Edit
EditThere's only one verb for both "to be" and "to have" in Finnish; "olla". The difference can be seen in the way the verb is used.
EditOlla - To be
First, let's take look at how to use "olla" meaning "to be". "Olla" is the basic form of the verb and if you want to say for example "I am" or "he is", you have to conjugate the verb first. The conjugation is irregular:
Conjucation of verb "olla" - "to be"
Minä olen - I am
Sinä olet - You are (singular)
Hän on - He/She is
Me olemme - We are
Te olette - You are (plural)
He ovat - They are
Notice the word "hän" that can refer to both "he" and "she" in Finnish.
Now you can just attach a noun or an adjective after the conjucated form when you want to state that something is something.
Minä olen suomalainen. - I am Finnish.
Minä olen nainen. - I am a woman.
Sinä olet amerikkalainen. - You are American.
Sinä olet mies. - You are a man.
Hän on kaunis. - She is beautiful.
Hän on komea. - He is handsome.
There are no articles (a/an/the) in Finnish, the nouns are just used as they are. So basicly "Minä olen nainen" can be traslated "I am a woman" or "I am the woman", depending on the context. Notice also that the nationalities are written with lower case letters in the beginning. That rule applies to days of week, name of months, name of feast days (Easter, Christmas) etc., too.
And of course you can use this verb also with other nouns than personal pronouns.
Kissa on eläin. - Cat is an animal.
Ruusu on kukka. - Rose is a flower.
John on kanadalainen. - John is Canadian.
When using the plural forms "me, te, he", the following noun or adjective must be conjucated to plural form, too.
Me olemme suomalaisia. - We are Finnish.
Me olemme naisia. - We are women.
Te olette amerikkalaisia. - You are American.
Te olette miehiä. - You are men.
He ovat kauniita. - They are beautiful.
He ovat komeita. - They are handsome.
Kissat ovat eläimiä. - Cats are animals.
Ruusut ovat kukkia. - Roses are flowers.
Johnit ovat kanadalaisia. - Johns are Canadian. :)
EditOlla - To have
As mentioned before, when you want to say "I have something" you can use the same verb as you use when saying "I am something". This time you must use different
case for the personal pronoun. That case is called
adessive (in Finnish
adessiivi) and it answers the question "who has?" or "with what means/tool?". The identifying mark of adessive is the ending -lla-/-llä. The choosing of the ending depends on
the vowel harmony. After the adessive noun/personal pronoun you add the third singular conjucation of
olla: on. So basically when you're saying "minulla on jotakin" (I have something), you're saying "there is something with me".
Minulla on - I have
Sinulla on - You have (singular)
Hänellä on - He/She has
Meillä on - We have
Teillä on - You have (plural)
Heillä on - They have
Minulla on kissa. - There is a cat with me. (I have a cat).
Hänellä on pikkusisko. - There is a little sister with him/her. (He/she has a little sister.)
Meillä on loma. - There is a holiday with us. (We are having a holiday. --> We're on holiday)
This "On" can of course be used with other nouns, too. You have to attach -lla or -llä after the noun according to
vowel harmony.
Kaisalla on kukka. - There is a flower with Kaisa. (Kaisa has a flower.).
Norsulla on kärsä. - There is a trunk with elephant. (Elephant has a trunk.)
The singular form "on" is used even if the thing that you're having is plural.
Minulla on kissoja. - There are cats with me. (I have cats.)
Lapsella on leluja. - There are toys with child. (The child has toys.)
For learning
Finnish | Category
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Second language
English | Created
Nov 17, 2008 00:01 | Views
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