Finnish Language Explained: Vowel Harmony - a simplified overview

Heippa kaikille! Hello everybody!
In this video I go over (almost) everything you need to know about one of the pivotal features of the Finnish language, Vowel Harmony, in a simple and hopefully fun way.
If you have any questions, just leave me a comment and let's talk!
Hope you enjoy!
Is there another aspect of Finnish you'd like me to delve into in my next video?
LEAVE YOUR SUGGESTIONS IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW!!!
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[@Paul_Herr]

This is the amazing part of the internet. An Italian, speaking German perfectly, teaches Finnish. Thank so much, this was very helpful for a beginner. Greetings from Germany

[@linguaEpassione]

Danke Dir, Paul, lovely comment!

[@Xloudy]

I never knew the origin of "tällainen" or even considered its absence of vowel harmony lmao. You learn something new every day even as a native speaker.

[@Ketutar]

It's lovely to hear you pronounce the Finnish words, because your accent is great :-) You sound like a Finn. :-) Never has my mother-tongue sounded so sweet as in the mouth of a foreigner :-) Kiitos

[@linguaEpassione]

OMG this is one of the best comments I've received lately, SUURKIITOS!

[@jerkkub]

This was very interesting as a Finn :D Haven't paid attention to these things but they make so much sense! Love your passion for my not so widely spoken language.

[@timokk3]

I have learned so much about the Finnish language watching your videos. You just make it so much more fun and interesting than my oppikoulun kielioppi opettaja kuuskut luvulla (my family emigrated to the USA in 1968 so I have not had formal training in Finnish since then). You have a naturally relaxed and unintimidating style has given me the courage to start studying the language that sounds the most beautiful to me: Italian. PS. My father's name was especially intimidating to pronounce for Americans, despite it's utter simplicity (only four letters): Yrjö so they called him George instead.

[@Ewan_Smith]

Very interesting video! It seems like Finnish vowel harmony is very similar to that of Kazakh, except for that Kazakh has a few more vowels in each category. Also the way that loanwords break the rules is the same in Kazakh with Russian loanwords. I'd love to see some more videos about Finnish!

[@linguaEpassione]

That sounds interesting indeed! Kazakh has intrigued me for a while... Thank you for your comment!

[@Ewan_Smith]

@@linguaEpassione If Kazakh intrigues you enough to try to study it I have a number of useful resources to share!

[@linguaEpassione]

@@Ewan_Smith Thanks man, that's really cool to hear!

[@mrgenetics4063]

@@Ewan_Smith what are the resources?

[@Ewan_Smith]

@@mrgenetics4063 So the best one I found was a website called soyle.kz, they also have a KZbin channel with lots of content for Kazakh. The website works better in Russian, but it has an English version too. It provides a structured course, lots of vocab, short dialogues etc. Apart from that I used Colloquial Kazakh and another book in Russian called казахский язык самоучитель. Also, the Kazakh Tourism KZbin channel has some videos in Kazakh with Kazakh subtitles.

[@Vuusteri]

It's funny that IQ (intelligence quotient), which is ÄO (älykkyysosamäärä) in Finnish, is often written incorrectly as ÄÖ. Must be a vovel harmony thing, because it feels weird to say ÄÄ-OO. The common joke is that the person writing ÄÖ must have a low IQ to make such a stupid mistake :D

[@linguaEpassione]

Hahah didn't know about that joke yet! :D But yeah, it must be vowel harmony doing its thing there :)

[@Ka1aMa1ja]

Thank you Stefano❣️ You make a grate job! Since 60years I haven’t thought anything about Finnish gramma. It’s wonderful how you make it alive and understandable! I’m native Finnish spesking guy🤩

[@linguaEpassione]

Kiva kuulla että tykkäsit!

[@aaropassi1833]

I'm here because I was interested how you had improved from your My Finnish Story video. Your Finnish sounds pretty amazing. I was already impressed by your skill in that older video but this time you really didn't make one mistake!

[@linguaEpassione]

Kiitos kovasti, Aaro!

[@derzeitpunkt124]

Idk why but this man speaks almost every single language that I'd Like to learn

[@linguaEpassione]

Awww this is a golden comment, thank you! :)

[@Finn_sisjon]

You explain soooo well. I’m not learning Finnish but I needed to know what vowel harmony was and I loved your explanation! I love the Finnish language! I’m 25% Finnish :)🇫🇮

[@linguaEpassione]

So glad to hear this video was helpful! Thank you for the comment!

[@topi252]

Interesting video, I didn't even know the origin of the word tällainen :D And funny part of that ending is that the Estonian word aitäh basically means something like "huh, what?" in Finnish :D Actually lots of Estonian words sound similar as in Finnish but they usually have completely different meanings and seem like complete gibberish to Finnish person.

[@linguaEpassione]

Moi Topi, kiitoksia paljon kommentistasi!

[@petrirantavalli859]

@@linguaEpassione However before "germanization" of Estonian the language was almost identical to Finnish to an extent that a Finn can read 1600-1700's Estonian with relative ease but doesn't necessarily understand a word of Estonian spoken today.

[@seand6482]

In Turkish the vowels are split into two categories, and native words typically contain only vowels of one type: front (e, i, ö, and ü) or back (a, ı, o, and u). Words originating in foreign languages aren’t necessarily obliged to follow this dichotomy (banliyö, otobüs, İsfahan), but I notice the influence of the predominate vowel type on the pronunciation of other vowels in certain mixed-vowel words (İstanbul being pronounced as Istanbul, rüzgar being pronounced as something similar to rüzgär). Interestingly, the “mode of transportation” suffix in Turkish is also le/la (“trenle,” “vapurla”).

[@linguaEpassione]

Thanks so much, Sean, for chiming in with some details on Turkish vowel harmony! Turkish is definitely on my list of future exploration, and it sounds really intriguing :)

[@riccardoc9552]

Amazing job! You should make a video about consonant gradation if you can :)

[@linguaEpassione]

Kiitos Riccardo!

[@habicht6]

Yeaaaaaaaah

[@curtpiazza1688]

Very well explained!

[@linguaEpassione]

It's great to hear that!

[@SilentPolyglot]

That's a really interesting video. Thank you, Stefano! ♥️

[@linguaEpassione]

Thank you, Kate, happy you liked it!

[@jellytartthief6830]

The way you grinned after you said 'kaksi', very cheeky xD

[@linguaEpassione]

Hahah, you think so? :D I swear I was just enjoying the moment :)

[@matandacd]

Thanks for sharing this vowel harmony interesting

[@Georgian2go]

well explained!

[@retchilmendiola1173]

Hyvää iltaa jUst started learning finnish and this help. Kiitos

[@kiasoneja11]

Excellent! ❤️

[@elizabethraitanen5057]

Great video! Kiitos!

[@linguaEpassione]

Thank you, Elizabeth!

[@puhistagram]

Kiitos brieffistä! Olen tähän asti luullut että tällainen on lyhenne sanasta tämänkaltainen. Sulla on hyvä kanava 👍🏻🙏

[@linguaEpassione]

Morjens ja kiitos itsellesi, että katsoit ja kommentoit! Lisää tulossa (viihdoinkin)...

[@anttikuusmetso]

Tämmönen kiva video!👍

[@linguaEpassione]

Kiva kuulla että tykkäsit!

[@Zyklonite]

Joo, jätkä puhuu parempaa suomea kun iso osa suomalaisista :) Hyviä videoita!

[@penaarja]

Kiitos

[@Auritilien]

En ookaa aikasemmin ajatellut sen enempää Tälläsestä :O kaikkea sitä oppii, kiitos!

[@linguaEpassione]

Kiitos itsellesi että jaksoit katsoa! :)

[@mastereric1013]

Hei Stefano, mitä kuuluu? I have been learning Finnish for about a month and it is a difficult but great language! Do you have any tips for learning Finnish/ Finnish cases? As always, hyvä video ja kiitos! 🇫🇮

[@linguaEpassione]

Hei Eric, hyvää, kiitos? Entä sulle? :) Have you already watched this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qISyn2h7ibyApas ? My extra tip would be to learn the cases as they come to you instead of trying to cram them all out of context. Hope this helps a little bit :)

[@AinoHiat]

I found your channel years ago, lost it, forgot it, remembered it and found it again. So glad to be back here, thank you so much these videos! You're such a delightful person and the way you explain things is always clear and easily understandable. Kiitos! :-)

[@linguaEpassione]

Voi että, Aino, suurkiitos tästä ihanasta kommentista! Great to have you back on board! :)

[@AinoHiat]

@@linguaEpassione Ihanaa olla täällä taas! Nyt en kadota sinun kanavaasi uudestaan. :-)

[@seishonagon8170]

Faresti sembrare semplice anche il Klingon !😂 Scherzi a parte, complimentissimi !

[@linguaEpassione]

Hahah grazieeee! 😂

[@Ishay7227]

Chuvash vowel harmony: Ӑнланатӑп, ӑнланатӑн, ӑнланать, ӑнланатпӑр, ӑнланатӑр, ӑнланаҫҫӗ - I understand you understand etc Ӑнлансан - if he you understands Пӗлеймерӗм-и? If I wasn’t able to know ? Пурнӑҫскер Like life (no harmony) Пурнӑҫу-ши - your life apparently (I type Harmony doesn’t implore vowel harmony)

[@stefanodigaetano1627]

Mahtava! but I have to say that those "rules" had helped me more to avoid mistakes when writing in Finnish...not much on pronunciation...that came more automatically...but seems for Italians is easier to have good pronunciation in Finnish 😉

[@arvoitus4649]

My mother told me how there were some illiterate Italians in the area that they had immigrated to in Canada (1950's) that sought out Finns to read them their letters from Italy. They said the Finns read them like natives.

[@elderscrollsswimmer4833]

​@@arvoitus4649and the Finns did not understand anything they read in those so the content remained private. ❤

[@tsotne2896]

What is the site where you're learning the languages? Could you tell me some advices, thank you in advance.

[@linguaEpassione]

I don't use any site in particular, I choose the resources depending on the language. But I always use italki.com for practising speaking. You can register on Italki for free by clicking here: www.italki.com/i/ref/BfEbeE?hl=en (lessons are not free, but you can find very interesting rates there!)

[@willmurphy4073]

Ekki nærri á myndbandinu þinn Ég elskar það upphæðinni af tíminn þinn sem þú hefur notaður í lærum tungumál þvílíkt íslensku! Bless bless. Jeg har begynte også å lære flere språk likså. Språkene som norsk og Íslandsk og nederlandsk virker sine ut å bli interessant for meg, jeg syns. Det ble i fjor siden jeg hadde begynte lært språkene. Et år etterpå, funnet jeg min kjærlighet på språk! Begge lære eller lærerer. Nå jeg vil å bli en lærere av engelsk i det avanserte nivået. Har det bra. That's enough rambling for me. Love your inspirational videos! Just gained a new subscriber in me! (Apologies for my bad speaking)

[@lacrimosa164]

Espero que o senhor comece a falar o turco (da Turquia) um dia de mode que eu possa analizar o seu discurso :) seria maravilhoso :D. Um vídeo muito bom e útil, obrigado muito.

[@sprucefurniture]

Even though i know how you are suppose to say "Tällainen" but my mouth wants to correct that "a" to "ä"

[@cactusowo1835]

Vowel harmony is also present in Mongolian :D Edit: Even tho they eventually end up eating all the vowels ins mongolian language xD

[@lauraaxelsen6128]

Mielenkiintoista! Mistä tiedät tämmöstä (hi hi hi ha ha) tiedot? (Anteeksi kaikkile, että en vielä puhu hyvin suomea ja ehkä kirjoitin väärin=

[@linguaEpassione]

En mäkään enää tiedä, mistä tämmöstä tiedän xD

[@paoloangeletti1226]

Ciao Stefano, tutto bene? e' un po' che non ti sento/vedo. Posso chiederti un favore? Conosci qualcuno che studi arabo e voglia praticare arabo standard (msa) a livello 'intermediate'? Oppure qualcuno che conosce qualcuno...Posso usare le 6 maggiori lingue europee russo escluso, per intenerci. Grazie in ogni caso e scusami se abuus

[@paoloangeletti1226]

...abuso. Tuo P.

[@linguaEpassione]

Ciao Paolo, grazie del messaggio e mi dispiace per il lungo silenzio, sono stati mesi non proprio facilissimi... Sto tornando in pista in questi giorni, e finalmente a breve uscirà un nuovo video (ennesimo ritorno hehe). In ogni caso non conosco parlanti di arabo standard che possano fare al caso tuo, quindi stavolta temo di non poterti essere utile. Buona continuazione e spero a molto presto!

[@paoloangeletti1226]

@@linguaEpassione Grazie comunque Stefano. Aspetto il tuo video. A presto

[@heh9392]

I myself just say tälläinen, in finnish, but I guess it's writen like that.

[@heh9392]

Or actually just tälläne

[@linguaEpassione]

Yep, that's a colloquial form and it's widely used as far as I know :) I even found that in a book I've read recently: "Pintaremontti" by Miika Nousiainen

[@netsong2239]

I'm surprised by how many people use the "tälläne". Though when I thought of it I could definitely see people around me using it. I personally view it as a compound word and I'm drawn to say the end as "laine" or "lane" in this case because that's the word, that's the word for "kind of". I personally use "tällane" or "tällanen". Am from western Uusimaa. Don't know if the dialect affects it.

[@elderscrollsswimmer4833]

Noo jaa, voihan olla että siitä vielä tulee tälläinen ihan oikeasti. Olympialaiset voi hyvinkin olla olumpialaiset vielä joskus. Iikat ja äärit saa jäädä, ne on niin yhdyssanamäisiä.

[@turinturambar3592]

Do you know Finnish poet Eino Leino and his poem "Nocturne"? It has interesting words like "puunto pilven", can you figure out what that means? :) Ruislinnun laulu korvissani, tähkäpäiden päällä täysi kuu; kesäyön on onni omanani, kaskisavuun laaksot verhouu. En ma iloitse, en sure, huokaa; mutta metsän tummuus mulle tuokaa, puunto pilven, johon päivä hukkuu, siinto vaaran tuulisen, mi nukkuu, tuoksut vanamon ja varjot veen; niistä sydämeni laulun teen. Sulle laulan neiti, kesäheinä, sydämeni suuri hiljaisuus, uskontoni, soipa säveleinä, tammenlehväseppel vehryt, uus. En ma enää aja virvatulta, onpa kädessäni onnen kulta; pienentyy mun ympär' elon piiri; aika seisoo, nukkuu tuuliviiri; edessäni hämäräinen tie tuntemattomahan tupaan vie.

[@stefanoportinari9302]

Ciao Stefano, scusa se ti disturbo, posso chiederti un ultimissima cosa?

[@linguaEpassione]

Ciao Stefano, qui su KZbin puoi porre le tue domande anche senza chiedere il permesso, i commenti servono a questo :)

[@stefanoportinari9302]

@@linguaEpassione vorrei chiederti, se una persona sta imparando una lingua, ade esempio l' inglese, qual' è il miglior modo per riuscire a capire quello che viene detto e dopo quanto tempo si capisce. Ti ringrazio , buona giornata

[@linguaEpassione]

@@stefanoportinari9302 Grazie per la domanda ma se non sbaglio ti ho già risposto nell'altro video. Non esiste un tempo valido universalmente, dipende da troppi fattori diversi. Buona serata anche a te!

[@stefanoportinari9302]

@@linguaEpassione Sei stato gentilissimo. Ti ringrazio molto e ti auguro una buonissima serata

[@stefanoportinari9302]

@@linguaEpassione Sei stato gentilissimo. Ti ringrazio molto e ti auguro una buonissima serata

[@Nonnnnaq3]

Vaikka oon sua jo pitkään seurannut sua, niin silti on vaikee uskoo, että osaat suomea 😅. Ja aiheeseen liittyvää sen verran, että on tää suomen kieli kyllä varsin huippu kieli (mun mielestä), vaikkakin välillä itselläkin vaikeuksia tuottaa sanoja, vaikkakin vaan puhun pelkästään Suomeen 😅. Mut on tämä mein kieli silti ihan huikee 😅

[@linguaEpassione]

Eiks oo huippu kieli? Ei ihme että mä päätin oppia sen! ;)

[@Numbskis]

@@linguaEpassione Miten ihanaa että osaat puhua ja kirjoittaa puhekieltä 😘 Niinku oo ja silleen 🙃

[@IdkWhatToNameTbh]

Hii love you ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I remember that you know Georgian, can you talk me with it? შეგიძლია დამელაპარაკო ქართულად? მადლობა❤️❤️❤️❤️ მაგარი ხარ, მიყვარს შენი ვიდეოები❤️❤️❤️

[@linguaEpassione]

მადლობა შენ, ანანო! კი, შემიძლია დაგელაპარაკო ქართულად მაგრამ არ ვიცი ბევრი სიტყვა 😅 მეტი უნდა ვისწავლო

[@IdkWhatToNameTbh]

@@linguaEpassione ისწავლი, აუცილებლად ისწავლი!

[@Zeroless]

meidänkaltaisillemme

[@subrosa7708]

You have to be foreigner to think those issues. Or professional linguistic. We average Finns are amazed of how intriquite our language is!

[@linguaEpassione]

Sometimes it can sound complicated but it all makes sense in the end, and it's one of the most logical languages I've encountered :)

[@zami8827]

Elämän A ja O välissä L ja K.

[@linguaEpassione]

Haha toi oli aika hyvä :)

[@Ishay7227]

My comment about chuvash just got deleted

[@linguaEpassione]

Hi Kimbil, I can see it - thanks for chiming in !

[@Ishay7227]

@@linguaEpassione your welcome :)

[@EnnaOjala]

Kyllä on paljon oppimista tässä kielessä mitä ei itse tule edes ajatelleeksi 😅 jos Suomi ei olis mun äidinkieli niin vois olla aika hiljaista mun osalta oppia sitä 😂

[@Jeejeetyyppi123]

Ai täh?

[@brokenheart1290]

fyrkka )

[@linguaEpassione]

Hehe totta, en tullu ajatelleeks :)

[@omenoid]

The Stadi slang doesn't follow always vowel harmony and many other Finnish features such as lack of consonant clusters.

[@habicht6]

Kiitos

[@linguaEpassione]

Kiitos itsellesi! :)