Sika - Siika. The one letter traps in Finnish

As far as I know, every language has a thing that is a real trap for new learners. Tones in mandarin, the silent letters in French, Finnish double vowels and consonants. In this post I try to give you a few examples of such cases. As a Finn these are very obvious to me, so it’s surprisingly difficult to come up with examples.

Relax. If you make such mistakes, people usually will understand by the context. They’ll just laugh at you in a friendly way. Let’s start with the double consonants.

Have you heard the joke ”it’s dangerous to meet Finns?”

Tapaan sinut huomenna. I’ll meet you tomorrow.

Tapan sinut huomenna. I’ll kill you tomorrow.

It’s because there’s just a very small difference in the verbs ”to meet” and ”to kill” when they’re conjugated.

Another example. Let’s suppose you’re in a restaurant and nature calls. This is how you ask where’s the toilet in Finnish.

Missä on vessa?

Now, if you’re not careful you might end up pronouncing “vessa” as “vesa” which is a male name, or it’s a very small and young tree. You’re in Finland, you don’t want a confused Vesa thinking that he’s supposed to know you from somewhere.

If you’re easily offended by foul language, look away now. I think you know the word ”kuusi” has plenty of different meanings (the number six, spruce, your moon…), but if you accidentally pronounce it like ”kusi”, you just said ”piss”.

OK, it’s safe to continue reading again.

I asked my friends for examples of these double consonant/vowel cases, and here’s a couple more of those. Shoutout to my friend Miia, she came up with most of the words on the list. If you can remember more of them, let me know!

kato - kaato (dissapearance/loss - strike(

kuola - kuolla (drool - die)

palo - pallo (a fire - a ball)

sota - sotta (a war - a mess

pula - pulla (lack of something - a bun)

uni - uuni (a dream - an oven)

mato - matto (a worm - a carpet)

kisa - kissa (a race/a competition - a cat)

kasa - kassa (a pile of something - a cash register/a cashier

tili - tiili - tilli (an account - a tile - dill)

viili - villi (fermented milk - wild)

savi - saavi (clay - a large bucket)

ali - alli ([go] underneath something - a species of endangered ducks, or loose skin/fat underneath a lady’s tricep) You’re welcome :D.

veli - velli (a brother - something between soup and porridge)

meri - Meeri (a sea/female name - a female name)

tuli - tuuli - tulli (fire - wind - customs)

puro - puuro (a small stream of water - porridge)

lima - liima (slime - glue)

lika - liika - likka (dirt - excess of something - a girl)

sika - siika (a pig - common white fish)

kura - kuura (wet dirt - frost)

ruma - ruuma (ugly - cargo hold/bin)

pika - piika (express - a maid)

takka - taakka (a fireplace - a burden)

muta - mutta (mud - but)

maali - malli (a goal/a paint - a model)

naali - nalli (an arctic fox - a detonator)

paali - palli (a bale of [hay] - a small chair without back/a testicle) Once more, you’re welcome! <3

I’d love to give you guys a comprehensible list of these words that completely change their meaning with double vowels or consonants, but I couldn’t find one. But as you go on with learning Finnish, you’ll be bound to bump into these similar looking words. Just pay attention, and remember, mistakes are a part of learning so if you make a mistake, just laugh and learn.

Also, if you’re more advanced learner of Finnish and you’re into healthy lifestyle, feel free to check out Miia’s blog: miiatatjaana.com. She’s awesome!

- Kaisa