The word saamelainen (Sápme in Northern Sámi) refers to the Sámi people who live in the northern parts of Finland, Norway, and Sweden, as well as in the most northwestern Russia. Three Sámi languages (Northern Sámi, Inari Sámi, Skolt Sámi) are spoken in Finland and they have a semi-official status. This means that a Sámi language is an official language in any municipality that has a certain number of native speakers. Four Finnish municipalities offer services in at least one Sámi language.
Orderly conduct
The more complete a noun is, the earlier it appears in a sentence with the verb olla, "to be". As a result, a noun or a noun phrase that starts a sentence is usually translated with a definite article. If the sentence has another noun with another function, that noun is less complete. It can be translated with both types of articles found in English, depending on the context. The indefinite article is the more likely option in most cases.
Tuhma kissa on viikinki.
The naughty cat is a/the Viking.
If the previous conversation has revolved around the identity of a mysterious Viking, whose scandalous secret is now being revealed, the definite article is used. In other cases, use an indefinite article. Note that this is because the English language works the way it works. Finnish could not care less. As long as there are cats and Vikings involved, in that order, everything is hunky-dory.
So many questions
Most Finnish question words are followed by words in the same order as they would be in a statement: the subject first, then the verb. This also applies to the question word missä, "(in) where":
Norja on maa.
Norway is a country.
Missä Norja on?
Where is Norway?
Yes/No
Unlike English, Finnish does not use auxiliary verbs like "to do" to start questions but opts for a question particle instead. In yes/no questions, the particle -ko is added to the word that is in charge of the interrogation. Most often this word is a verb. The verb is followed by the subject.
Onko Ruotsi kylmä maa?
Is Sweden a cold country?
Onko sinulla suomalainen nimi?
Do you have a Finnish name?
Whenever the verb olla, "to be", is the chief interrogator in a sentence with several nouns as different parts of the sentence, the more complete noun or noun phrase is placed first. The first noun is usually translated with a definite and the second with an indefinite article.
Onko kissa viikinki?
Is the cat a Viking?
Onko viikinki kissa?
Is the Viking a cat?
Nationality
Most nationality words are formed by adding the ending -lainen to the name of a nation. Unlike in English, nationality words in Finnish are written with the first letter in the lower case. For example, the word for "Icelandic" is formed like this:
Islanti + lainen = islantilainen
The most common exceptions are the words suomalainen (Finnish, Finn), ruotsalainen (Swedish, Swede), and venäläinen (Russian). Nationality words that end in -lainen are used as adjectives, and in most cases also as nouns.
Minulla on söpö venäläinen koira.
I have a cute, Russian dog.
Hän on tanskalainen.
She is a Dane.
Islantilainen on ujo.
The Icelandic person is shy.
Shh...
[ʃ] has the most irregular spelling in Finnish and is a rare sound pronounced like the first sound in "Sherlock". It is usually spelled with sh (shampoo) but s and š are also possible (sampoo, šampoo).
Saamelainen mies on shamaani/samaani/šamaani.
The Sámi man is a shaman.
Stress control
In words that have three syllables or fewer, the stress falls on the first syllable.
sau-na
kan-te-le
Words that have more syllables need a secondary stress. Its default place is on the third syllable.
re-hel-li-nen
suo-ma-lai-nen
In words that have five syllables or more, if the third syllable is light - that is, it has only one or two letters in it - but there is a longer, heavy syllable next to it, the stress moves to the right, on the fourth syllable.
is-lan-ti-lai-nen
These rules apply to Standard Finnish and most southern varieties. Other forms of Finnish are often bouncier.