Which Finnish words should I learn first?

Start with the highest-frequency function words and greetings: moi, kiitos, ole hyvä, joo, ei, ja, olen, hyvä, anteeksi. Because Finnish shares almost no vocabulary with English, building a deliberate high-frequency core is the single highest-value thing you can do early.

What is the Finnish word sisu?

Sisu is a Finnish concept of stoic determination, grit and quiet courage in the face of hardship: pushing on when things look hopeless. It is considered a defining national trait and has no single English equivalent.

smisli

Common & beautiful Finnish words

Two lists worth starting with: the everyday words that unlock most sentences, and the untranslatable ones that show you how Finnish actually feels. Every entry comes with a real sentence, because words met in context are the ones you keep.

Updated September 2026 · 7-minute read

Start with the everyday core

These small words do the heavy lifting: the top of the frequency list that appears in almost every sentence. In Finnish this core matters even more, because so little vocabulary is guessable from English. (See the full method for learning Finnish.)

Finnish	English	Note
moi / hei	hi / hello	both casual and friendly
kiitos	thanks	also "please" in requests
ole hyvä	please / here you go	literally "be good"
joo / kyllä	yes	joo casual, kyllä firmer
ei	no / not	actually a verb; it conjugates
ja	and
olen	I am	from olla, "to be"
hyvä	good	the all-purpose "good"
ehkä	maybe
anteeksi	sorry / excuse me	also to get attention

Beautiful & untranslatable

Now the fun part: the words with no clean English equivalent. These carry culture, not just meaning, and they stick precisely because they're vivid.

sisu · noun

Stoic grit: quiet, stubborn courage that keeps going long after it makes sense to stop. Considered a defining Finnish trait.

Suomalaisilla on sisua. Finns have sisu.

löyly · noun

The wave of heat and steam that rises when you throw water on the hot sauna stones. The soul of a Finnish sauna.

Heitä lisää löylyä! Throw more water on the stones!

kalsarikännit · noun

Drinking at home, alone, in your underwear, with zero intention of going out. Finland made it an official emoji.

Vietän iltaa kalsarikänneissä. I'm spending the evening drinking at home in my underwear.

talkoot · noun (plural)

Voluntary work done together for a shared benefit: neighbours clearing a yard, a village raising a roof. Community as a verb.

Naapurit järjestivät talkoot. The neighbours organised a communal work day.

myötähäpeä · noun

Second-hand embarrassment: the cringe you feel on someone else's behalf. The mirror image of Schadenfreude.

Minulla oli hirveä myötähäpeä. I felt awful second-hand embarrassment.

jaksaa · verb

To have the energy or stamina for something. Its negative, en jaksa, is the national sigh for "I can't be bothered / I'm out of steam."

En jaksa enää. I don't have the energy anymore.

kaamos · noun

The polar night: the long stretch in the far north when the sun never clears the horizon and days pass in blue twilight.

Kaamos kestää viikkoja. The polar night lasts for weeks.

pilkunviilaaja · noun

Literally a "comma-shaver": a nitpicker who fusses over tiny details. Affectionately exasperated.

Älä ole sellainen pilkunviilaaja. Don't be such a nitpicker.

vahingonilo · noun

Joy at someone else's small misfortune: the exact Finnish match for German Schadenfreude.

Tunsin pientä vahingoniloa. I felt a little malicious glee.

kahvitauko · noun

The coffee break, a near-sacred institution in the country that drinks more coffee per head than any other.

Pidetään kahvitauko. Let's take a coffee break.

How to actually learn them

Reading a list is pleasant; keeping the words is the trick, and in Finnish it matters more than anywhere, because you get no help from cognates. Two things make the difference. First, meet each word in a sentence, not as a bare gloss. That is why every entry above has one. Second, review on a schedule so they don't quietly fade.

That's exactly the loop in Smisli: tap any of these words in a real Finnish text and it becomes a flashcard, and spaced repetition brings it back right before you'd forget. Start with sisu and go from there.

Save your first Finnish word.

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