# Yes.



## japanilainen

Hei!

This might sound a bit easy question for the Finns but still had me wondering .

I visit the Chinese restaurant where all of the employee are Chinese. I hardly hear Finns say "selvä" but surprisingly this employee at the Chinese restaurant said "Selvä." when she got the order from the customer, as in:

"I'd like a chicken, please."
"Selvä. Juoma?"
"Water."

Is that the right usage? I would personally very much like to know the correct Finnish as I am interested in working part-time in a restaurant.


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## 880320

japanilainen said:


> Hei!
> 
> This might sound a bit easy question for the Finns but still had me wondering .
> 
> I visit the Chinese restaurant where all of the employee are Chinese. I hardly hear Finns say "selvä" but surprisingly this employee at the Chinese restaurant said "Selvä." when she got the order from the customer, as in:
> 
> "I'd like a chicken, please."
> "Selvä. Juoma?"
> "Water."
> 
> Is that the right usage? I would personally very much like to know the correct Finnish as I am interested in working part-time in a restaurant.


Welcome to the forum!

The usage of the word "selvä" sounds very natural for me in the context given, in which it can be translated as "all right" or "OK".


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## japanilainen

Thank you!

But I have another question for you... I have this urge to stress VÄ as in "selVÄ" as opposed to the usual Finnishness of always stressing the first syllable. (SELvä) Would it sound natural still to stress "VÄ"?


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## 880320

japanilainen said:


> Thank you!
> 
> But I have another question for you... I have this urge to stress VÄ as in "selVÄ" as opposed to the usual Finnishness of always stressing the first syllable. (SELvä) Would it sound natural still to stress "VÄ"?


Yes, and that's pretty much the way I would imagine this word to be intonated by someone who is saying it in response to a request/order/whatever that he/she finds possible to serve or fulfil in a manner satisfactory to the requester. Most of the time, a rising intonation is used. A different intonation might even be taken as a sign of reluctance against the requester.


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## japanilainen

Interesting that the first-syllable doesn't apply to all Finnish words! I find it a bit intruiging that Finns can, for example, express their happiness "Olen tosi iloinen" without ever changing their intonation. That's the beauty of Finnish language!


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## sakvaka

_Kiitos_ is another word that is almost always stressed/toned differently: [(ki: ) 'tos]. And some interjections, too: _mói 'mòi_, _móik'kà_, _ai 'jaa_, _Mi'tá?_ (as
a one-word question).


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