MEANING:
Phrase: Trick or treat.
Sometimes seen as ”Karkkii tai kepponen.”
DERIVED FROM:
Karkki is a colloquial term for ”sweet” or ”candy.”
Vai means ”or.” (For reference, tai is an inclusive or, while vai is an exclusive or.)
Kepponen is a ”practical joke.”
EXTRA CREDIT:
If you’re unfamiliar with the custom of trick-or-treating, children go door to door in many countries around this time of year (Halloween) and ask for treats. Read more here.
MEANING:
Noun: high five.
DERIVED FROM:
Ylävitonen is derived from ylä– (“upper, superior, high”) + vitonen (dialectal form of viitonen – ”a five”). The phrase is is borrowed from English and literally translated from ”high five.” (This is known in linguistics as a calcque.)
Yläviitonen (with two i’) is an alternative spelling. It is grammatically more correct, but less commonly seen.
EXTRA CREDIT:
Use ylävitonen as an interjection (ylävitonen!) and it means ”give me five,” or ”slap me five.”
MEANING:
Verb (type 3): to publish, to release, to disclose. (More meanings, so check the sanakirja.org entry for more.)
Julkaista appears in our example in the passive affirmative present, julkaistaan. In our example, it means ”published.”
(See julkaista fully conjugated here.)
EXTRA CREDIT:
You may sometimes see the phrase julkaista uudelleen, which means ”to reissue.”
Also, julkaisu is a noun that means ”publication” or ”release.”
The whole headline in our example photo (from 17.10.2013) reads, Jorma Ollilan muistelmat julkaistaan, or ”Jorma Ollila’s memoirs published.” (Jorma Ollila is the former CEO of Nokia.)
MEANING:
Noun: fireplace, hearth.
DERIVED FROM:
Takka comes from Swedish. In Swedish dialect, stakka means “fireplace”.
EXTRA CREDIT:
You may also hear these related words.
MEANING:
Noun: monitoring, surveillance; supervision; control.
DERIVED FROM:
Valvonta comes from the verb valvoa (”to stay up,” ”to oversee” or ”to keep an eye on”) + the deverbal suffix –nta which can be used to create nouns that describe actions.
Valvonta can also refer ”to the act of staying awake.” In our example, it best translates as ”control” or ”monitoring.”
EXTRA CREDIT:
Let’s translate the whole headline from Metro, ”Valvonta Tiukkenee. Helsingin terasseille pikkutarkat ohjeet,” or something to the effect of ”Control tightens. Meticulous instructions for Helsinki terraces.”
Tiukkenee is 3rd person singular of the verb tiuketa, which means ”to tighten.”
Helsingin is genitive singular of Helsinki and here modifies the following word, ”terasseille.”
Terasseille is allative plural of the noun terassi which means ”terraces” or ”patios” with the allative case here indicating ”on” or ”onto” them. The best English preposition to use in this example might be ”for” given the context.
Pikkutarkat is nominative plural of the adjective pikkutarka which means ”painstaking” or ”meticulous.”
Ohjeet is nominative plural of ohje which means ”instructions.”
MEANING:
Noun: reflection
DERIVED FROM:
Heijastus is a noun constructed from the intransitive verb heijastua, which means ”to be reflected” + the deverbal suffix –us.
The transitive partner of heijastua is heijastaa which means ”to reflect (light)” or ”to project (on a screen).”
One synonym for heijastus is the noun heijastuminen, which also means ”reflection.”
EXTRA CREDIT:
You will also see heijastin, a noun which means ”reflector,” especially one worn by a pedestrian on his or her clothes during dark months for safety. Such reflectors are so common in Finland it seems almost everyone has one hanging from their coat in winter.
MEANING:
Noun: ice-breaker, icebreaker, (a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters.)
DERIVED FROM:
Jäänmurtaja is a compound term constructed from jää (”ice”) + murtaja (an agent noun meaning ”breaker” created from the verb murtaa plus the suffix -ja. Murtaa means ”to break.”)
EXTRA CREDIT:
Pictured today is the icebreaker Sisu, built by Wärtsilä Helsinki Shipyard in 1976.
MEANING:
Compound term (noun): driving conditions
DERIVED FROM:
Ajokeli is a compound term comprised of ajo (”driving”) + keli (”weather” or ”road conditions”).
EXTRA CREDIT:
Let’s translate the whole newspaper headline, ”Ajokeli on alkuviikosta liukas koko maassa,” or ”Road conditions will be slippery early in the week across the country.”
Ajokeli is in the nominative singular and is the subject of the sentence.
On means ”is.” (In our example, since we know news story is talking about a time in the future (”the beginning of the week”) we can translate the verb into English using the future tense ”will be.”)
Alkuviiko is a compound term meaning ”beginning of the week.” It appears here in the elative singular, alkuviikosta, and means ”from the beginning of the week.”
Liukas is an adjective that means ”slippery.”
Koko is an indeclinable adjective that means ”whole” or entire.
And maassa is inessive case of maa, a noun which means country. In the inessive it means ”in the country.” ”Koko maassa” taken together as a phrase can mean ”across the country” or ”throughout the country.”
MEANING:
Verb: to rain, to fall.
Sataa appears in our example headline in the 3rd person imperfect (past) tense, satoi. In the past tense in our example it means ”fell.”
COMMON USES:
EXTRA CREDIT:
Let’s translate the whole headline ”Ensilumi satoi eri puolille Suomea,” or ”The first now fell in various parts of Finland.”
Ensilumi means ”first snow.”
Satoi is 3rd person singular past tense of sataa, which means ”to fall.” Satoi means ”fell.”
Eri puolille is a phrase which best translates here as ”in various parts” or ”around.” Puolille is the allative plural of puoli, which means ”half” or ”side.” Literally, eri puolille” means ”onto different sides.”
Suomea means ”Finland.”
Finnish Word of the Day 