The easiest way to learn Finnish is to read and listen to short, easy Finnish about things you already like, checking the translation when you need it. Finnish you can mostly understand is called comprehensible input, and it keeps showing you the most common words and endings, so you can leave case tables and long word lists for later. Below are the first steps in order, and some easy Finnish to start with.
Is Finnish Easy to Learn?
Finnish is easy to start, and it takes a long time to learn well. You can read your first words out loud on day one, while the words and their many endings take much longer, and the U.S. Foreign Service Institute puts Finnish in the third of its four groups for English speakers. Our guide to the fastest way shows how long it takes.
Three things make the start easier than it looks.
- Letters You Already KnowFinnish is written with the letters English uses, plus ä and ö.
- Words You Already KnowSome Finnish words look like English ones, such as hotelli (hotel), taksi (taxi) and banaani (banana).
- No Masculine or FeminineFinnish has no masculine or feminine words, so you never need to learn which one a word is.
What Is the Easiest Way to Start?
The easiest way to start is with greetings and other short Finnish you enjoy, one small step at a time.
- Start With GreetingsBegin with lines you can use right away, like hei (hello) and kiitos (thank you).
- Read About What You LoveRead short dialogues about food, music, or anything else you already enjoy.
- Listen While You ReadPlay the audio as you read, so each word's sound and spelling go together.
- Hide the TranslationKeep the English hidden, and check it only when a line stops you.
- Save a Few WordsSave only the few words you want to keep, along with the line you found each one in.
- Say a Line Out LoudRead a line aloud whenever it feels fun, like Yksi kahvi, kiitos (One coffee, please) before a trip to a Finnish cafe.
Bubblegum is a language app for reading and listening to Finnish at your level, with lessons that Poppy, its AI tutor, writes about the things you like. Words you save come back inside new lessons through Regenerative Review™, so reviewing them means reading more Finnish.
What Makes Finnish Feel Hard, and How Can You Make It Easier?
Four parts of Finnish feel hard at first, and each one gets easier when you meet it again and again in easy Finnish.
| What feels hard | The easy fix |
|---|---|
| Words that change their endings | Easy lines repeat the most common endings many times, as in Pidän musiikista (I like music), so they feel familiar before you see a table. Open a grammar note only when one confuses you. |
| Short and long sounds | Finnish writes a long sound with two letters, so kuka (who) and kukka (flower) are different words. Play the audio and listen for the longer sound. |
| Everyday spoken Finnish | People often shorten words when they talk, so kaksi (two) can sound like kaks. Simple Finnish Stories reads stories in everyday spoken Finnish as well as written Finnish, so both start to sound familiar. |
| Long words | Many long words are short words joined together, as in rautatieasema (train station), which is rauta (iron), tie (road) and asema (station). Look for the short words inside a long one. |
What Is Easy Finnish to Start With?
Easy Finnish to start with is short and slow, with pictures, audio or a transcript to help you follow it.
| What | Why it's easy | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Yle Opi suomea | Short videos and exercises for learners start with the Finnish alphabet. | yle.fi |
| Simple Finnish Stories | Short stories are read aloud for learners at levels A1 to B2. | youtube.com/@SimpleFinnishStories |
| Selkosanomat | New articles in Easy Finnish come out every week, and you can listen to each one. | selkosanomat.fi |
| Helppoa suomea | Each episode of this podcast in easy Finnish has a free transcript, once you know some words. | podcasts.apple.com |
If a new word shows up in almost every line, switch to something easier.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Finnish pronunciation hard?
Most of it is easy, because Finnish spells most words the way they sound, and every word is stressed on its first syllable. Once you know the letters, you can read a new word out loud. The vowels ö and y take the most listening, because English has no sound quite like them, as in yö (night).
Can I learn Finnish just by watching Finnish shows?
Not at the start, because most of an episode goes by too fast for a beginner to learn from. Shows help more once you can follow a simple conversation, especially with Finnish subtitles on. Yle Areena, the streaming service of Finland's public broadcaster, lets you turn on Finnish subtitles for shows in Finnish, though some shows can be watched only in Finland.
Which Finnish app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Finnish, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. For courses, tutors and speaking practice, see our comparison of Finnish apps.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (FSI language categories)
- Wikipedia, Finnish orthography (the basic Latin letters plus ä and ö; a long sound is written with a double letter)
- Wikipedia, Finnish grammar (Finnish has no grammatical gender)
- Wikipedia, Finnish phonology (stress on the first syllable of a word)
- Wikipedia, Colloquial Finnish (kaks in place of kaksi)
- Yle Opi suomea (free videos and exercises for Finnish learners)
- Simple Finnish Stories on YouTube (short stories in written and everyday spoken Finnish, A1 to B2)
- Selkosanomat: news in Easy Finnish, with audio for each article
- Helppoa suomea podcast (free transcripts for each episode)
- Yle: Subtitles on Yle channels and in Yle Areena
- Yle: Using Yle Areena abroad
