Spoken verb contractions (oon, meen)

Spoken Verb Contractions

In everyday spoken Finnish (puhekieli), high-frequency verbs are heavily contracted. To speak faster, Finnish speakers drop consonants from the middle of the verb, leaving a single syllable with a long vowel.

(Note: While *panna means "to put", in spoken Finnish it is very commonly used in phrases like panna viestiä, meaning "to send a message".)*

As a quick reminder from the previous lesson, the spoken plural "they" (ne) takes a singular verb. The third-person forms for these verbs (tulee, menee) do not contract and stay exactly the same as they are in written Finnish.

Knowing and Making It In Time

The verb tietää (to know) also loses its middle consonant in the spoken first person.

When making plans, you will often need the verb ehtiä. It translates to "to make it" or "to reach a place on time."

Olla (To Be) and Having the Energy

The most common verb of all, olla (to be), naturally gets shortened too. The 1st and 2nd person forms drop letters to become a single syllable, while the 3rd person form (on) is already short and stays exactly the same.

Another very helpful verb for your daily schedule is jaksaa, which means "to have the energy" or "to be bothered to do" something.