ensi-ilta

MEANING:

Noun: premiere, first night, opening, etc. ( as in movies or theater).

Ensi-ilta appears in our example in the plural form, ensi-illat (”premieres”).

The hyphen in ensi-ilta is there to avoid creating an apparent doubling of the same vowel in the middle of the compound word.

DERIVED FROM:

Ensi-ilta comes from ensi– (“first”) +‎ ilta (“night”).

EXTRA CREDIT:

Slang or spoken Finnish for ensi-ilta is enskari.

kaaso

kaaso

MEANING:

Noun: bridesmaid, maid of honor.

DERIVED FROM:

Kaaso is possibly derived from kanssa which means ”with.”

EXTRA CREDIT:

One synonym is morsiusneito.

neilikka

neilikka

MEANING:

Noun: clove (spice) or carnation (flower).

DERIVED FROM:

Neilikka comes from the Swedish, nejlika.

parannus

parannus

MEANING:

Noun: improvement, enchantment, betterment, cure.

Parannus appears in our example in the partitive plural form, parannuksia.

DERIVED FROM:

Parannus comes from the verb parantaa (”to improve,” ”to better,” ”to heal” or ”to cure”) +‎ –us, a suffix used to form nouns describing an action from verbs.

EXTRA CREDIT:

Let’s translate the whole photo caption, ”Parannuksia tulossa. Muutokset hämmentävät Baanan käyttäijiä” or ”Improvements on the way. Changes confuse Baana users.” (The Baana is a bicycle path built on an old train track from the center of Helsinki to Ruoholahti harbor.)

nuttura

nuttura

MEANING:

Noun: topknot, bun, chignon (referring to a way of wearing the hair.)

Pictured is the Tove Jansson character Little My (Pikku Myy in Finnish) who is always seen with a top knot style hairdo.

loukkaantua (loukkaantui)

loukkaantua

MEANING:

Verb: to be hurt, to be injured, to be wounded, etc. (Many additional meanings, so check the sanakirja.org definition for more.)

Loukkaantua appears in our example in the 3rd person singular past tense form loukkaantui.

DERIVED FROM:

Loukkaantua is derived from

EXTRA CREDIT:

Let’s translate the whole headline, 13 ihmistä loukkaantui neljän auton kolarissa Valtatie 1:llä or ”13 people were injured in a four-car crash on highway 1.”

Notice in the English translation the plural noun ”people” is used and yet the verb in Finish is still singular because the noun in Finnish (”ihmistä”) is singular. (Ihmistä is the partitive singular of ihminen (”person”), and the partitive singular is used because it comes after a number that is not 1.)

polvistua

polvistua

MEANING:

Verb: to kneel, to stoop down and rest on the knee or knees.

DERIVED FROM:

Polvistua comes from polvi which means ”knee.”

EXTRA CREDIT:

A related verb, polvistaa, means ”to force someone to his knees.”

vihta (vasta)

vihta

MEANING:

Noun: A kind of whip made of birch branches used in a Finnish sauna to stimulate circulation by beating oneself (or your sauna mate) with it.

EXTRA CREDIT:

You will also hear the word vasta to mean exactly the same thing, depending on where in Finland you are. It varies, but generally it’s vasta in the east and vihta in the west.

selvitys

selvitys

MEANING:

Noun: a document covering the description and results of an investigation, a report.

DERIVED FROM:

Selvitys comes from selvittää (a verb meaning ”to make clear,” ”to investigate” or ”to get to the bottom of”) + ys (a suffix which can be used to form a noun describing an action or event.)

EXTRA CREDIT:

Let’s translate the entire story headline, ”Googlen selvitys: Älypuhelinten käyttäjät turhautuvat nopeasti hitaisiin sivuihin” or ”Google report: Smartphone users get frustrated quickly by slow pages.”