Finnish handles incoming words along a spectrum. At one end are old, fully nativised loans that have been rebuilt from Finnish letters until nothing foreign remains — koulu (school), kahvi (coffee), pankki (bank). At the other end are foreign names, which keep their original spelling untouched but still have to receive Finnish case endings somehow. In between sit thousands of modern loans that keep some foreign letters (banaani, filmi) while obeying Finnish spelling rules. The single hardest thing for an English speaker is not the spelling itself — it is that Finnish never adds an English -s plural or an apostrophe-s to these words; it declines them, and it decides which ending by how the word sounds, not how it looks. The raw letter inventory (b, c, f, q, w, x, z, å) is covered on Letters Only in Loanwords; this page is about how whole words are adapted and inflected.
Nativised loans: rebuilt from Finnish letters
The oldest borrowings were reshaped to fit the native sound system, and are no longer felt to be foreign at all. Modern loans are respelled more lightly, but the same instinct applies: adapt the letters, then let the word behave like any Finnish word — doubling vowels and consonants where Finnish phonotactics require.
| Source | Finnish | What was adapted |
|---|---|---|
| pizza | pitsa | zz → ts |
| chat | chatti / tsätti (informal) | ch kept, or respelled ts; t doubles |
| taxi | taksi | x → ks |
| studio | studio / stondis (slang) | mostly kept |
| address | osoite (native word) / adressi | fully or partly nativised |
Tilasin pitsan ja söin sen studiolla.
I ordered a pizza and ate it at the studio. — 'pitsa' respells zz as ts; 'studio' is kept close to the source.
Jatketaan keskustelua chatissa.
Let's continue the conversation in the chat. — 'chatti' keeps the foreign 'ch' but doubles the t and takes Finnish endings.
Established loans keep b, g and f
Modern Finnish is comfortable with b, g and f in well-settled loans, even though the native sound system did without them. These words are ordinary vocabulary and are pronounced with plain, unaspirated Finnish sounds.
Ostin banaaneja ja tulin kotiin bussilla.
I bought bananas and came home by bus. — 'banaani' and 'bussi' keep b and double their consonants Finnish-style.
Katsoimme vanhan filmin ja söimme jogurttia.
We watched an old film and ate yoghurt. — 'filmi' keeps f; 'jogurtti' keeps g and doubles the t.
Foreign names: keep the spelling, add the ending
Proper names — of foreign people and places — keep their original spelling but must still take Finnish case endings. There are three situations, and choosing the right one is what separates a fluent writer from a beginner.
1. Name ends in a pronounced consonant or vowel → attach the ending directly. No punctuation, exactly as with a native word.
Asuin vuoden New Yorkissa ja kuukauden Berliinissä.
I lived a year in New York and a month in Berlin. — the endings attach directly: -ssa (back) to York, -ssä (front) to Berlin.
Lensimme Amsterdamista Roomaan.
We flew from Amsterdam to Rome. — direct endings on names ending in a pronounced consonant/vowel.
2. Name ends in a silent letter → separate the ending with an apostrophe. If the written word ends in a letter that is not pronounced, you cannot just glue the ending on, so an apostrophe marks the seam.
Vietin viikonlopun Bordeaux'ssa.
I spent the weekend in Bordeaux. — the x is silent (bordoo), so an apostrophe separates the ending: Bordeaux'ssa.
Palasimme juuri Versailles'sta.
We've just come back from Versailles. — the final letters are silent, so the ending needs an apostrophe: Versailles'sta.
3. Abbreviations, acronyms and figures → separate the ending with a colon. This is the colon you also meet on Writing Numbers: EU:ssa, USA:sta, 5:ltä.
Opiskelin vuoden EU:ssa ja palasin USA:sta viime kesänä.
I studied a year in the EU and came back from the USA last summer. — acronyms take a colon before the ending.
Harmony is set by pronunciation, not spelling
This is the point that is botched almost universally. When a foreign name takes an ending, vowel harmony is decided by how the name is pronounced, not by the letters on the page. A name written with back-looking letters but said with front vowels takes a front ending, and vice versa.
- New York is said "jork," with a back o → back ending: New Yorkissa.
- Bordeaux is said "bordoo," with back o/u → back ending: Bordeaux'ssa.
- München is said "mynhen," with front y → front ending: Münchenissä.
Lennän ensi viikolla Müncheniin.
I'm flying to Munich next week. — the foreign spelling is kept and the case ending attaches directly: the illative is Müncheniin, because the final -n is pronounced.
Vietän kesän New Yorkissa mutta joulun Münchenissä.
I'll spend the summer in New York but Christmas in Munich. — back -ssa for York, front -ssä for München, decided by sound.
The English-speaker reflex is either to skip the ending entirely (I was in München) or to pick harmony from the visible letters. Say the name to yourself first: its last back or front vowel sound chooses the suffix.
Loans may break harmony
Native Finnish stems never mix back (a, o, u) with front (ä, ö, y) vowels, but loans are free to violate this. Such disharmonic words take their endings from the last back or front vowel in the stem — see Harmony in Loanwords and the wider list of Exceptions.
Ensi kesän olympialaiset kiinnostavat koko perhettä.
Next summer's Olympics interest the whole family. — 'olympialaiset' mixes back o with front y, which no native word would do.
Hän on innokas amatööri.
He's an enthusiastic amateur. — 'amatööri' combines back a with front ö.
Foreign letters never trigger gradation
Consonant gradation — the native alternation katu → kadun, pankki → pankin — is a purely Finnish system, and letters felt to be foreign stand outside it. A b or f in a loan never alternates, and foreign names keep their consonants unchanged.
New Yorkin metro on valtava.
New York's metro is enormous. — the genitive is New Yorkin; the k does not gradate to New Yorgin the way a native word's would.
Common Mistakes
❌ Kävin New Yorkissä.
Incorrect — 'York' is said with a back o, so the ending is back: New Yorkissa.
✅ Kävin New Yorkissa.
I visited New York.
❌ Olin viikon Münchenissa.
Incorrect — München is said with a front y, so the ending is front: Münchenissä.
✅ Olin viikon Münchenissä.
I was in Munich for a week.
❌ Palasin juuri Bordeauxsta.
Incorrect — the silent x needs an apostrophe before the ending: Bordeaux'sta.
✅ Palasin juuri Bordeaux'sta.
I've just come back from Bordeaux.
❌ Söin kaksi pizzas.
Incorrect — Finnish never adds an English -s plural; it declines the nativised word: pitsaa / pitsoja.
✅ Söin kaksi pitsaa.
I ate two pizzas. — 'pitsa' is nativised and takes the Finnish partitive.
❌ Näin sen EU:ssä.
Incorrect — EU is read 'ee-uu' with a back u, so the ending is back: EU:ssa.
✅ Näin sen EU:ssa.
I saw it in the EU.
Key Takeaways
- Settled loans are respelled and doubled to fit Finnish (pizza → pitsa, bus → bussi, film → filmi); b, g and f are freely kept.
- Foreign names keep their spelling but take Finnish endings: directly if the last letter is pronounced (New Yorkissa), with an apostrophe if it is silent (Bordeaux'ssa), and with a colon for acronyms/figures (EU:ssa).
- Harmony follows pronunciation, not spelling — New Yorkissa (back) versus Münchenissä (front). This is the error to guard against.
- Loans may be disharmonic (olympialaiset, amatööri) and take endings from the last vowel.
- Foreign letters never trigger consonant gradation (New York : New Yorkin).
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Start learning Finnish→Related Topics
- Letters Only in Loanwords: B, C, F, Q, W, X, Z, ÅA1 — Eight letters outside Finnish's native sound system — how older loans dropped them (koulu, kahvi), how newer loans keep them, and why they always take Finnish pronunciation.
- Inflecting Foreign and Loan NounsB2 — How borrowed and foreign nouns decline: settled loans that inflect normally, the -seen illative for -oo names, and the colon and apostrophe for names.
- Vowel Harmony in LoanwordsB2 — Loans that fit one class harmonize normally (miljoona → miljoonassa); disharmonic loans take endings by their LAST non-neutral vowel (olympialaiset).
- Exceptions and Disharmonic WordsB2 — Finnish has essentially NO native harmony exceptions — every disharmonic word is a loan, compound, or name, and even those follow the last-vowel rule.