# ordering drinks on a Finnair flight



## japanilainen

A short, simple question which has bothered me ever since I'm back from a flight. 

I take Finnair/Finncomm flights frequently and would much rather speak the language of Finland.

When I want to order, say, water, should I say

"Vesi!" or "Vettä!"?

Would it be too informal/impolite? Should I add "Haluaisin" as in "Haluaisin vesin?"

I appreciate your answers!


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## JukkaT

I think the easiest way to order water is "Saisinko vettä? Kiitos".
You can also say "Haluaisin vettä, kiitos", but to me it doesn't sound as good as "Saisinko vettä? Kiitos".


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## japanilainen

I'll stick with "Saisinko vettä? kiitos"


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## PABLO DE SOTO

I can tell you my own experience as a not Finnish speaker on a Finnair flight.
The easiest way is asking in English, but I wanted to prove my non-existent Finnish,  I noticed that others around said Vettä, kiitos. I repeated that, and yes, I was served water.


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## japanilainen

JukkaT said:


> I think the easiest way to order water is "Saisinko vettä? Kiitos".
> You can also say "Haluaisin vettä, kiitos", but to me it doesn't sound as good as "Saisinko vettä? Kiitos".



Can I say "Saisinko vettä/mehua/sämpylää" instead of "Haluaisin vettä" when I am ordering at a café as well?


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## Grumpy Old Man

japanilainen said:


> Can I say "Saisinko vettä/mehua/sämpylää" instead of "Haluaisin vettä" when I am ordering at a café as well?


Sure! Instead of _sämpylää_, _sämpylän_ is better because _sämpylä_ isn't a mass noun in this context.

GOM


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## japanilainen

Grumpy Old Man said:


> Sure! Instead of _sämpylää_, _sämpylän_ is better because _sämpylä_ isn't a mass noun in this context.
> 
> GOM


No wait, do you mean to say "Saisinko sämpylän" is better, in a sense that "Saisinko sämpylää" is gramatically wrong?


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## japanilainen

PABLO DE SOTO said:


> I can tell you my own experience as a not Finnish speaker on a Finnair flight.
> The easiest way is asking in English, but I wanted to prove my non-existent Finnish,  I noticed that others around said Vettä, kiitos. I repeated that, and yes, I was served water.



I'd love to know the difference between saying "vesi" and "vettä". And I noticed that some news anchors start the news with "uutiset" and some with "uutisia". What exactly is the difference between the two?


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## Grumpy Old Man

" "Saisinko sämpylää" is gramatically wrong?"

It isn't exactly grammatically wrong but it suggests that you do not want a whole "sämpylä", you'll be content with a piece of one, and they don't usually cut these things into pieces on an airplane!

As for _uutiset / uutisia_, both are possible in many contexts. Again, the partitive (uutisia) may suggest that not all the news will be reported. Howeverr,  I must say that at the beginning of a newscast no one really pays attention to minor details such as this and either word is equally fine.

GOM (Kärttyinen vanha ukko)


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## japanilainen

Kiitos sinulle, Kärttyinen vanha ukko!  It is precisely those small (yet important) details that I am interested in


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## Gavril

japanilainen said:


> Kiitos sinulle, Kärttyinen vanha ukko!  It is precisely those small (yet important) details that I am interested in



Do you need to say "vanha ukko"? I thought "ukko" by itself implied "vanha". Maybe Kärttyinen ukko himself can clarify this for us.


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## Grumpy Old Man

Gavril said:


> I thought "ukko" by itself implied "vanha".


It does, yes. _Vanha_ just sounds good in the ears of the wordy.

VKU


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