Hyvää maanantaita kaikille!

Mitä kuuluu? God måndag alla! Hur mår ni?

Now you may wonder what on earth is she saying….”Good morning everyone, how are you doing?” is another way to put it. There’s two official languages in Finland: Finnish and Swedish. However only about five percent of the population speaks Swedish as their mother language. Rest of us (me included) try to learn Swedish in school but fails miserably - mostly because of lack of motivation.

Most Finns speak good English but especially with older people it’s always good to know some basic phrases in Finnish. So here you go!

Hei/Moi/Terve = Hello! (terve means also "healthy")

Hauska tutustua. = Nice to meet you.

Kiitos! = Thank you!

Ole hyvä! = You're welcome!

Kyllä = Yes

Ei = No

Anteeksi = I’m sorry

Paljonko kello on? = What time is it?

Olen eksynyt ja tarvitsen apua. = I’m lost and I need help.

En puhu suomea = I do not speak Finnish.

Yksi olut kiitos. = One beer, please.

Viina = spirits

Sauna = sauna

Terva = tar

1 = yksi

2 = kaksi

3= kolme

4= neljä

5 = viisi

6 = kuusi [kuusi means also ”spruce” (Picea spp.)]

7 = seitsemän

8 = kahdeksan

9 = yhdeksän

10 = kymmenen

Kuusi = spruce

Mänty = pine

Koivu = birch

Metsä = forest

Kirves = axe

Kokko kokoon! Kokkoko kokoon? Koko kokkoko kokoon? Ok, kokoon koko kokon kokoon. Koko kokonko kokoot kokoon? Kokoon. Kokko kokoon! Ok!" = Make the (camp)fire! Campfire? The whole camp fire? Ok,I´ll make the whole campfire. U make the whole campfire? I´ll make. Campfire must be done! Ok"

Thus I challenge you all to learn at least few of there words, numbers and phrases! Any person who learns the last phrase correctly will receive a big big pint of beer or juice from me in August.

Spring greetings,

Jenni the Penny