# the tone of "mitä vain" / "mitä tahansa"



## Gavril

Päivääpä,

I was just typing an e-mail that included the following sentence:

"Minusta tuntuu, että tämä ominaisuus olisi hyvin käytännöllistä missä vain sanakirja-sovelluksessa."

With the phrase "missä vain sanakirja-sovelluksessa", I meant to say, "in *any* dictionary app", but I was a little bit concerned about the tone implied in "missä vain".

Would you say that "mitä vain" normally has a neutral tone like English *any*, or is it closer to the English phrase "*any old*" (as in, "any old dictionary", "any old cellphone", etc.), which sounds dismissive in most contexts?

Also, does "mitä tahansa" generally have the same tone as "mitä vain", or do the two phrases come off differently?

Kiitoksia paljon


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## altazure

> "Minusta tuntuu, että tämä ominaisuus olisi hyvin käytännöllinen missä vain sanakirjasovelluksessa."



"Mikä  vain" and "mikä tahansa" are both neutral in tone, and I don't think  there's practically any difference in meaning or tone between them.


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## Hakro

I think that "mikä tahansa" is a bit more literal than "mikä vain", not to mention the spoken language form "mikä vaan" that you can see nowadays even in the highest class newspapers and magazines. Not to mention TV where it seems to be the only alternative.

In Gavril's example I'd have used "mikä tahansa".


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## Gavril

Hakro said:


> I think that "mikä tahansa" is a bit more literal than "mikä vain",


 
What do you mean by literal in this case?


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## Hakro

Gavril said:


> What do you mean by literal in this case?


I have translated hundreds of owner's handbooks, workshop manuals and similar publications. In the texts that I have in my present computer I could find several times "mikä tahansa", for example "Puhdistukseen voi käyttää mitä tahansa liuotinta", but I had never written "mikä vain". Instead, if I'd give the same advice to a friend I'd probably say "Voit käyttää mitä vain liuotinta" because _vain_ is shorter than _tahansa_.

Of course this is not a rule, it's just my opinion, my way to use words.


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