Learn how to talk about your symptoms
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hello, and welcome back to FinnishPod101.com! This is Lower Beginner Season 1, lesson 18. An Apple A Day Keeps The Finnish Doctor Away. I’m Brandon. |
| Nico: Hei, minä olen Nico. Hi, I’m Nico. |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn another way of saying some part of you is aching. The conversation takes place at a doctor’s office, and it’s between Petri and a doctor. |
| Nico: They don’t know each other particularly well, but they’re about the same age, so they’ll be speaking standard Finnish in the casual register. |
| Brandon: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Lääkäri: Mikäs on vikana? |
| Petri: Joka paikkaa särkee. Kuumetta on 38,5 astetta, ja kurkku on kipeä. |
| Lääkäri: Katsotaanpa. Avaa suu. Hmm. Katson myös korvat. Särkeekö niitä? |
| Petri: Ei. |
| Lääkäri: Vaikuttaa influenssalta. Annan sinulle loppuviikon sairauslomaa. Lepää ja juo paljon. |
| Petri: Selvä. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Lääkäri: Mikäs on vikana? |
| Petri: Joka paikkaa särkee. Kuumetta on 38,5 astetta, ja kurkku on kipeä. |
| Lääkäri: Katsotaanpa. Avaa suu. Hmm. Katson myös korvat. Särkeekö niitä? |
| Petri: Ei. |
| Lääkäri: Vaikuttaa influenssalta. Annan sinulle loppuviikon sairauslomaa. Lepää ja juo paljon. |
| Petri: Selvä. |
| Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Lääkäri: Mikäs on vikana? |
| : What seems to be the problem? |
| Petri: Joka paikkaa särkee. Kuumetta on 38,5 astetta, ja kurkku on kipeä. |
| : I ache everywhere. I have a 38.5(C) degree fever and a sore throat. |
| Lääkäri: Katsotaanpa. Avaa suu. Hmm. Katson myös korvat. Särkeekö niitä? |
| : Let’s see. Open your mouth. Hmm. I’ll check your ears as well. Do they ache? |
| Petri: Ei. |
| : No. |
| Lääkäri: Vaikuttaa influenssalta. Annan sinulle loppuviikon sairauslomaa. Lepää ja juo paljon. |
| : It looks like influenza. I’ll give you sick leave for the rest of the week. Rest and drink a lot. |
| Petri: Selvä. |
| : Okay. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: Petri seems to be using degrees Celsius when he is talking about his fever. |
| Nico: That’s right, we use degrees Celsius in Finland, and the metric system in other measurements, as well. Finns often have a hard time understanding why anyone would use a different system, because that just makes life difficult for everybody. |
| Brandon: I know, but it’s not easy to change something you’re used to… |
| Nico: That’s true. Even Finns have a hard time getting used to using joules instead of calories, even though joule has been the official measurement for decades. |
| Brandon: I see. Are there any other exceptions to the metric system in Finland? |
| Nico: Well, screen sizes. I don’t know why, but the sizes of TVs, computer displays and smart-phone displays have always been given in inches instead of centimeters. |
| Brandon: That is pretty strange, Okay. Now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| vika [natural native speed] |
| fault, failure, problem |
| vika [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| vika [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| joka [natural native speed] |
| every |
| joka [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| joka [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| särkeä [natural native speed] |
| to ache |
| särkeä [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| särkeä [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| aste [natural native speed] |
| degree |
| aste [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| aste [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| avata [natural native speed] |
| to open |
| avata [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| avata [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| suu [natural native speed] |
| mouth |
| suu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| suu [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| korva [natural native speed] |
| ear |
| korva [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| korva [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| influenssa [natural native speed] |
| influenza, flu |
| influenssa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| influenssa [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| sairausloma [natural native speed] |
| sick leave |
| sairausloma [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| sairausloma [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| paljon [natural native speed] |
| a lot |
| paljon [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| paljon [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What’s the first word we’ll look at? |
| Nico: The first word is Joka, and it means “every”. There’s also a longer variant which is jokainen, but there are some differences in how they are used. |
| Brandon: What kind of differences? |
| Nico: The longer version jokainen is a regular pronoun that’s inflected in all the cases. Joka, however, is exceptional in that it’s not inflected at all. |
| Brandon: So it never takes any case endings? |
| Nico: That’s right. Even when it modifies a noun that’s inflected, joka isn’t inflected. |
| Brandon: Do you have an example of the difference? |
| Nico: Sure. With the longer version, you can say Jokaisella pojalla on sadetakki, meaning “every boy has a raincoat.” With joka, you say Joka pojalla on sadetakki. |
| Brandon: I see. What’s the next word? |
| Nico: Influenssa. Of course, that’s “influenza”, or “the flu”, in English. But you might not have guessed that the word flunssa doesn’t mean the same thing. |
| Brandon: It doesn’t? |
| Nico: No, that’s the common cold. |
| Brandon: Hmm, but it sounds like it’s just a variant of the same word. |
| Nico: That’s true, it is. Flunssa is a word you use in casual conversations, so maybe that’s why the meaning has drifted. People aren’t so specific in their everyday conversations. |
| Brandon: What’s the next word? |
| Nico: Sairausloma, or “sick leave.” In lesson 17, we had the adjective sairas, meaning “sick” or “ill.” Sairaus is the corresponding noun meaning “sickness” or “illness”. |
| Brandon:What was the word for “vacation” or “leave”? |
| Nico: That’s loma. But be careful with sairas and sairaus, since they’re so similar. There’s only a difference of one letter. |
| Brandon: That’s a good tip. Okay, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn another way to say you ache somewhere. |
| Nico: The verb you use for this is särkeä, meaning “to ache”. It’s one of the verbs in Finnish that never takes a subject. |
| Brandon: could you elaborate? |
| Nico: Sure. It’s always in the third person singular form, and there’s never an explicit subject. |
| Brandon: but, I thought you couldn’t omit the subject in the third person. |
| Nico: That’s usually true, yes. But this is a special case. |
| Brandon: Okay, got it. Be sure to make a note of this special case. Suppose you have a headache, what would you say? |
| Nico: Päätä särkee. Pää is “head”, and it’s in the partitive form päätä. The body part that aches is in the partitive form with this verb. |
| Brandon: But you didn’t say that it’s your head that’s aching because you don’t have to. The listener will assume you’re talking about yourself, unless you say otherwise. |
| Nico: However, you can add the possessive ending to päätä if you like, so you can also say Päätäni särkee, or even Minun päätäni särkee, but that’s quite emphatic. |
| Brandon: I see. What if you’re talking about someone else’s head? |
| Nico: Well, if you’re talking about Petri for example, you’ll say Petrin päätä särkee. |
| Brandon: That’s the genitive form of Petri, right? |
| Nico: Exactly. The person experiencing the headache is marked with the genitive. It’s his head, so you use the genitive. |
| Brandon: That makes sense. So we have the person experiencing the headache in the genitive, the body part in the partitive, and the verb in the third person singular. |
| Nico: That’s right. |
| Brandon: Let’s have some more examples. How would you say “My stomach aches”? |
| Nico: Well… I wouldn’t, I mean I wouldn’t use särkeä to say that. I could say Vatsani on kipeä, but särkeä is not used for that kind of pain. |
| Brandon: So, The most common types of pain you’d use this for are headache and toothache. You can also use it to talk about aches in your ears and limbs, especially the kind of ache you get in your muscles when you get the flu. So let’s use toothache as an example. How would you say “I have a toothache?” |
| Nico: That’s Hammasta särkee, or Hammastani särkee. |
| Brandon: Listeners, now it’s your turn. I’ll say a sentence in English, and your job is to say it out loud in Finnish. The first sentence is “Hanna has an earache.” |
| Nico: Remember that “ear” is korva. |
| [Pause] |
| Brandon: Okay, the answer is.. |
| Nico: Hannan korvaa särkee. |
| Brandon: Did you get that right? Rememer to check the lesson notes for more details and examples. |
Outro |
|---|
| Nico: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time! Hei hei! |
| Brandon: Bye! |
Comments
HideHello Listeners! How do you say "My head hurts" in Finnish? Let's practice here.
Hei Burcu,
Kiitos lauseistasi ja kysymyksestäsi. Lauseesi ovat aivan oikein. Voit sanoa "minulla on pää kipeä." Se on myös oikein! 👍
Let us know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Aarni
Team FinnishPod101.com
Päätäni särkee
Minulla särkee päätä
Ja en ole varma mutta ehkä voimme sanoa, että minulla on pää kipeä
Hei Zuzana,
Kiitos kommentistasi! Lauseesi ovat aivan oikein paitsi tämä kohta.
... "luulen että se on turhaa kun tila ei ole särkeää." Tarkoitatko:" luulen että se on turhaa kun tilani ei ole vakava?"
Antoisaa opiskelua, Zuzana! 😄
Let us know if you have any question.
Cheers,
Aarni
Team FinnishPod101.com
Hei!
Onneksi, nyt minä en ole sairas. Tiedän että olen sairas kun illalla kurkku on kipeä. Tavallisesti minulla ei ole kuumetta ja en mene lääkärille, luulen että se on turhaa kun tila ei ole särkeää.
I hope I got this one right, or at least it makes sense. 😁
Thank you very much, this site helps me a lot!
Hello Nate,
Thank you for your question. ?
when you want to say you come ONTO something or somewhere, call somewhere etc. You need to say it in The allative form in Finnish.
Another example: "I left car keys on a pillow." In Finnish: "Jätin avaimet tyynylle" One more example: "I sent a letter to dad" "Lähetin kirjeen isälle"
Let us know if you have any question.
Cheers,
Aarni
Team FinnishPod101.com
Päätäni on särkee ja nenä vuotaa. Luulen, että olen sairas niin soitan lääkärille (lääkarin? to call the doctor?).
Eipä kestä, you're welcome, Corinna :smile:
Päivi
Team FinnishPod101.com
Hei, Päivi :smile:
Whoops :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: I don't like spelling things wrong. (I think it's because my name gets spelled wrong all the time). Kiitos for correcting me again :grin:
Hei Corinna!
Only one umlaut missing, otherwise it's perfect! :wink:
('Päätäni särkee')
Päivi
Team FinnishPod101.com
"Päätäni sarkee" :grin: (Not sure about my spelling)