# To swear



## karim37

Hi,
How do you say:
to swear (a rude word)
to swear (an oath)

If like in English they are both the same, please give a synonym both each word.


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## Gavril

karim37 said:


> Hi,
> How do you say:
> to swear (a rude word)


_
kirota_
which also means "to curse (someone or something)"

swear word = _kirosana_



> to swear (an oath)


_vannoa_

(to swear an oath = _vannoa valan_)


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## karim37

Gavril said:


> _
> kirota_
> which also means "to curse (someone or something)"
> 
> swear word = _kirosana_
> 
> _vannoa_
> 
> (to swear an oath = _vannoa valan_)



Thanks!
so does vannoa by itself mean swear?
What does kiroilla mean? That is what I found in the dictionary and didn't know which meaning of swear it referred to.


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## Gavril

karim37 said:


> Thanks!
> so does vannoa by itself mean swear?



Yes:

_vannoa kostoa_ "to swear vengeance"
_vannoa uskollisuutta (jollekin) _"to swear allegiance (to something)"
_vannon, etten sitä tee uudelleen _"I swear that I won't do it again"
etc.



> What does kiroilla mean? That is what I found in the dictionary and didn't know which meaning of swear it referred to.


_

kiroilla _is very close in meaning to _kirota_, but it implies that the swearing is continuous, habitual, or something similar.


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## Tappahannock

You can think of _kirota_ and _kiroilla_ as "curse" and vannoa as a strong form of "attest" or "promise."  _Kirous_ (a curse) and _kirottu_ (accursed) are other common forms of the first.

In Finnish, unlike English, there simply isn't any overlap of these separate concepts.  

In translating from vannoa, swear is indeed the best translation, but strictly in its "attest/promise" sense.  Other senses of swear are not contagious to vannoa.  Vannoa does not acquire any such meanings through its partial association with swear.

In English, we use both curse and swear for multiple meanings.  There is curse as in magically creating a destiny of bad fortune for someone or something and there is curse as in letting off steam with allusion to magical, deistic, or scatological forces.  And there is swear as promise/attestation and then swear as venting.  In Finnish, the sense of magically enhanced venting is mostly expressed with _kiro-_ words and not at all with _vannoa_.


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## karim37

So in a dictionary it should be:
swear (rude word) = kiroilla
swear (oath) = vannoa

Am I right?


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## locutus

karim37 said:


> So in a dictionary it should be:
> swear (rude word) = kiroilla
> swear (oath) = vannoa
> 
> Am I right?


 
Close..._kiroilla_ is a frequentative verb...the basic verb is _kirota_.... So it will depend on the sense you are trying to convey.... 

Google Hits:

_kirota_...111K 
_kiroilla_....91K

Frequentative verbs are a common feature in Finnish.....and are productive....English has them as well, but they tend to be fixed and not commonly recognized as such....for example; "to daze" and "to dazzle"...

There is also a variation on _vannoa_....Google Hits: 226K ...._vannottaa_...only 6.4K....I'll let a native speaker explain the distinction between these two verbs....too subtle for me....


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## sakvaka

OK, here's my native perspective.

_Kiroilla_ is the generic swearing verb, "to utter swear words":

_Älä kiroile!_
_Suomalaiset ovat kovia kiroilemaan._
_Poika on siisti suustaan, mutta isä kiroilee mahdottomasti._

_Kirota_ is used with an object, usually a person.

_Hän kirosi vanhat aatteet, jotka olivat aiheuttaneet niin paljon pahaa._
_Voi että minä kirosin sitä miestä, kun huomasin hänen neuvoneen väärän reitin!_

Ps. _Vannottaa_ is the causative aspect: "to make sy swear, that"...


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## Tappahannock

You can "swear someone to secrecy," i.e. require them to take an oath of secrecy, in which case it's my understanding that _vannottaa_ would be appropriate.

(Of course "causative" is just a more succinct way of saying the same thing.)


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## locutus

sakvaka said:


> ....
> Ps. _Vannottaa_ is the causative aspect: "to make sy swear, that"...


 
Ah, yes...Thanks... These can get rather "opaque" for us non-native speakers...


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