Questions & Answers about Anteeksi, rouva.
A good learner-friendly pronunciation is:
- Anteeksi → AN-teek-si
- rouva → ROU-va
A few helpful details:
- Finnish stress is usually on the first syllable of the word.
- ee in Anteeksi is a long vowel, so hold it a little longer.
- ou in rouva is a diphthong said in one smooth sound.
- The r in Finnish is usually tapped or lightly rolled.
So the rhythm is very regular: AN-teek-si, ROU-va.
In this sentence, it is best to learn anteeksi as a fixed polite expression.
It functions like an interjection or set phrase, similar to excuse me or sorry in English. You do not need to treat it here like a normal verb that you conjugate.
You will also see it in the expression antaa anteeksi (to forgive), but in Anteeksi, rouva, just think of anteeksi as a ready-made polite word.
The comma is there because rouva is a direct address word.
The speaker is talking to someone and calling them madam. In writing, Finnish often uses a comma here just like English does with direct address.
So the comma marks a small pause:
Anteeksi, rouva.
In speech, you would usually hear that pause naturally.