There are several ways to express possibility and probability in Finnish.
Ehkä is maybe, perhaps.
- Mä tuun ehkä kuudelta. - Maybe I'll come at six.
- Ehkä se on unohtanut. - Perhaps he has forgotten.
Kai is probably.
- Niin kai. - I guess so.
- Meillä on kai ruotsin sanakoe huomenna. - I suppose we have a Swedish vocabulary quiz tomorrow.
Kai is also used in the of course meaning in slightly irritated expressions.
You can also use
kai when you hear something positively or negatively amazing.
- No kai mä nyt sen tiedän! - Well of course I know that!
- Ei kai! - No way!
- Totta kai! - Of course!
Varmaan also means probably.
In more official Finnish, use
luultavasti.
- Mun pitäisi varmaan opiskella. - I should probably study.
- Niin varmaan - I guess so.
- Hän on luultavasti oikeassa. - He's probably right.
Varmaan is actually kind of weird. In a negative sentence, it can be used the same way as
varmasti, for sure. I'd say that the meaning depends on the tone of voice.
- Tuutko sä uimaan? - En mä varmaan tuu. - I probably won't come.
- Tuutko sä uimaan? - En VARmaan tuu! - Absolutely not!
Then the verbs.
Taitaa and
saattaa are almost the same. I'd say that
taitaa is used when something seems or looks like something, and
saattaa expresses the probability.
- Mä taidan nyt lähteä. - I guess I'll be going now.
- Tämä taitaa olla rikki. - This seems to be broken.
- Mä taisin unohtaa kahvinkeittimen päälle. - I think I left the coffee maker on.
- Sä taidat olla oikeassa. - I guess you're right.
- Se saattaa tulla myöhässä. - He might come late.
- Tämä saattaa olla väärin. - This might be wrong.
- Mä saatan olla väärässä. - I might be wrong.
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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.