# letting Finns speak Finnish



## japanilainen

Here's a dilemma which I face every day in Finland:

As a person who looks "exotic" (according to Finns), I am, 80% of the time, always being said something in English. So far, it has worked well and we're both good, but if it's someone I know well, I'd rather make them speak Finnish to me (it's not about me exercising Finnish, I feel obligated to speak the language spoken in the country if I decide to live longer.)

So my question for you guys this time is: What should I say when I want to encourage someone to say Finnish to me?

"Excuse me, since I'm learning Finnish and it's essential that I practice it every day, I would like you to speak Finnish to me."

Thank you so much for your kind help, as always.


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## sakvaka

I'd simply say _Puhu vaan suomee, miä yritän oppia sitä._ NB, this is colloquial language and the personal pronoun varies between regions. The standard version is _puhu vain suomea, minä yritän oppia sitä_.

Try to accentuate it, say it briefly, and smile or else you could be misunderstood. Púhú vāan sūomèe. If you use low tones and speak slowly, pūhū vâan sūomee, it sounds as if you were meaning "speak only Finnish, nothing else" and not "do speak Finnish, I can take it!". 

And remember the consonant length with imperatives and infinitives: "Puhuvvaan suomee, mä yritän oppiissitä."


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## japanilainen

Well, I need to figure out whether such pronouns are recognizable in Etelä-Pohjanmaa. In any case, thank you for your tips


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## sakvaka

If I'm not completely mistaken, people say "mä" and "m-" instead of "minä" in Seinäjoki. I only know few persons that speak an Ostrobothnian dialect...

They'd probably realise this sentence as _Puhuv_vaan suameja, m'yritäm oppijas_sitä._  (this is just a very wild guess)


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## japanilainen

Can I say, for example, "Yritän oppia sitä", instead of "Minä (mä) yritän oppia sitä", as some textbooks dictate, without breaking grammatical rules?


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## sakvaka

japanilainen said:


> Can I say, for example, "Yritän oppia sitä", instead of "Minä (mä) yritän oppia sitä", as some textbooks dictate, without breaking grammatical rules?



Yes, you can, but the personal pronoun is almost always used in spoken Finnish. And in standard (literary) Finnish, you usually leave them out.


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## japanilainen

Is using "minä/sinä" instead of "mä/sä" too formal-sounding in spoken Finnish though?


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## 880320

japanilainen said:


> Is using "minä/sinä" instead of "mä/sä" too formal-sounding in spoken Finnish though?


The pronouns "minä" and "sinä" can be used in spoken Finnish, as well. Often they carry some sort of emphasis.

As for the use of personal pronouns (or lack thereof) in "standard" Finnish -- while the 1st and 2nd person pronouns can usually be omitted, this doesn't always apply to the 3rd person pronouns, or the sentences will sound odd. Even the 1st/2nd person pronouns can make the text look more natural if used where appropriate. For example, one book I read began with the pronoun "minä" followed by a present-tense verb. Had the verb occurred later in the first chapter (or the first sentence), the pronoun could have been omitted without degrading readability.


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