Summary of The Main Characteristics
Finnish denotes the phonemic (meaning-distinguishing) gemination with simple digraphs, e.g. sika "pig" vs. siika "whitefish" and kisa "competition, race" vs. kissa "cat".
The following table describes how each letter in the Finnish alphabet is spelled and pronounced separately. If the name of a consonant begins with a vowel (usually ä ), it can be pronounced and spelled either as a monosyllabic or bisyllabic word. In practice, the names of the letters are rarely spelled, as people usually just type the (uppercase or lowercase) glyph when then want to refer to a particular letter.
The pronunciation instructions enclosed in slashes are broad transcriptions based on the IPA system (in notes, more narrow transcriptions are enclosed in square brackets).
Finnish has true mid vowels (e, ö, and o) and thus there exists no distinction between close-mid and open-mid vowels as in e.g. /e/ vs. /ɛ/.
| Glyphs | Spelling | Pronunciation | Notes on usage (for more, see Finnish phonology) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A, a | aa | /ɑː/ | |
| B, b | bee | /beː/ | Occurs in relatively new loanwords, such as banaani 'banana' and bussi 'bus'. Typically pronounced as or . |
| C, c | see | /seː/ | Occurs in unestablished loanwords, such as curry and cesium. Typically pronounced as or . |
| D, d | dee | /deː/ | In present standard language, d stands for, but it may be pronounced as or, and the pronunciation in dialects varies a lot. Natively used in Western dialects as and not at all in Eastern dialects. |
| E, e | ee | /eː/ | The precise pronunciation tends to be between and . |
| F, f | äf, äffä | /æf/, /ˈæf.fæ/, occasionally /ef/ | Occurs in relatively new loanwords, such as asfaltti 'asphalt' or uniformu 'uniform'. Historically and in dialectal pronunciation (apart from some Western dialects), /f/ is typically replaced with /ʋ/ or medially /hʋ/ (e.g. kahvi /ˈkah.ʋi/ ← Swedish kaffe 'coffee'). Even newer loanwords may have an alternative spelling where v has replaced f (asvaltti, univormu). |
| G, g | gee | /ɡeː/ | Occurs natively in the digraph ng, which marks the long velar nasal (with no sound). Otherwise g only occurs in relatively new loanwords, such as gaala 'gala' and geeni 'gene'. Typically pronounced or . |
| H, h | hoo | /hoː/ | Normally a voiceless fricative, but the precise pronunciation depends on the preceding vowel; between two vowels may be pronounced as breathy-voiced . |
| I, i | ii | /iː/ | |
| J, j | jii | /jiː/ | Without exception (English consonant y), as in German and Swedish, never fricated or africated as in French or English. |
| K, k | koo | /koː/ | |
| L, l | äl, ällä | /æl/, /ˈæl.læ/, occasionally /el/ | |
| M, m | äm, ämmä | /æm/, /ˈæm.mæ/, occasionally /em/ | |
| N, n | än, ännä | /æn/, /ˈæn.næ/, occasionally /en/ | |
| O, o | oo | /oː/ | The precise pronunciation tends to be between and . |
| P, p | pee | /peː/ | |
| Q, q | kuu | /kuː/ | Mainly occurs in foreign proper names (in loanwords digraph qu has often been replaced with kv). Typically pronounced as . |
| R, r | är, ärrä | /ær/, /ˈær.ræ/, occasionally /er/ | |
| S, s | äs, ässä | /æs/, /ˈæs.sæ/, occasionally /es/ | |
| Š, š | hattu-äs, hattu-ässä; suhu-äs, suhu-ässä |
/ˈhattu.æs/, /ˈhattu.æssæ/; /ˈsuhu.æs/, /ˈsuhu.æssæ/ |
The "s with a hat" is a rare variant of s. It occurred in some relatively new loanwords, such as šakki 'chess' and šillinki 'shilling', but is often replaced with digraph sh (šampoo → shampoo) or, in more established loanwords, with plain s (sampoo). In theory pronounced as but in practice often as . |
| T, t | tee | /teː/ | The precise pronunciation tends to be dental rather than alveolar . |
| U, u | uu | /uː/ | The precise pronunciation tends to be between and . |
| V, v | vee | /ʋeː/ | Typically pronounced as approximant rather than fricative . |
| W, w | kaksois-vee, tupla-vee |
/ʋeː/, /ˈkɑk.soisˌʋeː/, /ˈtup.lɑˌʋeː/ |
The "double-v" may occur natively as an archaic variant of v, but otherwise in unestablished loanwords and foreign proper names only. It occurs in some rare surnames such as Waltari (e.g. Mika Waltari, a world-famous author) or in some rare first names such as Werner (e.g. Werner Söderström, a well-known publisher). In collation the letter w is treated like v. Typically pronounced . |
| X, x | äks, äksä | /æks/, /ˈæk.sæ/, occasionally /eks/ | Occurs in unestablished loanwords, such as taxi or fax, but there is often a preferred alternative where x has been replaced with digraph ks (taksi, faksi). Typically pronounced as . |
| Y, y | yy | /yː/ | The precise pronunciation tends to be between and . |
| Z, z | tset, tseta | /tset/, /ˈtse.tɑ/ | Occurs in unestablished loanwords, such as zeniitti /tse.niːt.ti/ 'zenith' or pizza, but there may be an alternative spelling with ts (e.g. pitsa). Typically pronounced, but sometimes as or . |
| Ž, ž | hattu-tset, hattu-tseta |
/ˈhat.tuˌtset/, /ˈhat.tuˌtse.tɑ/ |
The "z with a hat" is a rare variant of z. It occurs in some unestablished loanwords, such as džonkki 'junk', and foreign proper names, but is often replaced with digraph zh. In theory pronounced as but the actual pronunciation may vary. |
| Å, å | ruotsalainen oo | /oː/, /ˈruot.sɑˌlɑi.nen oː/ | The "Swedish o", carried over from the Swedish alphabet and redundant in Finnish; retained especially for writing Finland-Swedish proper names. Pronounced as . No Finnish words contain a letter å. |
| Ä, ä | ää | /æː/ | |
| Ö, ö | öö | /øː/ | The precise pronunciation tends to be between and . |
Read more about this topic: Finnish Alphabet
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