Common Finnish Words and Phrases
Finnish, like every language, has many common words and phrases worth learning early on in your language learning journey, because they are the parts of vocabulary that comes up the most often in conversation. Fortunately, this page will teach you many such words and phrases in Finnish, so you can start speaking and understanding some basic parts of conversation.
To learn important words like Yes and No and Please and Thank you, and useful phrases like How are you? and Do you speak English?, simply scroll down through the page or use the quick links provided below to skip straight to the section of your choice.
Basic Finnish Vocabulary:
Words in bold added during the last update. You can also view this list of common words from English to Finnish.
Quick Links:
Finnish Words for Yes, No, and Maybe
How to Say Please and Thank You in Finnish
Asking Do You Speak English?
Asking How Are You? in Finnish
Exchanging Names in Finnish
Finnish Words of Apology
Finnish Question Words
Asking for Help in Finnish
Finnish Words for Yes, No, and Maybe
Some of the most important words you can learn in Finnish are yes, no, and maybe.
Kyllä ➔ Yes
Ei ➔ No
Ehkä ➔ Maybe
How to Say Please and Thank You in Finnish
Please, thank you, and you're welcome are also pretty important words to learn too. (If you want to be polite!)
Ole hyvä ➔ Please
Kiitos ➔ Thank you
Ei kestä. ➔ You're welcome. / Think nothing of it.
Ei kestä kiittää! ➔ You're welcome. / Don't mention it.
Asking Do You Speak English?
Another basic sentence that can be well worth learning is, 'Do you speak English?'
Puhutko englantia? ➔ Do you speak English?
Asking How Are You? in Finnish
If you've been wondering how to ask and answer the question, 'How are you?' then this should help.
Mitä kuuluu? ➔ How are you? (lit. what is being heard?)
Miten menee? ➔ How's it going?
Kuinka voit? ➔ How are you feeling?
Ei niin hyvää. ➔ Not so good.
Hyvää, kiitos. ➔ Fine, thanks.
Hyvin. ➔ Good.
Kiitos, hyvin. ➔ Thanks, fine.
Exchanging Names in Finnish
And here are the translations you'll be needing if you want to exchange names.
Mikä on nimesi? ➔ What's your name?
Mikä sinun nimesi on? ➔ What's your name?
Minun nimeni on (name). ➔ My name is (name).
Finnish Words of Apology
If it's time to say 'Sorry', then these translations should help.
Anteeksi ➔ Sorry (also 'excuse me' and 'pardon me')
Olen pahoillani. ➔ I'm sorry.
Finnish Question Words
And here are the translations to the basic question words who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Kuka ➔ Who
Mitä ➔ What
Milloin ➔ When
Missä ➔ Where
Miksi ➔ Why
Miten ➔ How
Asking for Help in Finnish
In case you'll need to ask for help, it's always a good idea to remember these translations.
Apua! ➔ Help!
Olen eksynyt. ➔ I'm lost.
Tarvitsen poliisin. ➔ I need the police.
Voitko auttaa minua? ➔ Can you help me?
This list of common Finnish words was last updated on March 16, 2025.
Next Up
Colors in Finnish: Learn how to say color words in Finnish.
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