Finnish/Aakkoset

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In short, the basic alphabet of the Finnish language: Aakkoset: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z å ä ö

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Finnish is a very phonetic language, as every pronunciation has its own letter. That is to say that things are "pronounced exactly as they are written" so SAMPA and IPA notations of Finnish words are almost identical to the written language. However, do not take this too literally; there are certainly many details in speech that cannot be easily expressed in written language, and Finnish is no exception.

The glyphs 'ä' and 'ö' have been borrowed from Swedish. They are independent letters and phonemes (sounds), not modified nor accented letters. Changing 'Ä' into 'A' or 'Ö' into 'O' is akin to changing 'Q' into 'O'.

• Ä is similar to the following bolded sounds in English: "A fat pancake man sat on a cat."
• Ö is similar to the following bolded sounds in British English: "Girls all over the world tried to figure out what all the words mean until a consensus was reached that it cannot be worked out."

Go through each of the letters of the alphabet and practice saying them:

Letter	Pronunciation	IPA	English approximation	Audio sample
Aa	aah	ɑ	aunt	A, auto, aamu, ananas |
Bb	beh	b	best	B, bensiini, Bertta |
Cc	seh	s	cement	C, Cecilia, Celsius |
Dd	deh	d	demonstrate	D, vadelma, kädet |
Ee	eeh	e	electricity	E, eurooppa, eskimo, teippi |
Ff	aeff	f	affection	F, faarao |
Gg	geh	g	gave	G, kengät, grilli |
Hh	hoh	h	hold	H, hahlo, Helsinki |
Ii	eeh	i	eat	I, Inari, liivi |
Jj	yee	j	yield	J, Jaakko, tarjous |
Kk	kooh	k	covert	K, kukka, osake |
Ll	ael	l	altitude	L, lahdelma, pallo |
Mm	aem	m	ambrosia	M, mämmi, kumi |
Nn	aen	n	ant	N, nänni, nuppu |
Oo	ooh	o	oval	O, mopo, orava |
Pp	peeh	p	pellet	P, pappi, ripaus |
Qq	kuuh	k	cook	Q
Rr	aer	r	arrogant	R, kärrynpyörä, särky |
Ss	aes	s	ask	S, sissi, sauna |
Šš	hattu-aes	ʃ	shoot; used mainly in transliteration and optionally in some borrowed words, e.g. šeriffi.
Tt	teeh	t	tepid	T, tuttu, tarvita |
Uu	oo	u	foot	U, uusi, luukku |
Vv	veeh	ʋ	very	V, veivi, tavuviiva |
Ww	kahksoisveeh	ʋ	very. This is not an independent letter in Finnish, but an variant of V often used archaicly. In a Finnish dictionary, you will find words beginning with v and w mixed.	W, Waltari |
Xx	aex	ks	axe	X |
Yy	eew	y	cute	Y, nyökkäys, tyttö |
Zz	tset	z/ts	like ts	[Z, tset |
Žž	hattu-tset	ʒ	mirage, treasure; used mainly in transliteration and optionally in some borrowed words, e.g. džonkki
Åå	ruotsalainen ooh	o	oval; used only in Swedish names.	Å |
Ää	aeae	æ	Adam asks for apple advice	Ä, häkä, sää, määräys |
Öö	oeoe	ø	Curled girl spoke an absurd word	Ö, hölynpöly |