# Pronounciation of kolme



## osemnais

I know Finnish is read the same way as it is written(or rather, the opposite), however about every time I hear someone to read kolme, I actually hear kol_o_me.
Is it just me, or kolme is a pronounciation exception? How many Finnish words contain the consonant cluster _lm_?


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## sakvaka

_Silmä, palmu, kulma, olmi, hölmö, almu, kalma..._

The form _kolome_ is severely dialectal and the most prevalent in Eastern Finland. Savonian people are traditionally known to add an intermediate vowel in such clusters.

_Valakosta kun laettaa piälle niin tulloo varmasti kylymä. Siitä sen vähemmän tolokun miehen tunnistaa._
Valkoista kun laittaa päälle, niin tulee varmasti kylmä. Siitä sen vähemmän tolkun miehen tunnistaa.

So my advice is: just say /kolme/, unless you want to identify yourself with Eastern Finns (all the way from Kuusamo to Savonlinna) or unless you want to make a funny impression.


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## DrWatson

The epenthetic vowel (traditionally called "svaavokaali", not to be confused with schwa /ə/) is prevalent not only in Eastern dialects, but in Ostrobothnian dialects as well. In fact, they take it even further by also inserting it into certain clusters beginning with an _h_, whereas in the east it is only heard in clusters that start with an _l_. The quality of it depends on the antecedent vowel, but in some cases (eg. _lj_) it is often always _i_, independent of the previous vowel.

Following clusters receive the epenthetic vowel:

_lp, lk, lh, lm, lv, lj _(_ke*lep*aa, pa*lak*ka, ko*loh*ia, ko*lom*e, ky*lyv*ää, pö*lij*ä_)
_
hm, hn, hv, hl, hj, hr _(_ty*hym*ä, ke*hen*o, ka*hav*i, pi*hil*aja, ty*hyj*ä, ke*her*ätä_)

!_ nh_ (_va*nah*a_)


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## Gavril

DrWatson said:


> The epenthetic vowel (traditionally called "svaavokaali", not to be confused with schwa /ə/) is prevalent not only in Eastern dialects, but in Ostrobothnian dialects as well. In fact, they take it even further by also inserting it into certain clusters beginning with an _h_, whereas in the east it is only heard in clusters that start with an _l_. The quality of it depends on the antecedent vowel, but in some cases (eg. _lj_) it is often always _i_, independent of the previous vowel.
> 
> Following clusters receive the epenthetic vowel:
> 
> _lp, lk, lh, lm, lv, lj _(_ke*lep*aa, pa*lak*ka, ko*loh*ia, ko*lom*e, ky*lyv*ää, pö*lij*ä_)
> _
> hm, hn, hv, hl, hj, hr _(_ty*hym*ä, ke*hen*o, ka*hav*i, pi*hil*aja, ty*hyj*ä, ke*her*ätä_)
> 
> !_ nh_ (_va*nah*a_)



What about the cluster _-ht- / -hd-_?

In the audio CD that came with my Finnish textbook, I remember hearing the phrase _yhden hengen huone_, with the first word pronounced [yhədɛn] (the vowels may not be exactly correct, but there was definitely some kind of vowel sound between _yh- _and _-den_).


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