbs. For example the past participle forms of tulla, meaning “to come,” are tullut and tulleet, instead of tulnut and tulneet, but there’s more information about that in the lesson notes. Please check them out. |
| Brandon: So, how do we use the perfect tense? |
| Nico: Basically, to describe a past action that either is still ongoing or its effects are still relevant. For example, Erkki on pelannut salibandya kolme vuotta means that Erkki has been playing floorball for three years, and is still doing it. |
| Brandon: How would it be different if you used the imperfect tense? |
| Nico: If you use the imperfect tense and say Erkki pelasi salibandya kolme vuotta, it would mean that Erkki played floorball for three years, but isn’t playing any more. |
| Brandon: Got it. But in the dialogue, Viivi isn’t brushing her teeth any more, is she? |
| Nico: No, but she has done it and the effect, namely clean teeth, remains. |
| Brandon: Okay. Let’s have a quick quiz. Listeners, please try to say the following phrases in the perfect tense. First, we have “I have watched”. |
| Nico: The infinitive is katsoa. Olen katsonut. |
| Brandon: What about “we have watched”? |
| Nico: Olemme katsoneet. |
Outro |
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| Brandon: OK, That’s all for this lesson. Thanks for listening everyone. Bye! |
| Nico: Thanks for listening, and see you again! Hei hei! |
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