Verb (transitive):
In our example, lykätä appears in the 3rd person past tense lykkäsi.
”Pääministeri lykkäsi brexit-äänestystä” can be translated as ”The Prime Minister postponed the Brexit vote.”
MEANING:
Verb: to decrease, to reduce, to diminish.
DERIVED FROM:
Vähentää comes from the adjective vähä (”little,” ”few,” ”scarce.”)
EXTRA CREDIT:
A related noun is vähennys which means a ”decrease” or ”reduction.”
Let’s translate the headline ”Ericsson vähentää 3 000 työpaikkaa Ruotsissa” or ”Ericsson to reduce 3 000 jobs in Sweden.”
MEANING:
Verb: to type (literally, to write by machine.)
DERIVED FROM:
Konekirjoittaa comes from kone (“machine”) + kirjoittaa (“to write”).
EXTRA CREDIT:
You will also hear the phrase kirjoittaa koneella (literally ”to write with a machine.”)
Kirjoituskone means “typewriter”.
MEANING:
Verb: (transitive) To break (to cause to end up in two or more pieces).
EXTRA CREDIT:
Let’s translate the headline, ”Hillary Clinton murtaa korkean lasikaton – mutta miksi vasta nyt?” or ”Hillary Clinton breaks the high glass ceiling – but why only now?”
MEANING:
Verb: (intransitive) to dawn.
EXTRA CREDIT
Seen in the expressions aamu sarastaa (”it is dawning”) or figuratively as in uusi aika sarastaa (”a new era is dawning”).
Finnish Word of the Day 