The ABCs of Finglish – Starter Pack for Beginners

Striimata / to stream

”Luento striimataan suorana lähetyksenä yliopiston luentosalista.”
”The lecture is live streamed online from university’s lecture hall.”

Probably one of the most useful words in the 2020’s. Is there any event today you can’t stream and share online?

Äppi / an app, an application

“Meillä on erilliset äpit elokuville ja äänikirjoille.”
”We have separate apps for movies and audiobooks.”

The correct translation for application would be sovellus, but why bother using such a long word?

Dinneri / a dinner

”Mennään dinnerille jonnekin kivaan ravintolaan.”
”Let’s go for a dinner to some nice restaurant.”

One of the most controversial Finglish words. Used by people who may have forgotten päivällinen, the actual Finnish word for dinner.

Dropata / to drop

"Mä voin droppaa paketin sun luo."
"I can leave the package to your place."

"Vau, mikä bassodroppi!"
"Wow, that was a cool bass drop!"

"On oltava varovainen - kalliolta on valtava droppi alas."
"You must be careful - there's a huge drop down from the rock."

Delightfully multifunctional word. Hopefully we don't have any drop-outs on our course.

Smoothisti / smoothly

"Tämä työhaastattelu meni aika smoothisti."
"This job interview went quite smoothly."

It would be glorious if every day went as smooth as possible. Not to be mixed up with smoothie. That might cause interesting conversations.

Abouttiarallaa / about

“Kurssille osallistui abouttiarallaa parikymmentä opiskelijaa.”
”About twenty students took part in the course.”

Playful way to say suunnilleen or noin. No one really knows why you should use an expression like that, although it’s quite common Finglish word. You can also say heipparallaa if you want to say hello in a more familiar way.

Nou hätä, nou wörriis, nou pänik / No emergency, no worries, no panic

”Nou hätä, ehdimme sinne ajoissa.”
”No worries, we will get there on time.”

“Ole kuin kotonasi, nou wörriis.”
”Make yourself at home, no worries.”

“Ota vain rennosti. Nou pänik.”
“Just take it easy. There’s no need to panic.”

Hätä, which means emergency in Finnish, is commonly used together with English word no but written as nou. As you can see, Finnish people don’t seem to take too much pressure of using Finglish expressions.

Rageeminen / to rage

“Mä olin aivan ragena sille.”
”I was completely raging at him/her/it.”

”Tuo rageeminen ei auta meitä lainkaan.”
”That raging doesn’t help us at all.”

Mainly used by younger people, rageeminen might sound a bit more offensive in a situation in question. Correct translation would be suuttuminen/suuttua or ärsyyntyminen/ärsyyntyä.

Diippi / deep, leveli / level

“Nyt ollaan aika diipillä levelillä.”
“We are on a quite deep level now.”

Classic, genius Finglish. There’s nothing more to add. Let’s have some deep level conversations.

Keissi / case

“Ratkaistaan tämä keissi.”
”Let’s solve this case.”

“Häitä varten ostimme keissin kaljaa.”
”We bought 24-pack of beer for the wedding.”

Another, probably more sophisticated word for kalja – olut – isn’t normally used together with the word “keissi”. Just for the record.

Wörtti / worth (it)

“Kolmen tunnin ajomatka ei oo wörtti.”
”Three hour drive is not worth it.”

This is classic Finglish. Wörtti is translated (from Finglish to Finnish) as “olla jonkin arvoista”, so making this kind of detour is quite understandable.

Wörkkiä / to work, to run, to function

“Tää tietokone ei meinaa wörkkiä”.
”This computer isn't working.”

Briiffi, briiffata / a brief, to brief

”Briiffaa mua tulevaa kokousta varten.”
”Brief me for the upcoming meeting.”

”Anna lyhyt briiffi eilisestä palaverista.”
“Give me a short brief from yesterday’s meeting.”

The favourite word among managers, secretaries and people generally who need constant briefing.

Meiks sens / makes sense

“No, kyllähän tuo tavallaan meiks sense.”
”Well, in a way that does make sense.”

Sometimes Finglish is pure robbery: putting English words into a sentence. Occasionally, Finglish is written as pronounced in Finnish.

Fain / fine

“Toi on fain.”
“That’s fine.”

Everything above-mentioned. For some reason, this word is very common and widely used.

If you wan't to learn more funny Finnish idioms, join our Intensive Finnish Language and Culture courses in Jyväskylä!