Verb Question...

[TaritaP]

Just a little background on myself....born in the US with 2 finnish parents. Learned finnish first then english, but parents never taught me to read or write in finnish (go figure). Anyways....now as a new mother, I am studing to improve my skills so that I can pass down the language to my daughter. My skills need much improvement.

Ok when studing verbs, my study program gives regular and colloquial forms. For the verb "olla"...when spoken does it matter which I use?
Example
Me olemme pubissa.
Me ollaan pubissa.

Is one for written Finnish only and one spoken only? And does it matter?
Do I make any sense????

[Andrew_S]

Just a little background on myself....born in the US with 2 finnish parents. Learned finnish first then english, but parents never taught me to read or write in finnish (go figure). Anyways....now as a new mother, I am studing to improve my skills so that I can pass down the language to my daughter. My skills need much improvement.

Ok when studing verbs, my study program gives regular and colloquial forms. For the verb "olla"...when spoken does it matter which I use?
Example
Me olemme pubissa.
Me ollaan pubissa.

Is one for written Finnish only and one spoken only? And does it matter?
Do I make any sense????

Native speakers will, I'm sure, come along later with an answer. Here's mine.

"Me olemme" is pretty formal and many Finns would only use it when e.g. giving a speech or something.

"Me ollaan" is the general everyday form for most. Those who always use the book form are often regarded as stiff.

Applies to all verbs and tenses as far as I know.

Notice that e.g. "me mennään" is more literally "we, one/people/they go".

[SediaAmore]

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[TaritaP]

Also, if you stay in the u.s., there is Suomi-Koulu for children. I think in most states. I guess the youngest children attending, at least in L.A. where 5 or 6.

sedia

I wish that were the case. If I still lived in Florida, I would have a Suomi koulu near by, but here in North Dakota, I'd be lucky to find another Finn that speaks Finnish.
Thanks!!

[Andrew_S]

I forgot to say that the book forms "me olemme", "me menemme" etc. are perfectly correct and acceptable when speaking (well not the Biblical stuff like menkäämme- might raise a laugh though).
If foreigners use the colloquial language this is often taken taken to mean that they are probably fluent (danger there!).
So for a foreigner to use book forms all the time is ok, even expected of new learners who are not very fluent, as far as I know.

Mennään pubiin katselemaan jalkapalloa. (Let's go to...)

Menkäämme pubiin. Must try that some time.

[mrjimsfc]

I wish that were the case. If I still lived in Florida, I would have a Suomi koulu near by, but here in North Dakota, I'd be lucky to find another Finn that speaks Finnish.
Thanks!!

In No. Dakota, you're just a hop, skip and a jump away from Bemidji, Minnesota where they have one of the best schools for teaching Finnish in the U.S. Check out the Concordia Language Villiage and see if it would meet your needs. They have all levels of language training available for kids and adults alike. They even have a sauna on the lake! I loved it and you will too!

Jim

[Hank W.]

Them say Finnish done give hard time for study, for it done have a spoken form and a written form.

Ar u 4 reel? Ther is noe such problems in the English, yes?

So would you teach which forms in English?

Sama päteköön Suomen kieleen, olkoonkin niin, että joitakin sanamuotoja ei enää käytettäne julkisesti.