Basic questions

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JimmyM
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Basic questions

Post by JimmyM » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:22 am

I'm learning finnish on my own because there are no instructors near me, so I have a few more questions on proper forms and grammar sorts of things...

1. Mikä teidän nimenne on?
Would "Nimenneko" work the same way? Seeing as the suffix identifies the other person and a question? I ask because depending on what I'm reading, some Finnish seems more condensed or possible more slang, but I don't know!

2. Minä ajattelen me täytyä menemme teatteri.
Would this be the correct way to say something like this? After the verb "to go", I don't know if the place goes right after words, or if there is an equivalent to "to the", but I don't think Finnish has articles, does it?

3. Sinä laitat minä haluan ajan Suomi.
Same thing here, I was wondering if you ever use a verb in it's original form, like "ajatella" or "toimia" without conjugating it, the only instance I could think of would be if you were commanding with the word, like telling someone "istua" to sit, but again it would make just as much sense to me to conjugate it...?

Any help you can give me is appreciated, and please correct anything that's at all incorrect, thanks!


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Basic questions

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EP
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Post by EP » Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:40 am

"Nimenneko"
1. Mikä teidän nimenne on? (sinun nimesi on?) is correct. "Nimennekö on?" is not the same. It is a sort of affirmative question. The person has already heard the name but is not quite certain s/he has it right.

2. "Minä ajattelen me täytyä menemme teatteri. "

I don´t know how to explain this, I have never thought about what comes after "mennä". But in this case not "taytyä" (= must), nobody has an obligation to go to theatre. But if it would be in that form (= there is a strong force that makes you go to theatre), it would be "Minun mielestäni (in my mind) meidän (=us, not we) täytyy mennä teatteriin (have to go to theatre)".

If it is a suggestion to go to a theatre it would be for example: "Mentäisiinkö teatteriin?" (conditional form, it is a suggestion)

3. "Sinä laitat minä haluan ajan Suomi."

OK, so this is the only one that totally lost me, the other two I would have understood. That commanding form is called imperative, and also it is conjugated. For "ajatella" it is "ajattele" for singular and "ajatellaan" for pl 1.st person and "ajatelkaa" for the rest.

For "toimi" it is "toimi" for singular, and "toimikaa" for plural. For istua it is "istu" for singular and "istukaa" for plural, except pl 1st person it is "istukaamme" or "istutaan".

""Sinä laitat minä haluan ajan Suomi."

Say that in English so it can be corrected and you get a better picture.
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enk
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Post by enk » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:01 am

EP wrote:""Sinä laitat minä haluan ajan Suomi."
You make me want to drive to Finland? :lol:

-enk
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sinikettu
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Post by sinikettu » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:14 am

enk wrote:
EP wrote:""Sinä laitat minä haluan ajan Suomi."
You make me want to drive to Finland? :lol:

-enk
Umm has me wondering also what Jimmy wants to say..
"You make me want to push/drive Finland"....where to?...further away from Sweden.. :D
People do not become more irritable as they grow old - they simply stop making the effort to avoid annoying others.
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EP
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Post by EP » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:19 am

OK, lets not get too witty. I actually didn´t understand "ajan" as a verb, I understood it as a noun "aika", (ajan = of time).
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Hank W.
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Post by Hank W. » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:22 am

Sinä laitat minä haluan ajan Suomi.
Nice beat poetry...
You put, I want, Finland of the time.
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
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sinikettu
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Post by sinikettu » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:42 am

Could be...
"You make me want to be for a time in Finland.."
People do not become more irritable as they grow old - they simply stop making the effort to avoid annoying others.
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otyikondo
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Post by otyikondo » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:47 am

"Amor vincit omnia, Baby, but you make me want to drive to Finland."

The meaning of this sentence is of course dependent on one's view of Finland. And the location of the object of affection/non-affection, I guess.
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EP
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Post by EP » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:52 am

Give some respect.
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JimmyM
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Post by JimmyM » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:53 am

Agh, yeah, my only resources are online translations, looks like I mistranslates a bunch! With the theater part, I was intending to say "I think we SHOULD go to the theater" and for the last one, I was intending "want to travel". Sorry for the confusion!
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enk
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Post by enk » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:55 am

Jimmy: If you're using machine translations, don't bother.

and EP, I meant no disrespect. I wonder sometimes how the
people I first wrote to in Finnish (let alone the ones I write to now)
understood anything I ever said. :lol:

-enk
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EP
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Post by EP » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:58 am

With good will. :wink:
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sinikettu
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Post by sinikettu » Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:03 pm

JimmyM wrote:, I was intending "want to travel". Sorry for the confusion!

Sinä laitat minä haluan käydä Suomessa...

I wonder if.."pitäisi " is the right verb for "Should" go to the theatre...

"I think we SHOULD go to the theater"

Minä ajattelen me pitäsimme käydä teatterissa..
Last edited by sinikettu on Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
People do not become more irritable as they grow old - they simply stop making the effort to avoid annoying others.
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EP
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Post by EP » Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:10 pm

Sinä laitat minä haluan ajan Suomi.
I don´t get this "sinä" part. What part does the other person play in your travel lust? I would want to travel to Finland would be "Haluaisin matkustaa Suomeen" or "Haluaisin käydä Suomessa".

And yes, forget those machine translations. They may work to some extent with Indo-European languages, but they are totally useless with Finnish. There are some hilarious examples for example on some boxes and instructions.
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Hank W.
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Post by Hank W. » Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:12 pm

EP wrote:I don´t get this "sinä" part. What part does the other person play in your travel lust?
Lust :!:

You are making me to want to travel to Finland.

Image
Last edited by Hank W. on Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
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