Learn Finnish Expressions: 78 Flashcards From Hei to Sisu, Plus the Real Idioms

Open a deck called Finnish Idioms & Expressions (deck code JM6071, 78 cards) and you will meet Hei, Kiitos and Anteeksi long before any idiom. That is not a flaw so much as a mislabel: this is a survival phrasebook with an idiom block in the middle. Study it in that order and it becomes one of the most useful Finnish decks for a first trip.

What the 78 cards really contain

You'll cover: hei, moi, terve, näkemiin, hei hei, kiitos, paljon kiitoksia, ole hyvä, anteeksi, joo/juu, kyllä, ei, huomenta, hyvää päivää/iltaa/yötä, mitä kuuluu, en ymmärrä, voitko toistaa, onnea, kippis, hyvää joulua, tervetuloa, sisu, ottaa rennosti, ei hätää, ei se mitään, voi ei, loistava, mahtavaa, tietysti, ehdottomasti, liikaa, tarpeeksi, melkein, heti, vähitellen, sillä välin, hauska tutustua, minäkin, sama täällä, sopii, hyvä homma.

Ten cards worth knowing cold

Two cards to rewrite before you drill

• Card 37, panna hanttiin, is glossed as "to store away". It actually means to resist, put up a fight (Lapsi pani hanttiin = the child resisted). Fix the back, or you will misread it every time.
• Card 74, olla asialla, is given as "to be on the ball". In real use it means to be the one behind something / to be on an errand (Kuka tässä on asialla? = who is behind this?).

Also note that cards 20-21 use the spoken forms Mikä sinun nimi on? / Minun nimi on…. Fine in conversation, but written Finnish adds the possessive suffix: nimesi, nimeni.

Tips specific to Finnish

Keep the literal image on the card. Finnish idioms stick because the picture is odd: two berries, a forest, flies. Put the literal translation in the hint and the meaning on the back; recall the image first, the meaning second.

Top up the idiom block. Only about a dozen cards are idioms, so add five classics the deck skips:

• Olla pihalla kuin lumiukko – to be clueless (lit. out in the yard like a snowman)
• Kiertää kuin kissa kuumaa puuroa – to beat around the bush (circle like a cat round hot porridge)
• Ei kannata nuolaista ennen kuin tipahtaa – don't count your chickens (don't lick before it drops)
• Puhua sivu suunsa – to let a secret slip
• Juosta pää kolmantena jalkana – to rush around (run with your head as a third leg)

Where it fits

Pair this deck with the Finnish Top 100 words for vocabulary, and move on to Finnish cases and grammar once the phrases feel automatic. Find JM6071 in the library on Flip It.