Finnish leid

Finnish developed frae the Finno-Ugric curn an bi the Middle Ages wis the leid spak bi maist Finns. Housome'er, syne Finland wis thirlt tae Swaden at the stairt o the Middle Ages, it haedna ony status in its ain kintra. Admeenistration wis aye cairiet oot in Swadish an aw releegious maiters wis in the Laitin. The law status o Finnish meant that it didna develop a scrieven form tilt the 16t century. Aw eddication, leetaratur etc. wis scrieven aither in Swadish or Laitin. As thare wisna a staundart scrieven form it wis gey fickle for fowk tae learn it or tae uise it as a means o scrieven communication. Awtho it is true that mony leids wisna staundartised at this time, Finnish haed tae deal wi bein o sic a laich status an aw.

It teuk the wark o the Lutheran Beeshop Mikael Agricola in his translation o The New Testament intae Finnish tae gie it a staundart form. Syne a central pynt o the Reformation wis the settin furth o the Bible in vernacular leids, Agricola wis keen tae gie the Finns the Screeptur in thair ain leid. His phonetic spellin seestem wisna haily conseestant, but it gied Finnish a framewark that the current seestem is taen frae. Maugre the wark o Agricola, Finnish still haedna ony offeecial status at the stairt o the 19t century, as Swadish wis still uised in aw offeecial spheres, includin eddication. Housome'er, whan the Finnish naitional epic Kalevala wis setten furth in 1835, it raised a wheen o naitional speerit , includin the hankerin efter the upbiggin an promotion o the Finnish leid. As fowk becam mair determined tae uise Finnish, it grew an slawly becam the dominant leid in govrenment an eddication, achievin offeecial status in 1863. The strauchle tae gie a heize the Finnish leid frae its unco law status in the 19t Cntury is kent as the Finnish Leid Strauchle.

The day it is the maist uised leid in Finland (spoken bi 91.7% o the kintra), an alang wi Swadish is ane o the twa offeecial leids o that kintra.

Finnish uises a phonetic spellin seestem. Ilka soond is shawn bi ae letter an ilka letter is soondit.

Finnish haes 13 consonants - thay are soondit:

D lik the d in dae. It niver stairts a wird that is o Finnish oreegin, an it disna end them forby (e.g. taide, that means airt)

G anerly comes efter n. The ng is soondit as in lang ( sangen -gey)

H lik h in haver, but hairder (heti - at ance, Lahti - a Finnish clachan)

J lik y in yett (ja - an, kirja - beuk)

K lik k in ken (koira - dug)

L lik l in lang (talo - hoose)

M lik m in maun (huonompi - waur)

N lik n in nae, but afore g an k as in lang (niin - sae, sangen - gey)

P lik p in poke (lapsi - bairn)

R rowed as it is in Scots (raha - siller)

S lik s in sned (iso - muckle)

T lik t in tae (musta - black)

V lik v in vane (voi - butter)

B, C, F, Sh an ithers anerly hap in a tait o fremmit soorces, an is soondit mair or less as in the oreeginal. For ordinar, but, Finns tends tae adapi wirds that's brocht in tae thair ain soond seestem

thus the Inglis wird bomb is adaptit tae pommi in Finnish.

A lik a in Aibertay (asua - tae bide)

E lik e in ken (hevonen - cuddy)

I lik i in nip (ihminen - wicht)

O lik aw in waw (olla - tae be)

U lik u in buit(?) (hupsu - glaikit)

Y lik u in French entendu or the German ü. Gin ye shape yer mooth as if tae say oo an syne ettle tae say the cutty i in nip ye'll no be faur wrang. (yksi - ane)

Ä lik a in hat (äkkiä - suddent)

Ö lik er in Erse (tyttö - lassie)

Ilka letter is soondit in Finnish, includin dooble consonants an dooble vouels.

kuka' means wha; kukka means flouer (here the twa k soonds is a tait lik in tick coat).

katua means tae regret; kaatua means tae faw (here the dooble vouel maks the a soond langer)

muta (glaur), mutta (but, but can mean ither an aw), muuttaa (tae chynge).

The stress aye faws on the first seelable. Sae the caiptial ceety o Finland, Helsinki, in soondit Helsinki an no Helsinki as fremit fowk aften cries it. In compoond wirds (that Finnish haes mony o), the first seelable o ilka pairt taks the stress.

Finnish grammar is gey complicate an fickle tae learn. For exemplar, it haes 15 cases, that's a wheen mair nor maist leids that for ordinar haes aicht or fewer. Insteid o uisin preposeetions sic as tae, frae an in as maist leids daes, Finnish uises a wheen o suffixes for tae shaw case. Thir is eikit til noons, pronoons, adjectives an infinitives, that thare is fower o. It haes 15 equeevelant plural forms an aw, that micht need consonant or vouel chynges an aw!

Unlik the muckle feck o leids, Finnish haesna airticles o ony kynd, definite or indefinite. Sae the wird voileipä can mean a piece, the piece or juist piece, lippenin on the context.

Finnish haesna ony grammatical genders, an it disna mak ony disteenction atween "he" an "she". The pronoon hän is uised for the baith.

• Kyllä - Aye
• Ei - Nae
• Olkaa hyvä - Please
• Kiitos - Thank ye
• Hyvää huomenta - Guid mornin
• Hyvää päivää - Guid efternuin
• Hyvää iltaa - Guid forenicht
• Hyvää yötä - Guid nicht
• Kuinka voitte? - Whit like?
• Kiitos hyvin. Entä te? - Gey weel, thanks. An yersel?

• Kalevala
• Finnish Leid Strauchle
• Finland

• Research Institute fer the Leids of Finland
• The Finnish language --- Resources Archived 2005-02-12 at the Wayback Machine
• Section anent the leid on Virtual Finland Archived 2007-09-06 at the Wayback Machine
• Inglis-Finnish-Inglis Dictionary Archived 2006-03-24 at the Wayback Machine