Mikä päivä tänään on? / What day is it today?
In this lesson you will learn days and months as well as how to tell the time in Finnish.
Days in Finnish
Let’s start with days. Days of the week are called:
Maanantai - Monday
Tiistai - Tuesday
Keskiviikko - Wednesday
Torstai - Thursday
Perjantai - Friday
Days of the weekend are lauantai (Saturday) and sunnuntai (Sunday).
They are easy to remember, because they all end with 'tai' except for keskiviikko. And keskiviikko is easy to remember, because it literally means 'middle of the week'.
When you answer to the question Milloin? (When?), you need to add the ending 'na' to the name of the day: maanantaina, tiistaina , keskiviikkona, torstaina, perjantaina. For example:
-Suomen kurssi alkaa maanantaina. (The Finnish course will start on Monday).
Other time related words
Let’s look at some other time related words. Tänään means today, eilen means yesterday and huomenna means tomorrow. These words don’t take any endings, they are always in the same form.
Here are some examples of how to use them:
Tänään on perjantai = Today is Friday.
Eilen opiskelin suomea = Yesterday I studied Finnish.
Menen saunaan huomenna = I will go to sauna tomorrow.
The months in Finnish
Next we learn months in Finnish. They are:
Tammikuu = January
Helmikuu = February
Maaliskuu = March
Huhtikuu = April
Toukokuu = May
Kesäkuu = June
Heinäkuu = July
Elokuu = August
Syyskuu = September
Lokakuu = October
Marraskuu = November
Joulukuu = December
As you can see, they all end with 'kuu'. The word kuu means actually 'moon' but it is also a short form of the word kuukausi , a month.
When you use months answering to the question Milloin?, you need the ending 'ssa': tammikuussa, kesäkuussa. For example:
-Koulu alkaa elokuussa. School starts in August.
-Minun syntymäpäivä on helmikuussa. My birthday is in February.
The word for week is viikko and vuosi means a year. Again, when you answer to the question Milloin?, you need a different form of these words. Here are some useful expressions:
-This week, next week, last week = tällä viikolla, ensi viikolla, viime viikolla.
-This year, next year, last year = tänä vuonna, ensi vuonna, viime vuonna.
Telling the time in Finnish
If you want to ask the time, you have two options: Paljonko kello on? or Mitä kello on? They both mean 'What time is it?'.
If it is six o’clock, the answer is: Kello on kuusi . Or more precisely: Kello on tasan kuusi (Six o’clock sharp).
If it is half past five, you say: Kello on puoli kuusi.
A quarter to six is viisitoista vaille kuusi and a quarter past six is viisitoista yli kuusi. A quarter to or past can also be expressed by the word varttia: varttia vaille or varttia yli.
Good! Now you have learned a lot of new words related to time. You can watch my video about them.
