Our son, who was thrust into a Finnish middle school without knowing all that much Finnish at the start of the year, was talking with a friend back in the US. The friend asked how studying Finnish was going and our son said he's learnt a lot since the start of the school year but that it was tough because Finnish is one of the hardest languages in the world. (He speaks both English and Spanish for direct comparison.) The friend shrugged: "Sure, but English is the hardest." I'm personally not convinced English is complicated. Finnish is my mother tongue and I had to learn English: I started studying English in school in Finland in 3rd grade and then in 7th grade moved to Canada, where I really learnt it. I've also studied French, German, Spanish and a bit of Swedish in school. (Not that I can speak any of them now!) I even took some Japanese lessons once. To me, English seems relatively easy because its grammar is simple. The most challenging thing about English is likely spelling since there is really no rhime or reason to it. It isn't a phonetic language like Spanish or Finnish i.e. you don't pronounce each letter in a word as it is written. (Being a native English speaker doesn't necessarily help with spelling though, in fact it may make learning spelling harder.) Hence, English is becoming what the hippie era made-up language Esperanto aspired to be: the universal language that in some ways unites us all. No matter where you travel nowadays, you are likely to find some people who know English from school or even TV. In Finland, at least in the Helsinki area, you can easily survive in English. I don't know anyone my generation or younger in Finland that doesn't know how to speak English. One of our neighbors here in Espoo has been in Finland for 18 years, and I believe owns a restaurant, and knows no Finnish: he just speaks English with everyone.
Meanwhile, Finnish is truly something else. When Joel and I first dated, he tried to learn Finnish. He valiantly attended Finnish language classes for adults several months. I tried to explain some of the rules and conjugations to him and quickly realized it was impossible: not because he couldn't learn it but because I just couldn't help him learn it. I just knew why the sentence were the way they were but couldn't explain any of it. I told Joel to just forget about learning Finnish!
The root cause for Finnish being hard is that it is really foreign; isn't related to other European languages. People often ask me if Finnish is similar to Swedish. I tell them "no" but I'm not sure if the people asking really believe me. To see the difference look at the great tree infographic on European languages above. Finnish (and related Estonian and more distantly related Hungarian) aren't just a branch off a common root but a separate little tree... Swedish is more closely related to English and German than Finnish. The common root of European languages other than Finnish (and Estonian/Hungarian) is also well illustrated in the small example for the name of the month May above. Where the heck does Finnish "toukokuu" come from?! By the way, I've tried to test the relationship between Finnish and Hungarian before by trying to find common words with a Hungarian speaker. We found a few basic words that sounded similar: fire, hand, water and blood. Similarities pretty well ended there. I don't even think the grammar is similar. From this I was left with the feeling Finns and Hungarians had common "cave man era" ancestors who spoke some primitive form of what these languages are like today. So I've talked about how hard Finnish is and why it is that way but where's the proof that is actually is difficult? Here are my 10 reasons for believing Finnish isn't just one of the hardest but maybe THE hardest language to learn. OK I don't know Asian languages or how they work so it is possible there are other equally crazy languages out there. (For below, I'm not sure if the proper terminology is "inflection" or "conjugation", I used "conjugation".)
There are no prepositions. So you don't say "in the table" or "on the table" or "from the table" or "to the table". You conjugate the noun "table" i.e. "pöytä" instead: pöydässä, pöydällä, pöydästä, pöydälle. There are 15 such cases!
You also conjugate the adjective preceding the noun e.g. above example with "brown wooden table". So to say "at the brown wooden table" etc you would the the words ruskea, puinen and pöytä and say "ruskeassa puisessa pöydässä", "ruskealla puisella pöydällä", "ruskeasta puisesta pöydästä", "ruskealle puiselle pöydälle".
Plural nouns and adjectives conjugate as well e.g. "in brown wooden tables" would be "ruskeissa puisissa pöydissä".
How can one learn all that conjugation and the forms the nouns and adjectives take which are so different from the basic word? And if that wasn't bad enough the verbs conjugate too. See the crazy long example at the bottom of the post.
Finnish uses compound words that can get completely out of control. For example "saippuakivikauppias" means "soap stone salesman". This isn't even all that long of a compound word... but it is the world's longest palindrome i.e. word that spells the same forwards and backwards.
No one actually speaks the proper, grammatically correct Finnish called "book Finnish" in every day life. Slang rules and in speaking slang Finns drop about half the letters which again basically doubles the words/conjugations you need to learn!
Not only do people not speak the proper "book Finnish", there are strong regional dialects. For example, the word "I" is "minä" but in Helsinki one would say "mä" and my grandmother in Easter Finland would have said "mie". You can hear where people are from by the way they speak even though the population is small (5.5M) and otherwise pretty homogenous.
There is a large number of words in Finnish. Per this Wikipedia article, it has one of the highest word counts at 800,000 - and that apparently doesn't include all the crazy conjugations! The same source sites another 400,000 words in dialect. That seems unbelievable to me actually...
There are endless number of crazy sayings in Finnish (this part is true for many other languages as well) that will leave you scratching your head at the results of Google translate: "raining like out of Esther's butt" (it's raining cats&dogs), like a fist in the eyesock (fits like a glove) and "asses over the shoulder ("four sheets to the wind" drunk).
This doesn't really add to the difficult but there are two letters other languages don't have and that might seem complicated to someone learning Finnish: Ä and Ö. They have a different sound than A or O. If you watch international sports events e.g. Olympics the digital systems don't seem to have these letters so you'll see surnames such as Hämäläinen spelled as Haemaelaeinen :) Note that there are a bunch of letter Finnish only uses in borrowed words: b, c, q, w, x and z.
If you need more convincing, see the examples at the bottom of this blog.... I think with a lot of hard work people can learn Finnish and they can even speak it well enough to work and make friends in Finland in Finnish. However, my personal feeling is that 100% mastery is impossible if you haven't been speaking it since birth. I apologize if my opinions have put a damper on anyone's interest in learning Finnish. If you're not deterred and still want to learn an incredibly difficult language only minute fraction of the world speaks, you might be a masochist. Good for you! My recommendation would be to focus on speaking vs trying to master the grammar. Even if you get all of the above conjugations completely wrong, people will undertand you.
p.s. If you want to get going on Finnish, you can always start with simple little songs like this one about weather our 3rd grader sings daily in the Finnish prep class.
************* Here are two amusing examples of Finnish noun nuttiness: The first shows how many different ways you can use the word "kuusi" and "palaa" with completely different meanings. The second is a word play on the word "kokko" which is the Midsummer bonfire and the verb "koota" which means to build. It basically says
"Build the whole bonfire" (shouldn't have a ? mark, that's a typo...)
"The whole bonfire built?"
"[Yes] the whole bonfire built"
And here is an example of just verb conjugation for the verb "to write" i.e. "kirjoittaa". (Whoever put this list together even forgot one: "olen kirjoittavanani" meaning ”I’m pretending to write” which then would be different for you/she/we/you plural/they.)
FINITE FORMS Indicative, present tense kirjoitan — ‘I write’ kirjoitat — ‘you write’ (singular) kirjoittaa — ‘s/he writes’ kirjoitamme — ‘we write’ kirjoitatte — ‘you write’ (plural) kirjoittavat — ‘they write’ kirjoitetaan — ‘it is written’ (passive) Indicative, imperfect kirjoitin — ‘I wrote’ kirjoitit — ‘you wrote’ (singular) kirjoitti — ‘s/he wrote’ kirjoitimme — ‘we wrote’ kirjoititte — ‘you wrote’ (plural) kirjoittivat — ‘they wrote’ kirjoitettiin — ‘it was written’ (passive) Indicative, perfect olen kirjoittanut — ‘I have written’ olet kirjoittanut — ‘you have written’ (singular) on kirjoittanut — ‘s/he has written’ olemme kirjoittaneet — ‘we have written’ olette kirjoittaneet — ‘you have written’ (plural) ovat kirjoittaneet — ‘they have written’ on kirjoitettu — ‘it has been written’ (passive) Indicative, pluscuamperfect olin kirjoittanut — ‘I had written’ olit kirjoittanut — ‘you had written’ oli kirjoittanut — ‘s/he had written’ (singular) olimme kirjoittaneet — ‘we had written’ olitte kirjoittaneet — ‘you had written’ (plural) olivat kirjoittaneet — ‘they had written’ oli kirjoitettu — ‘it had been written’ (passive) Conditional, present tense kirjoittaisin — ‘I would write’ kirjoittaisit — ‘you would write’ (singular) kirjoittaisi — ‘s/he would write’ kirjoittaisimme — ‘we would write’ kirjoittaisitte — ‘you would write’ (plural) kirjoittaisivat — ‘they would write’ kirjoitettaisiin — ‘it would be written’ (passive) Conditional, past tense olisin kirjoittanut — ‘I would have written’ olisit kirjoittanut — ‘you would have written’ (singular) olisi kirjoittanut — ‘s/he would have written’ olisimme kirjoittaneet — ‘we would have written’ olisitte kirjoittaneet — ‘you would have written’ (plural) olisivat kirjoittaneet — ‘they would have written’ olisi kirjoitettu — ‘it would have been written’ (passive) Potential, present tense kirjoittanen — ‘I will probably write’ kirjoittanet — ‘you will probably write’ (singular) kirjoittanee — ‘s/he will probably write’ kirjoittanemme — ‘we will probably write’ kirjoittanette — ‘you will probably write’ (plural) kirjoittanevat — ‘they will probably write’ kirjoitettaneen — ‘it will probably be written’ (passive) Potential, past tense lienen kirjoittanut — ‘I have probably written’ lienet kirjoittanut — ‘you have probably written’ (singular) lienee kirjoittanut — ‘s/he has probably written’ lienemme kirjoittaneet — ‘we have probably written’ lienette kirjoittaneet — ‘you have probably written’ (plural) lienevät kirjoittaneet — ‘they have probably written’ lienee kirjoitettu — ‘it has probably been written’ (passive) Imperative, present tense kirjoita! — ‘write!’ (singular) kirjoittakoon! — ‘may s/he write!’ kirjoittakaamme! — ‘let us write!’ kirjoittakaa! — ‘write!’ (plural) kirjoittakoot! — ‘may they write!’ kirjoitettakoon! — ‘may it be written!’ (passive) Imperative, past tense ole kirjoittanut! — ‘may you have written!’ (singular) olkoon kirjoittanut! — ‘may s/he have written!’ olkaamme kirjoittaneet! — ‘let us have written!’ olkaa kirjoittaneet! — ‘may you have written!’ (plural) olkoot kirjoittaneet! — ‘may they have written!’ olkoon kirjoitettu! — ‘may it be written!’ (passive) INFINITIVE FORMS I infinitive, nominative case kirjoittaa — ‘to write’ I infinitive, translative case kirjoittaakseni — ‘for me to write’ kirjoittaaksesi — ‘for you to write’ (singular) kirjoittaakseen — ‘for her/him to write’ kirjoittaaksemme — ‘for us to write’ kirjoittaaksenne — ‘for you to write’ kirjoittaakseen — ‘for them to write’ II infinitive, instructive case kirjoittaen — ‘writing’ (as in ‘Please notify me in writing’) II infinitive, inessive case kirjoittaessani — ‘while I write’ kirjoittaessasi — ‘while you write’ (singular) kirjoittaessaan — ‘while s/he writes’ kirjoittaessamme — ‘while we write’ kirjoittaessanne — ‘while you write’ (plural) kirjoittaessaan — ‘while they write’ kirjoitettaessa — ‘while it’s being written’ (passive) III infinitive, inessive case kirjoittamassa — ‘writing’ (as in ‘he is sitting there and writing’) III infinitive, elative case kirjoittamasta — ‘from writing’ (as in ‘he stopped writing’) III infinitive, illative case kirjoittamaan — ‘to writing’ (as in ‘he started to write’) III infinitive, adessive case kirjoittamalla — ‘by writing’ III infinitive, abessive case kirjoittamatta — ‘without writing’ III infinitive, instructive case kirjoittaman — ‘must write’ (active) kirjoitettaman — ‘must write’ (passive) IV infinitive, nominative case kirjoittaminen — ‘it is to be written’ IV infinitive, partitive case kirjoittamista — ‘it is not to be written’ kirjoittamistani — ‘I write on and on’ kirjoittamistasi — ‘you write on and on’ (singular kirjoittamistaan — ‘s/he writes on and on’ kirjoittamistamme — ‘we write on and on’ kirjoittamistanne — ‘you write on and on’ (plural) kirjoittamistaan — ‘they write on and on’ V infinitive, adessive case kirjoittamaisillani — ‘I am about to write’ kirjoittamaisillasi — ‘you are about to write’ (singular) kirjoittamaisillaan — ‘s/he is about to write’ kirjoittamaisillamme — ‘we are about to write’ kirjoittamaisillanne — ‘you are about to write’ (plural) kirjoittamaisillaan — ‘they are about to write’ PARTICIPLE FORMS I participle, singular kirjoittava — ‘the one writing’ (nominative case) kirjoittavan — ‘of the one writing’ (genitive case); also used in constructions of the type ‘I saw him write’ kirjoittavaa — ‘part of the one writing’ (partitive case, often used as object) kirjoittavassa — ‘in the one writing’ (inessive case) kirjoittavasta — ‘from/of the one writing’ (elative case) kirjoittavaan — ‘into the one writing’ (as in location) (illative case) kirjoittavalla — ‘on the one writing’ (adessive case) kirjoittavalta — ‘from (the top of) the one writing’ (ablative case) kirjoittavalle — ‘onto the one writing’ (allative case) kirjoittavana — ‘as the one writing’ (essive case) kirjoittavaksi — ‘into the one writing’ (as in transformation) (translative case) kirjoittavatta — ‘without the one writing’ (abessive case) kirjoittavineen — ‘with her/his one writing’ (comitative case) kirjoittavin — ‘by menas of the one writing’ (instructive case) I participle, plural kirjoittavat — ‘the ones writing’ (nominative case) kirjoittavien — ‘of the ones writing’ (genitive case) kirjoittavia — ‘part of the ones writing’ (partitive case) kirjoittavissa — ‘in the ones writing’ (inessive case) kirjoittavista — ‘from/of the ones writing’ (elative case) kirjoittaviin — ‘into the ones writing’ (as in location) (illative case) kirjoittavilla — ‘on the ones writing’ (adessive case) kirjoittavilta — ‘from (the top of) the ones writing’ (ablative case) kirjoittaville — ‘onto the ones writing’ (allative case) kirjoittavina — ‘as the ones writing’ (essive case) kirjoittaviksi — ‘into the ones writing’ (as in transformation) (translative case) kirjoittavitta — ‘without the ones writing’ (abessive case) kirjoittavin — ‘by means of the ones writing’ (instructive case) II participle, singular kirjoittanut — ‘the one that has written’ (nominative case) kirjoittaneen — ‘of the one that has written’ (genitive case) kirjoittanutta — ‘part of the one that has written’ (partitive case) kirjoittaneessa — ‘in the one that has written’ (inessive case) kirjoittaneesta — ‘from/of the one that has written’ (elative case) kirjoittaneeseen — ‘into the one that has written’ (as in location) (illative case) kirjoittaneella — ‘on the one that has written’ (adessive case) kirjoittaneelta — ‘from (the top of) the one that has written’ (ablative case) kirjoittaneelle — ‘onto the one that has written’ (allative case) kirjoittaneena — ‘as the one that has written’ (essive case) kirjoittaneeksi — ‘into the one that has written’ (as in transformation) (translative case); also used to express meanings of the type ‘I happened to write’ kirjoittaneetta — ‘without the one that has written’ (abessive case) kirjoittaneine — ‘with her/his one that has written’ (comitative case) kirjoittanein — ‘by means of the one that has written’ (instructive case) II participle, plural kirjoittaneet — ‘the ones that have written’ (nominative case) kirjoittaneiden — ‘of the ones that have written’ (genitive case) kirjoittaneita — ‘part of the ones that have written’ (partitive case) kirjoittaneissa — ‘in the ones that have written’ (inessive case) kirjoittaneista — ‘from/of the ones that have written’ (elative case) kirjoittaneisiin — ‘into the ones that have written’ (as in location) (illative case) kirjoittaneilla — ‘on the ones that have written’ (adessive case) kirjoittaneilta — ‘from (the top of) the ones that have written’ (ablative case) kirjoittaneille — ‘onto the ones that have written’ (allative case) kirjoittaneina — ‘as the ones that have written’ (essive case) kirjoittaneiksi — ‘into the ones that have written’ (as in transformation) (translative case) kirjoittaneitta — ‘without the ones that have written’ (abessive case) kirjoittaneine — ‘with the ones that have written’ (comitative case) kirjoittanein — ‘by means of the ones that have written’ (instructive case) III participle, singular kirjoittama — ‘the one written by’ (nominative case) kirjoittaman — ‘of the one written by’ (genitive case) kirjoittamaa — ‘part of the one written by’ (partitive case) kirjoittamassa — ‘in the one written by’ (inessive case) kirjoittamasta — ‘from/of the one written by’ (elative case) kirjoittamaan — ‘into the one written by’ (as in location) (illative case) kirjoittamalla — ‘on the one written by’ (adessive case) kirjoittamalta — ‘from (the top of) the one written by’ (ablative case) kirjoittamalle — ‘onto the one written by’ (allative case) kirjoittamana — ‘as the one written by’ (essive case) kirjoittamaksi — ‘into the one written by’ (as in transformation) (translative case) kirjoittamatta — ‘without the one written by’ (abessive case) kirjoittamine — ‘with her/his one written by’ (comitative case) kirjoittamin — ‘by means of the one written by’ (instructive case) III participle, plural kirjoittamat — ‘the ones written by’ (nominative case) kirjoittamien — ‘of the ones written by’ (genitive case) kirjoittamia — ‘part of the ones written by’ (partitive case) kirjoittamissa — ‘in the ones written by’ (inessive case) kirjoittamista — ‘from the ones written by’ (elative case) kirjoittamiin — ‘into the ones written by’ (as in location) (illative case) kirjoittamilla — ‘on the ones written by’ (adessive case) kirjoittamilta — ‘from (the top of) the ones written by’ (ablative case) kirjoittamille — ‘onto the ones written by’ (allative case) kirjoittamina — ‘as the ones written by’ (essive case) kirjoittamiksi — ‘into the ones written by’ (as in transformation) (translative case) kirjoittamitta — ‘without the ones written by’ (abessive case) kirjoittamine — ‘with her/his ones written by’ (comitative case) kirjoittamin — ‘by means of the ones written by’ (instructive case) IV participle, singular kirjoitettava — ‘the one to be written’ (nominative case); also used in constructions of the type ‘It must be written’ kirjoitettavan — ‘of the one to be written’ (genitive case); also used in constructions of the type ‘I heard it had been written’ kirjoitettavaa — ‘part of the one to be written’ (partitive case) kirjoitettavassa — ‘in the one to be written’ (inessive case) kirjoitettavasta — ‘from the one to be written’ (elative case) kirjoitettavaan — ‘into the one to be written’ (as in location) (illative case) kirjoitettavalla — ‘on the one to be written’ (adessive case) kirjoitettavalta — ‘from (the top of) the one to be written’ (ablative case) kirjoitettavalle — ‘onto the one to be written’ (allative case) kirjoitettavana — ‘as the one to be written’ (essive case) kirjoitettavaksi — ‘into the one to be written’ (as in transformation) (translative case) kirjoitettavatta — ‘without the one to be written’ (abessive case) kirjoitettavine — ‘with her/his one to be written’ (comitative case) kirjoitettavin — ‘by means of the one to be written’ (instructive case) IV participle, plural kirjoitettavat — ‘the ones to be written’ (nominative case) kirjoitettavien — ‘of the ones to be written’ (genitive case) kirjoitettavia — ‘part of the ones to be written’ (partitive case) kirjoitettavissa — ‘in the ones to be written’ (inessive case) kirjoitettavista — ‘from/of the ones to be written’ (elative case) kirjoitettaviin — ‘into the ones to be written’ (as in location) (illative case) kirjoitettavilla — ‘on the ones to be written’ (adessive case) kirjoitettavilta — ‘from (the top of) the ones to be written’ (ablative case) kirjoitettaville — ‘onto the ones to be written’ (allative case) kirjoitettavina — ‘as the ones to be written’ (essive case) kirjoitettaviksi — ‘into the ones to be written’ (as in transformation) (translative case) kirjoitettavitta — ‘without the ones to be written’ (abessive case) kirjoitettavine — ‘with her/his ones to be written’ (comitative case) kirjoitettavin — ‘by means of the ones to be written’ (instructive case) V participle, singular kirjoitettu — ‘the written one’ (nominative case) kirjoitetun — ‘of the written one’ (genitive case); also used in constructions of the type ‘I heard that it had been written’ kirjoitettua — ‘part of the written one’ (partitive case) kirjoitetussa — ‘in the written one’ (inessive case) kirjoitetusta — ‘from/of the written one’ (elative case) kirjoitettuun — ‘into the written one’ (as in location) (illative case) kirjoitetulla — ‘on the written one’ (adessive case) kirjoitetulta — ‘from (the top of) the written one’ (ablative case) kirjoitetulle — ‘onto the written one’ (allative case) kirjoitettuna — ‘as the written one’ (essive case) kirjoitetuksi — ‘into the written one’ (as in transformation) (translative case) kirjoitetutta — ‘without the written one’ (abessive case) kirjoitettuine — ‘with her/his written one’ (comitative case) kirjoitetuin — ‘by means of the written one’ (instructive case) Temporal construction of the aforementioned partitive case kirjoitettuani — ‘after I have/had/will have written’ kirjoitettuasi — ‘after you have/had/will have written’ (singular) kirjoitettuaan — ‘after s/he has/had/will have written’ kirjoitettuamme — ‘after we have/had/will have written’ kirjoitettuanne — ‘after you have/had/will have written’ (plural) kirjoitettuaan — ‘after they have/had/will have written’ V participle, plural kirjoitetut — ‘the written ones’ (nominative case) kirjoitettujen — ‘of the written ones’ (genitive case) kirjoitettuja — ‘part of the written ones’ (partitive case) kirjoitetuissa — ‘in the written ones’ (inessive case) kirjoitetuista — ‘from the written ones’ (elative case) kirjoitettuihin — ‘into the written ones’ (as in location) (illative case) kirjoitetuilla — ‘on the written ones’ (adessive case) kirjoitetuilta — ‘from (the top of) the written ones’ (ablative case) kirjoitetuille — ‘onto the written ones’ (allative case) kirjoitettuina — ‘as the written ones’ (essive case) kirjoitetuiksi — ‘into the written ones’ (as in transformation) (translative case) kirjoitettuine — ‘with her/his written ones’ (comitative case) kirjoitetuin — ‘by means of the written ones’ (instructive case) VI participle, singular kirjoittamaton — ‘the unwritten one’ (nominative case) kirjoittamattoman — ‘of the unwritten one’ (genitive case) kirjoittamatonta — ‘part of the unwritten one’ (partitive case) kirjoittamattomassa — ‘in the unwritten one’ (inessive case) kirjoittamattomasta — ‘from/of the unwritten one’ (elative case) kirjoittamattomaan — ‘into the unwritten one’ (as in location) (illative case) kirjoittamattomalla — ‘on the unwritten one’ (adessive case) kirjoittamattomalta — ‘from (the top of) the unwritten one’ (ablative case) kirjoittamattomalle — ‘onto the unwritten one’ (allative case) kirjoittamattomana — ‘as the unwritten one’ (essive case) kirjoittamattomaksi — ‘into the unwritten one’ (as in transformation) (translative case) kirjoittamattomatta — ‘without the unwritten one’ (abessive case) kirjoittamattomine — ‘with her/his unwritten one’ (comitative case) kirjoittamattomin — ‘by means of the unwritten one’ (instructive case) VI participle, plural kirjoittamattomat — ‘the unwritten ones’ (nominative case) kirjoittamattomien — ‘of the unwritten ones’ (genitive case) kirjoittamattomia — ‘part of the unwritten ones’ (partitive case) kirjoittamattomissa — ‘in the unwritten ones’ (inessive case) kirjoittamattomista — ‘from/of the unwritten ones’ (elative case) kirjoittamattomiin — ‘into the unwritten ones’ (as in location) (illative case) kirjoittamattomilla — ‘on the unwritten ones’ (adessive case) kirjoittamattomilta — ‘from (the top of) the unwritten ones’ (ablative case) kirjoittamattomille — ‘onto the unwritten ones’ (allative case) kirjoittamattomina — ‘as the unwritten ones’ (essive case) kirjoittamattomiksi — ‘into the unwritten ones’ (as in transformation) (translative case) kirjoittamattomine — ‘with her/his unwritten ones’ (comitative case) kirjoittamattomin — ‘by means of the unwritten ones’ (instructive case)
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