The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Finnish language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Finnish phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Finnish.

Consonants[1]
IPA Examples English approximation
b bussi[2] big
d ladot adept
f filmi[2] film
ɡ magia[2] go
h hevonen, vaha horse
j joulu yolk
k kala scold
lakki backgammon
l laulu lack
pullo taillight
m metsä, onpa[3] may
kammio, Ahvenanmaa[3] roommate
n nenä nanny
kannu unnatural
ŋ ken[3] sing
ŋː vangita singing
p puu pool
lippu flipbook
r rauta rolled r, like Spanish perro
s sinä between sip and ship (retracted)
kissa between this sip and trash ship (retracted)
ʃ šakki[2] ship
t tina stand
hattu outdo
ʋ viha between vet and wet
ʔ vaaan, linja-auto the pause in uh-oh
Stress
IPA Examples Explanation
ˈ hevonen
[ˈheʋonen]
Normally placed on the first syllable.
ˌ hernekeitto
[ˈherneˌkːei̯tːo]
A second syllable in some compound words.
tule! [ˈtuˌle] The second syllable in two-syllable imperatives.
Vowels[4]
Short Long
IPA Examples English approximation IPA Examples English approximation
ɑ pouta like father, but shorter ɑː poutaa father
æ pöytä cat æː päivää mad
e terve let eesti pay
i viha city siika see
o oksa like more, but shorter koostaa more
ø pöly somewhat like nurse øː säröön somewhat like bird
u surma influence suu, ruoan cool
y kesy somewhat like cute ryyppy somewhat like cube
Diphthongs
IPA Examples English approximation
ɑi̯ aika eye
ɑu̯ aura how
æi̯ äiti main (Australia)
æy̯ täytyy somewhat like mouth (Estuary English)
ei̯ ei, hei pay
eu̯ neutraali somewhat like mouth (Dublin English), Spanish or Italian neutro
ey̯ keskeytyä no English equivalent
ie̯ kieli somewhat like yes
iu̯ viulu few
iy̯ siistiytyä no English equivalent
oi̯ koittaa, koettaa coin
ou̯ outo role
øi̯ töi no English equivalent: French feuille
øy̯ pöyristyä rope (Received Pronunciation)
ui̯ muita ruin
uo̯ Suomi somewhat like woah
yi̯ syi somewhat like we
yø̯ , t no English equivalent: French pollueuse

Notes

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  1. ^ Most Finnish consonants usually contrast between shorter and longer pronunciation. Long consonants are marked with the symbol /ː/.
  2. ^ a b c d [b], [f], [ɡ], and [ʃ] occur only in loanwords. In casual speech, they may be replaced with [p], [ʋ], [k], and [s], respectively.
  3. ^ a b c /n/ has three allophones: [ŋ] before /k/, [m] before /p/ (or [b]) or /m/, and [n] elsewhere.
  4. ^ All Finnish vowels have both a long and a short phoneme.

References

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  • Suomi, Kari; Toivanen, Juhani; Ylitalo, Riikka (2008), Finnish sound structure, ISBN 978-951-42-8983-5

See also

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