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Please use this topic to post feedback and suggestions on the course content or to report any errors you find.
Course Description
A picture-based introduction to Finnish vocabulary and basic phrases - with some audio. By using the “more” or “less” buttons, you can turn on or turn off the English translation for the images when learning and reviewing.
‘STRICT TYPING’ IS CURRENTLY ENABLED.
Hello, I’m having trouble with the following sentence:
onkohan tämä oikea laitun määräasemani on Lahti? It’s on level 42.
It seems that platform should be “laituri”, not “laitun”.
And I’m still not sure how it works grammatically. The first part is"is this the right platform" and the second “my destination is Lahti”, but shouldn’t there be some “if” between? Or is it implied somehow?
Hi @widle,
On the first point, you are quite right. It should be “laituri”. It seems that I misread my own handwriting (or I need new glasses!) 
I will correct the entry.
On the grammar point, My source document for this entry was a tourist phrasebook, so it’s possible that we are in “my hovercraft is full of eels” territory here. 
I hope not!
I haven’t been able to find a definitive definition for “määräasemani” but it seems to be a compound word made up of määrä (number) and asema (station), making that part of the phrase “…right platform number of the station…”. I’ll do some more digging but, if a friendly native Finnish speaker passes this way, perhaps they could put me right on this.
The same phrasebook, also offers these two:
The first of those would also be a suitable fit for the picture I used in the entry in Level 42, so I could add it as an alternative, if you think it would be helpful.
Thanks for flagging this one up.
Määräasema is translated as “destination” on sanakirja.org, so that’s what led me to my previous half-translation.
Let’s see if I can find a Finn to help us with the grammar.
OK, thanks. My dictionary gives “määränpää” for destination and “määräpaikka” for place of destination, but I have now found this, which would fit very well with your original point:
http://www.eudict.com/?lang=fineng&word=pääteasema,%20määräasema
I am starting to think that it shouldn’t be a single sentence at all and that what you would actually say is:
“Onkohan tämä oikea laituri. Määräasemani on Lahti.”
Here’s an answer from a Finn:
It is indeed the case that it should be two separate phrases. Määräasema is not necessarily a word I would use, it sounds very formal but it is understood to mean “destination station” (määränpää: destination, the place you want to end up). Normally, people would just say “Olen matkalla Lahteen” or “Olen menossa Lahteen”.
So the only thing left to fix in alanh’s latest suggestion is to put a question mark after the first sentence.
If you’d like to tie those two sentences together, you could use jos = if or kun = when.
So, two sentences, like you suggested. And regarding the latter sentences:
Oh, and I wouldn’t trust the mentioned phrase book, because “Is this the right train to Lahti?” = “Onko tämä Lahteen juna?” is also wrong. It should be Onko tämä Lahteen menevä juna? or Meneekö tämä juna Lahteen?
Done! Thanks again.
I’m not really sure about sentences, because I didn’t see them in English. At least all sentences have some correct meaning.
On level 5:
keittiön pöytä -> keittiönpöytä
On level 8:
“millainen höyhen on?” means “what kind of thing is a/the feather(s)?”. The picture is so small so I can’t tell if this is correct.
On level 16:
voitteko opastaa minut Vantaan? -> Voitteko opastaa minut Vantaalle?
On level 17:
karjalan piirakka -> karjalanpiirakka
On level 35:
jossa on kaksois vuode -> jossa on kaksoisvuode
On level 38:
musta housut -> mustat housut
On level 40:
saapaat -> saappaat
On level 42:
menen työhön autolla -> menen töihin autolla
This is not really incorrect, but it is more common to use plural.
On level 48:
minkä lajin kukka tuo on?
This sounds little weird. I would say “mitä lajia tuo kukka on?”.
On level 52:
tyhjä lasit -> tyhjät lasit
On level 60:
hän haastatteli häntä kolarista. This means “He/she interviewed him-/herself about crash”. At least second ‘hän’ must be specified.
For example: hän haastatteli silminnäkijää kolarista. This means “He/she interviewed witness about crash”.
On level 70:
kastike pullo on kaapissa. kastike pullo -> kastikepullo
uima-altaassa ovat monet ihmiset tänään. People understand this, but would not never use this word order.
I would say: monet ihmiset ovat tänään uima-altaassa.
On level 71:
minusta suklaakakku on kivaa. Adjective doesn’t agree with the noun.
minusta suklaakakku on kiva. (I think chocolate cake is fun. (kiva is not really same as fun, but I don’t know any better adjective.))
isäni on amerikkasta -> isäni on amerikasta.
On level 72:
menen koulun nyt -> menen kouluun nyt
kompassin neula aina osoittaa pohjoiseen -> kompassin neula osoittaa aina pohjoiseen
On level 74:
lähteä tupakalta. This means “to leave from smoking place after smoking”. Is this correct?
Gosh, that was quick.
If you click on the “more” button, you get to see the English word or phrase that is represented by the image. Does that help?
Afterthought: I should, of course, have said that you only see the “more” (and “less”) button(s) when you are in Preview or Review mode - and you see a bigger version of the picture then, too. So, for those items where you need a closer look, I would go to the Level page then click on “Options”, then “Preview” and then scroll through the Level using the “Next” button or the “Enter” key.
Thanks again for your help!
On level 59:
“Ostan banaania.” means “I am buying a banana”. “Ostan banaaneita.” would mean “I am buying some bananas.”
On level 60:
koira haukkuu vierasta ihmistä. -> koira haukkuu vieraille ihmisille.
On level 64:
minä voin pahoin has alternative “minulla on pahoin”, which does not make sense. “Minulla on pahoinvointia” is possible.
minua pyörryttää has alternative “minulla on huimausta”, which is wrong. It can be corrected to “minua huimaa”.
On level 69:
I didn’t notice before: magneetti -> mangeetti.
On level 74:
lähteä tupakalta -> lopettaa tupakointi.
On level 75:
ihmiset istuvat lattialle. This describes people, who are between sitting and standing, so lattialle -> lattialla.
Everything from my previous post is still correct, except on the resolved smoking and feather issues. I have checked all sentences using English.
I have added a note to my previous post in bold type which I hope will be helpful.
Thanks for your help!
Quite a lot of the content for this course was drawn from “Uusi kielemme – Finnish for busy people”, so it’s a bit annoying that it contains errors as I know several people use it as a ‘go to’ source. Other entries came from tourist phrase books or were ‘hybrids’ that I created, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that those weren’t quite right.
I have gone through all of your suggested edits now and have added comments in square brackets after each one:
On level 5:
keittiön pöytä -> keittiönpöytä [Agreed]
On level 8:
“millainen höyhen on?” means “what kind of thing is a/the feather(s)?”. The picture is so small so I can’t tell if this is correct. [This interrogative phrase in English was “what is a feather like?” Would “millainen höyhen on?” be correct for this or should I change the English to “what kind of thing is a feather?]”
On level 16:
voitteko opastaa minut Vantaan? -> Voitteko opastaa minut Vantaalle? [Agreed]
On level 17:
karjalan piirakka -> karjalanpiirakka [Agreed]
On level 35:
jossa on kaksois vuode -> jossa on kaksoisvuode [Agreed]
On level 38:
musta housut -> mustat housut [Agreed]
On level 40:
saapaat -> saappaat [Agreed]
On level 42:
menen työhön autolla -> menen töihin autolla
This is not really incorrect, but it is more common to use plural. [Agreed, but I’ll keep the original as an acceptable ‘alternative’ answer.]
On level 48:
minkä lajin kukka tuo on?
This sounds little weird. I would say “mitä lajia tuo kukka on?”. [Agreed]
On level 52:
tyhjä lasit -> tyhjät lasit [Agreed]
On level 59:
“Ostan banaania.” means “I am buying a banana”. “Ostan banaaneita.” would mean “I am buying some bananas.” [Agreed]
On level 60:
hän haastatteli häntä kolarista. This means “He/she interviewed him-/herself about crash”. At least second ‘hän’ must be specified.
For example: hän haastatteli silminnäkijää kolarista. This means “He/she interviewed witness about crash”. [This phrase came straight from the list of examples of partitive verbs in “Uusi kielemme – Finnish for busy people” and is meant to say “he questioned him about the car crash”. The explanation given there says, “partitive verbs don’t mean that your verb itself should be in the partitive, but that the word connected to it should be partitive” and, in this example highlights “häntä”. I’ll need to find a different picture for your alternative suggestion.]
koira haukkuu vierasta ihmistä. -> koira haukkuu vieraille ihmisille. [Again, this was a straight lift from the partitive verbs example list in ”Uusi kielemme”. Your suggested edit doesn’t use the partitive, does it? So, I’ll need to drop this entry.]
On level 64:
minä voin pahoin has alternative “minulla on pahoin”, which does not make sense. “Minulla on pahoinvointia” is possible. [Agreed]
minua pyörryttää has alternative “minulla on huimausta”, which is wrong. It can be corrected to “minua huimaa”. [Agreed]
On level 69:
I didn’t notice before: magneetti -> mangeetti. [I’m going to challenge you on this one. 
The English word is “magnet”. Everywhere I have looked gives the Finnish as “magneetti”. I can’t find a “mangeetti” anywhere.]
On level 70:
kastike pullo on kaapissa. kastike pullo -> kastikepullo [Agreed]
uima-altaassa ovat monet ihmiset tänään. People understand this, but would not never use this word order.
I would say: monet ihmiset ovat tänään uima-altaassa. [Agreed]
On level 71:
minusta suklaakakku on kivaa. Adjective doesn’t agree with the noun.
minusta suklaakakku on kiva. (I think chocolate cake is fun. (kiva is not really same as fun, but I don’t know any better adjective.)) [Agreed]
isäni on amerikkasta -> isäni on amerikasta. [Agreed]
On level 72:
menen koulun nyt -> menen kouluun nyt [Agreed]
kompassin neula aina osoittaa pohjoiseen -> kompassin neula osoittaa aina pohjoiseen [Agreed]
On level 74:
lähteä tupakalta -> lopettaa tupakointi. [I can’t remember my original source document for this one – which is meant to be ”stop smoking” but, as it’s currently in a level giving examples of ablative case endings, I don’t think your alternative suggestion will fit that bill. I will replace it with something else. ]
On level 75:
ihmiset istuvat lattialle. This describes people, who are between sitting and standing, so lattialle -> lattialla. [This was intended to be an example of an allative case ending –lle. So I am going to have to find something else.]
I really can’t thank you enough for giving this your time. It’s been a real help and I’m enormously grateful!
No need, both are good.
No, it doesn’t. “Vieraita ihmisiä” uses it in plural, but people don’t talk like that. I think it would be best to keep the original Finnish sentence and change the English one to “dog is barking at stranger”.
Oops, you are right.
I just realized that the English sentence is not probably meant to mean “to quit smoking”, but it’s meant to mean “to stop single smoking act after a cigarette” or something like that. Literally Finnish sentence means “to leave from smoking area after smoking a cigarette/tobacco”. Maybe you can think some unambiguous English sentence from that.
All the above changes have now been made to the course, except for:
Level 8. “millainen höyhen on?” Agreed that no change needed.
Level 60. “hän haastatteli häntä kolarista”. Remains unresolved. I’ll look for a suitable replacement.
Level 69. “magneetti”. Agreed that no change needed.
Level 74. “lähteä tupakalta”. Remains unresolved. I’ll look for a suitable replacement.
Level 75. “ihmiset istuvat lattialle”. Remains unresolved. I’ll look for a suitable replacement.
Level 54 - I keep answering “likainen auto” and “puhdas auto” instead of just “likainen” and “puhdas”, probably because there are some other answers with “auto” in earlier levels. Could you please add these as correct answers too?
Hi @widle,
I’ve added those two as ‘unseen’ alternative answers, so you shouldn’t get marked as wrong again by adding “auto”. 
All the entries in Level 54 are simple basic single word adjectives and, when building the course, I included the label “adjective” as a ‘part of speech’ attribute for each entry in this level to give people a clue which would help when being tested.
The entries in the previous three levels also give examples of adjectives but these are mostly added to a noun, so I decided not to add a ‘part of speech’ attribute’ for the entries in those three levels. That distinction seemed to make sense at the time but, as you don’t get to see the ‘Level Heading’ when learning individual items or when being tested on them, I’m starting to have second thoughts.
Kiitos!
I must admit I don’t always pay attention to attributes, maybe I should. But thanks for the addition.
Hello, some more feedback here, although this will be more general. I am around level 60 now and it’s getting harder to remember what the picture is supposed to say. I’m especially having difficulty with picking the right subject (is it “minä” in this sentence, or “sinä”, or “hän”?). Now some sentences are in the past tense, which is an additional thing I’ll need to remember.
I’m not sure there’s a simple fix to this, you can’t easily put all this information in the picture, I just thought I’d mention it in case you were considering some changes or additions to the course.
No, actually there is one sentence that could use an adjustment. It’s “sinä odotat bussia” in level 59. Why is a picture of three people used for a sentence with a signular you? That one is quite confusing. Thanks.
Hi @widle,
Thanks for the feedback. It’s helpful to know what works and what doesn’t.
I tried to pick images for the phrases/sentences that would be distinct and memorable, and positioned the red box(es) to focus attention on the key element(s). Do please continue to flag up any that leave you scratching your head, though, and I will try to find a better image for those entries. I will also give some thought to whether adding an ‘attribute’ would help in some cases. Suggestions welcomed.
Can I ask if you learn/review with the “more” button switched on or off? Does having it switched on while you become familiar with the phrase help, so that you make a stronger connection between the image and the phrase?
Good spot! I will change this one to “they wait for the bus”.
Thanks again!