The 100 Most Common Finnish Words

These are the 100 most common Finnish words, ranked by how often they appear in real Finnish text and speech, drawn from published word-frequency research. Frequency-first learning works: a small core of high-frequency words does most of the work in everyday sentences, so mastering this list with spaced repetition gives you the fastest possible start.

#	Word	Pronunciation	English meaning
1	olla	OHL-lah	be
2	ja	yah	and
3	se	seh	it
4	ei	ay	not (negation)
5	joka	YOH-kah	that / which (relative)
6	että	ET-ta	that (conjunction)
7	tämä	TA-ma	this
8	hän	han	he / she
9	voida	VOY-dah	can
10	saada	SAH-dah	get
11	mutta	MOOT-tah	but
12	kun	koon	when
13	niin	neen	so
14	myös	myuhs	also
15	tulla	TOOL-lah	come
16	tehdä	TEH-da	do
17	jos	yohs	if
18	mikä	MEE-ka	what
19	vuosi	VWOH-see	year
20	sanoa	SAH-noh-ah	say
21	kaikki	KAHYK-kee	all
22	tietää	TYEH-tah	know
23	aika	EYE-kah	time
24	päivä	PYE-vah	day
25	hyvä	HEW-va	good
26	suuri	SOO-ree	large
27	oma	OH-mah	own
28	me	meh	we
29	sinä	SEE-na	you
30	minä	MEE-na	I
31	he	heh	they
32	nyt	newt	now
33	vielä	VYEH-la	yet
34	jo	yoh	already
35	mennä	MEN-na	go
36	nähdä	NAH-da	see
37	antaa	AHN-tah	give
38	uusi	OO-see	new
39	asia	AH-see-ah	thing
40	ihminen	IH-mee-nen	person
41	paljon	PAHL-yohn	much
42	kaksi	KAHK-see	two
43	ensimmäinen	EN-sim-may-nen	first
44	haluta	HAH-loo-tah	want
45	missä	MIS-sa	where
46	koska	KOHS-kah	because
47	sitten	SIT-ten	then
48	siellä	SYEL-la	there
49	kanssa	KAHNS-sah	with
50	työ	tyuh	work
51	kuin	kooyn	than, as (comparison)
52	yksi	EWK-see	the number 1
53	vain	vahyn	only, no more than
54	mukaan	MOO-kahn	according to, along (postposition)
55	tai	tahy	or (alternative)
56	pitää	PEE-tah	must, hold (also: like)
57	ottaa	OHT-tah	take
58	alkaa	AHL-kah	begin
59	toinen	TOY-nen	second, other
60	muu	moo	other, different one
61	itse	IT-seh	self
62	joku	YOH-koo	someone, some (person)
63	jokin	YOH-kin	something, some (thing)
64	sekä	SEH-ka	and, as well as
65	kuitenkin	KOOY-ten-kin	however, nevertheless
66	jälkeen	YAL-kehn	after (postposition)
67	ennen	EN-nen	before, earlier than
68	aina	AHY-nah	always
69	hyvin	HEW-vin	well, very
70	juuri	YOO-ree	just, exactly (also: root)
71	noin	noyn	about, approximately
72	näin	NAH-een	like this, so
73	kyllä	KEWL-la	yes, indeed
74	ehkä	EH-ka	perhaps, maybe
75	siis	sees	so, therefore
76	eli	EH-lee	that is, in other words
77	vaikka	VAHYK-kah	although
78	vaan	vahn	but rather
79	kertoa	KEHR-toh-ah	tell, relate
80	käyttää	KA-ewt-tah	use, employ
81	käydä	KA-ew-da	visit, go (attend)
82	jäädä	YA-da	stay, remain
83	pieni	PYEH-nee	small
84	vanha	VAHN-hah	old
85	nuori	NWOH-ree	young
86	pitkä	PIT-ka	long
87	viime	VEE-meh	last, most recent
88	seuraava	SEH-oo-rah-vah	next, following
89	koko	KOH-koh	whole, entire
90	eri	EH-ree	different, separate
91	maa	mah	country, land
92	osa	OH-sah	part, portion
93	lapsi	LAHP-see	child
94	mies	myes	man, adult male
95	nainen	NAHY-nen	woman
96	elämä	EH-la-ma	life
97	nimi	NEE-mee	name
98	kaupunki	KOW-poon-kee	city, town
99	kysymys	KEW-sew-mews	question
100	puhua	POO-hoo-ah	speak, talk

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Ranked by lemma frequency in published Finnish corpus research; proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Pronunciation is a respelling guide, not phonetic notation.

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Frequently asked questions about Finnish words

How many Finnish words do you need for a basic conversation?

Frequency research shows the 1,000 most common words cover roughly 85 percent of everyday speech, and the top 100 alone appear in almost every sentence. You can manage simple exchanges with a few hundred words; this list is the foundation to build on.

What is the fastest way to memorize these 100 words?

Spaced repetition: review each word just before you would forget it, at growing intervals. It moves vocabulary into long-term memory far faster than rereading a list. Turn the 100 words into flashcards and review a small batch daily; the whole list fits into two to three weeks.

Are 100 words enough to speak Finnish?

No. One hundred words let you recognize the skeleton of most sentences, but not hold a real conversation. They are the right starting point: after this list, grow toward the most common 1,000 words and start speaking practice early, even with simple phrases.

Where does this Finnish word list come from?

From published Finnish word-frequency research: lemma-ranked corpus lists cleaned for learners, with proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Rankings are approximate, since real usage varies by region and register, but the core is stable across corpora.