Friday, February 28, 2014

100 very common Finnish words

I wanted to make a post about the hundred most common Finnish words, or at least about the hundred very common words. Here's what I did: I took these lists from Wikisanakirja, put them in an alphabetical order, deleted words that didn't sound so extremely common to me, and added some random ones that I think would be useful for anyone to know. Actually, I also took out the obviously common personal pronouns to make some room. In short, this is definitely not any kind of an official list, but I kind of like it anyway, although I seem to change something every time I visit this page. :)


  1. aika - time, quite
  2. aina - always
  3. antaa - to give
  4. asia - thing, matter
  5. ehkä - maybe
  6. ei koskaan - never
  7. ei kukaan - nobody
  8. ei mikään - nothing
  9. eli - so, in other words
  10. ennen - before
  11. ensi - next 
  12. ensin - at first
  13. eri - different
  14. että - that
  15. heti - immediately
  16. huono - bad
  17. hyvä - good
  18. itse - self
  19. ja - and
  20. jo - already
  21. joka - which, every
  22. joku - someone
  23. jopa - even
  24. jos - if
  25. joskus - sometimes
  26. jossa - in which
  27. joten - so, therefore
  28. jotka - which (plural)
  29. jälkeen - after
  30. kaikki - all, everybody
  31. kaupunki - a town, a city
  32. kanssa - with
  33. kello - a clock
  34. kertoa - to tell
  35. koko - whole, all
  36. koska - because, when
  37. koti - home
  38. kuin - than
  39. kuinka - how
  40. kuitenkin - however
  41. kun - when
  42. kuva - picture
  43. kyllä - yes, indeed
  44. käydä - to go, to visit
  45. maa - a country, a land
  46. mennä - to go
  47. mies - a man, a husband
  48. mikä - what
  49. miksi - why
  50. miten - how
  51. monta - many
  52. mukaan - with, according to
  53. mutta - but
  54. muu - other, else
  55. myös - also, too
  56. nainen - a woman
  57. niin - so, like that
  58. noin - like that, approximately
  59. nyt - now
  60. nähdä - to see
  61. näin - like this, I saw
  62. nämä - these
  63. oikea - real, right, correct
  64. olla - to be
  65. paitsi - except
  66. paljon - a lot, much
  67. pitää - to like, to have to, to keep
  68. pois - away
  69. puoli - half, side
  70. päivä - day
  71. saada - to get, to receive
  72. sama - same
  73. sanoa - to say
  74. se - it
  75. siellä - over there
  76. siinä - in there
  77. silloin - then
  78. sillä - because
  79. sitten - then, when, ago, in that case
  80. taas - again
  81. tai - or
  82. takaisin - back
  83. tehdä - to do, to make
  84. tila - space
  85. tuo - that (something you can point at)
  86. tulla - to come
  87. tämä - this
  88. tässä - here
  89. vaan - but
  90. vai - or
  91. vaikka - although, for example
  92. vain - only
  93. vielä - yet, still, furthermore
  94. viime - last
  95. voida - to be able to
  96. vuosi - a year
  97. vähän - a little
  98. väärä - wrong, false
  99. yli - over, past
  100. älä - don't

What are your hundred favorite words in Finnish?



About the author of Random Finnish Lesson: 


My name is Hanna Männikkölahti. I am a professional Finnish teacher who gives private online lessons and simplifies books into easy Finnish. Please read more in www.linktr.ee/hannamannikkolahti and follow this blog, if you want to be the first one to know when I post something new.  

15 comments:

Tommy Quist said...

I should really drum "paitsi" and "vaikka" into my head. Luckily I knew all the words on this list (though I had to refresh my memory on just in which ways "tila" would mean "space")

sk said...

I'm amazed at how many of these I don't know, while I know words like siili and krokotiili that I can get by quite well without using!

Anonymous said...

ehkä voisi laittaa vaihtoehtoisia merkityksiä vaikka sulkuihin, ettei tule sekaannuksia. kuten: ensi (first, like ensilumi=first snow), jopa=even(meaning NOT "even distribution" but "even a child can do that"), koko=whole and all (but also size), koska=because (but also same as "milloin?"="When?" -> "Koska syödään?" = "when do we eat?" etc....
mut tosi kiva blogi silti!

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised at how many of these I know already- I've been learning Finnish for exactly one month as of today, and I've found nouns are so much easier for me to memorize than other words. Anyone else feel this way?

Anonymous said...

This was very useful. Kiitos!

Anonymous said...

Nouns are for the most part easier cuz theres different forms but you don't usually conjugate them. (I say usually, cuz language is just a huge exception and I'd feel like I'm lying if I said otherwise, also I'm no expert) Conjugations are where the language becomes more complicated, but its also where you learn the language. Ihan kiva bloggi. Halusin tarkistaa jos ollut semmonen listi.

Anonymous said...

You should totally check out this website I have been using. www.duolingo.com. I'm trying to get them to open finnish language learning course. I speak somewhat fluently...well we'll say comfortably. The courses are free and they offer an option to contribute to new courses. I know your list would be super useful.

Maxim said...

Moi,
Many thanks, that is very useful!
I used this set to generate flashcards
http://www.cram.com/flashcards/100-most-used-finnish-words-8307895

I hope someone finds this useful

Unknown said...

Kiitos paljon :)

reluctant retiree said...

Very useful. Kiitos

Unknown said...

Kiitos ope

Kristjan said...

I find your language so amazing, foreign looking and sounding, but super cool!

Unknown said...

The first link in your intro "http://www.privatefinnishlessons.com/" is an http address that my addon cannot find a valid https equivalent for. For that reason the add-on warns that the link is unsafe (vulnerable to several kinds of attacks). The second link is ok: "http://randomfinnishlesson.blogspot.com/2018/02/how-to-make-your-company-support-your.html". Apparantly this one it can convert to an https address without problem.

Just letting you know because people might be discouraged to opening the link if there is no https equivalent. This might cost you students.

The addon I use is called https-everywhere.

Random Finnish Lesson / Hanna Männikkölahti said...

Is it better now? I tried to fix it.

Unknown said...

Common Finnish words 1.-25. - game:
https://wordwall.net/fi/resource/16954279