kuori

MEANING:

Noun: skin, peel (of a fruit), shell, bark, envelope, case (and several more meanings, so see the sanakirja.org or wiktionary entries for more.)

töyssy

töyssy

MEANING:

Noun: bump, speed bump.

Töyssy appears in our example in the partitive plural, töyssyjä.

EXTRA CREDIT:

You may also see hidastetöyssy which specifically means ”speed bump.”

A related word is töyssyinen which means ”choppy.”

ja niin edelleen (jne.)

ja niin edelleen (jne.)

MEANING:

Noun: et cetera, and so forth, etc.

DERIVED FROM:

Ja niin edelleen (abbreviated in Finnish as jne. is a phrase made from ja (“and”) + niin (“so”) + edelleen (“further”).

nero

nero

MEANING:

Noun: genius, brainiac, mastermind.

EXTRA CREDIT:

A couple of related words:

nerokas (adjective) – witty or shrewd
neronleimaus (noun) – a stroke of genius, or a brainstorm.

Also, see Random Finnish Lesson’s article on other words often used to talk about intelligence in Finnish.

lasimaalaus

lasimaalaus

MEANING:

Noun: stained glass

DERIVED FROM:

Lasimaalaus is a compound term that comes from lasi (”glass”) +‎ maalaus (”painting”).

EXTRA CREDIT:

Maalaus comes from the verb maalata (“to paint”) + the deverbal suffix‎ -us.

kevyt liikene

kevyt liikene

MEANING:

Phrase: light traffic, pedestrian traffic, pedestrian and bicycle traffic, etc.

The words kevyttä (”light”) and liikene (”traffic”) appear in our example sign in the partitive singular, kevyttä liikenettä because the verb varoa (”be careful of” or ”watch out for”) takes the partitive.

DERIVED FROM:

Kevyt means ”light,” and liikene means ”traffic.”

EXTRA CREDIT:

Kevyt liikene refers generally to walking, roller skating, scootering, and bicycling and sometimes even to the riding of mopeds.

taskuraha

taskuraha

MEANING:

Compound term: pocket money.

In our example, the taskuraha appears in the adessive case singular, taskurahalla. Here we have the use of the adessive which expresses the instrumentive use of something. In our phrase, taskurahalla means ”with pocket money” or ”by using pocket money.”

DERIVED FROM:

Taskuraha is a compound term constructed from tasku (”pocket”) and raha (”money”).

EXTRA CREDIT:

Let’s translate the advertising phrase, ”Herkkuja taskurahalla,” or ”Goodies for pocket money”.

Herkkuja is partitive plural of herkku, which means ”delicacy.” Here it means something along the lines of ”goodies” or ”treats”.

seuraavaksi

seuraavaksi

MEANING:

Adverb: next

DERIVED FROM:

Seuraavaksi is an adverb meaning ”next” created from the adjective seuraava, which also means ”next.”

Both words come from the verb seurata which means ”to follow” or ”to accompany” (as in going or coming after something in physical space.)

liukumäki

liukumäki

MEANING:

Noun: children’s slide.

DERIVED FROM:

Liukumäki is a compound word made from liuku (“slide” or ”skid”) +‎ mäki (“hill”).

EXTRA CREDIT:

A related verb is liukua, which means ”to slide.”

sijainti

sijainti

MEANING:

Noun: location, situation, position.

In our example photo, ”Sijainti, sijainti ja sijainti” is the real estate maxim ”Location, location and location.” (The phrase is the answer to the question, what are the 3 most important things affecting real estate value? It’s repeated 3 times for emphasis. )