Friday, April 5, 2013

viisas - älykäs - fiksu

I don't really call people smart in Finnish, at least not outside of the family or friends. I think it sounds a bit like bragging, at least in my opinion. However, I have no problem using the word with animals:

  • Musti on todella älykäs (koira). - Musti is really intelligent (dog).
  • Siat ovat viisaita! - Pigs are clever/wise!

If you want to praise someone's smartness, you have to be more specific:

  • Tiina on hyvä matematiikassa. - Tiina is good at math. 
  • Kalle on hyvä historiassa. - Kalle is good at history. 
  • Juha on hyvä kokeissa. - Juha is good at taking tests. 
  • Laura on hyvä kielissä. - Laura is good at languages.
  • Elina on hyvä koulussa. - Elina is a good student. (school = koulu)
  • Leena on ahkera. - Leena is hard-working. 
  • Jaakko on hyvä liikemies. - Jaakko is a good businessman.
  • Heidi on todella menestynyt.  - Heidi is really succesful.

If you said Pekka on fiksu, my first reaction would be something like this:

  • Mitä sitten? - So what?
  • Joo joo se on fiksu, mutta varmaan väkivaltainen ja kamala juoppo. - Yeah yeah, sure he is smart but probably violent and a horrible drunk.

Actually, my main point is that if you call somebody älykäs, viisas or fiksu, it implies that the rest of us are not, and that leaves us with tyhmä, stupid.

p.s. Pay attention to your pronunciation of vowels: tyhmä is stupid, tuhma is naughty.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Actually, my main point is that if you call somebody älykäs, viisas or fiksu, it implies that the rest of us are not"

Really? As a Finn I've never had that vibe or heard of that. Ever.

Anonymous said...

I would say that, it's okay when you call someome smart like Fiksu tytär sinulla - You have a smart daughter. But when you have asked a hard question from someone and he didn't know the answer, don't say Jaaha... No Anna on fiksu, kysytään häneltä - Well... Anna is smart, let's ask her

Ps. Sorry about my grammatical mistakes if there is some