Finnish idioms

Here are some Finnish idioms, their literal meaning, the same in English

1. ajaa kaasu pohjassa* drive gas in the bottom* drive very fast
1. ajaa nasta laudassa* drive pin in the blank* drive very fast
1. ajaa tuhatta ja sataa* drive thousand and hundred* drive very fast
2. antaa kenkää* give shoe* lay off
3. ei ymmärtää höykäsen pöläystä* not understand (nonsensical) * not understand
3. ei ymmärtää tuon taivaallista* not understand heavenly* not understand
4. haistella ilmaa* smell air* sound out
5. heittää hanskat tiskiin* throw gloves on the desk* give up
2. heittää pellolle* throw to the field* lay off
6. hyppiä nenälle* jump onto nose* be forward
7. hävitä kuin tuhka tuuleen* disappear as ash into wind* disappear without trace
8. juosta kieli vyön alla* run lip under belt* be in a great hurry
8. juosta pää kolmantena jalkana* run as head the third leg* be in a great hurry
7. kadota kuin maan alle* disappear as under the ground* disappear without trace
9. kaivaa verta nenästään* delve blood from one´s nose* irritate
9. kerjätä turpaansa* beg for muzzle* irritate
10. polttaa hihansa* burn one`s sleeves* flare up
10. repiä pelihousunsa* rip one´s game pants* flare up
6. tallata varpaille* stamp on toes* be forward
11. temmata hatusta* pull from hat* guess
4. tunnustella maaperää* explore ground* sound out
11. vetää hihasta* pull from sleeve* guess
12. viilata linssiin* file into a lens* cheat
5. viskata kirves kaivoon* throw axe into well* give up
12. vetää nenästä* pull nose* cheat
13. ahtaa kitaansa* push one´s mouth* wolf down
13. heittää yrjöt* throw georges* throw up
14. nyrpistää nenäänsä* purse one´s nose* be supercilious
15. olla ihan puhki* be totally through* be really tired
16. olla mieli mustana* be with black mind* be sad
16. olla tuli hännän alla* be with fire under tail* be nervous or in
14. ottaa nokkiinsa* take into one´s noses* be provoked
15. saada hepuli* to get a seizure* get upset



More:

Like in every language, Finns are keen on taking references from popular culture and making idioms/phrases/whatnot out of them. And then there are the golden oldies, referring to a time and traditions long gone making it hard to deduce what it meant to begin with.

Ei mennyt ihan niinku Strömsössä – Didn’t go quite like in Strömsö = Turned out less than perfect (referring to an arts & crafts show where everything always works out perfect)

Parempi pyy pivossa kuin kymmenen oksalla – Better to have a hazel hen in your hands than ten on the branch (I think the meaning is something along the lines of better to have a little at your grasp than a lot of out reach)

Näytän sulle, mistä kana pissii - Let me show you where a chicken pees from = Let me show you how it’s done

Chicken’s pee is a constant source of inspiration

Täynnä kuin Turusen pyssy – As full as Turunen’s gun  = something is too full (apparently derived from an old legend where the infamous Turunen stuffed his gun with money and was thus unable to shoot with it)

Poronkusema - Reindeer’s piss = a measure of distance, the distance you can ride a reindeer before it needs pee. Apparently it can be up to 7.5km

Happamia sanoi kettu pihlajan marjoista – Fox said the rowan fruits were sour (apparentely from a fable where a fox couldn’t reach the fruits and thus bitterly noted that they were likely to be sour anyway, a delightful lesson in Finnish pessimism)

Johan otti ohraleipä – Well wasn’t that a barley bread = a tricky situation (barley bread being inferior to rye bread, it is really serious if you need to eat bread made of barley)

Bab.la Phrases

Wiktionary declares a lot of Finnish idioms.

A list of some idioms, Finnish-English and the meaning.

Here are a lot of Finnish idioms collected in the net. Only a few of them are declared.

Here are just some ordinary Finnish-English  -phrases:

• Wikitravels, matkasanakirja, englanti: suomi
• Suomi-englanti -retkisanastoa
• Englannin sanontoja, Speak English, myös suomeksi ja äännettynä
• Useful Finnish phrases
• Finnish phrases and expressions
• Suomi-englanti -sanontoja
• Finland for Thought: Finnish expressions
• Hei Finland, expressions, audio
• Finnish 101, basic
• Finnish tutorial
• Useful Finnish Phraser, omniglot
• Speak Finnish
• Wiktionary English to Finnish
• Polyglot  
• Wikitravel: matkasanastoja, tavallisimpia fraaseja eri kielillä, tietysti suomeksi myös

Here is my larger listing, if you use OTT, you are able to understand, maybe.

How to rehearse yourself: You don´t need to take a piece of paper and cover the part of the monitor, just open a stickies-type of program, I recommend Dema Virtual Notes, which is also useful in making notes with images, just drag images from the Google image search. Choose the option, always on top, aina päällimmäisenä. You can form and move the note with the mouse and cover some of the words.

By the way, when I write this and don´t remember a word in English, I just write it in Finnish in the Blogger editor and double-click it, the OTT-dictionary tells the word in English - and vice versa if you write in Finnish and know English better. Give a try, please.

I have listed some Finnish sentences from the project Tatoeba. You can find translations by selecting them and googling context.

Uuno, englanninkielinen oppimateriaali suomesta

J. Korpelan materiaali suomesta englanniksi

Kimberli Mäkäräinen, englanniksi suomen kieliopista

Quizlet, Finnish

Load the Chrome add-on and click the Finnish words and you get all the explanations in English.

Use word lists, use the Google Dictionary and context searches, Chrome word synthesis as Chrome Speach, Select and Speak... to get the pronounciation, google for images...

Quite a large wordlist, food words in English, Finnish and Swedish

My Best Helsinki

Facts about Finland

English word lists for spelling bee and dictation

Finnish proverbs, wikiquote, suomeksi ja englanniksi

Englannin idiomeja suomeksi, wikipedia

Muita englannin sanontoja, wikipedia

Eri kielten sanontoja suomeksi, wikipedian luokka

Täällä on englanninkielinen suomen oppimateriaali, Uusi kielemme

Englanninkielinen wikikirja Suomen kieli käyttöön

Finnish words, englanninkielisiä sanoja suomeksi

Basic Finnish idioms ja muuta

Helsingin Sanomat, muutama sanonta äännettynä

Suositeltava englannin opiskelusivu on ESL. Tuossa on englanti-suomi, mutta sivusto on valtavan laaja.

Collections of Finnish phrases (some with audio)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/quickfix/finnish.shtml

Kielivisoja englanti-suomi

http://linguanaut.com/english_finnish.htm