Grammar.

Allow me to clarify my emo-ness from yesterday and use words to explain instead of emo-pictures found on Google when inputting song names haha.

So after I finished reading and doing exercises from "From Start to Finnish," I sort of felt, and still feel, as though I've hit a wall. I have some problems with cases - as many people do, I'm sure - and I'm trying to work those out before learning more grammar. I don't want to overwhelm myself any more than I already have and build anything on a crumbling foundation. I've thus decided to spend a little more time on the "easy" aka. basic stuff and blog/babble about it on my blog. [Feel free to skip this post if this is of no interest to you, or read it and learn a little about how the Finnish language works.]

Alright so where do I begin?

As a basic introduction, Finnish has few pre-/postpositions. Instead, state of objects are expressed by inflecting the end of a word to convey a certain meaning.
In the house = talossa [where -ssa means 'in', and talo is 'house']
There are 15 different ways to inflect a noun, adjective, adverb, even preposition or postposition...in the singular [let's keep it simple for now.].

Additionally, there are two different roots for each word, the strong root and the weak root. Type A words are strong in the basic, partitive, illative and essive forms and weak in all other singular forms. Whereas type B words are weak in the basic and partitive forms and strong in all other singular forms.

In order to categorize words and eventually learn their patterns, it's easiest to think of them as 13 separate groups [if only I were joking]... or at least it makes things feel as though they can be learned, instead of just stared at.
- words that end in vowels
-> ending in 1 vowel
-> ending in 2 vowels or a consonant
-> old words ending in -i
-> words that end in -e
-> words that end in -li, -ni or -ri
- words that end in -si
- words that end in -nen
- words that end in -in
- words that end in -is, -as or -äs
- words that end in -us/-ys/-os/-ös/-es
- words that end in -ton/-tön
- words that end in -ut/yt
- words that end in -nut/nyt (-lut/lyt, sut/syt, -rut)
- words that end in -uus/-yys, -us, -ys
- words that end in -el, -en, -er, -ar
- words that end in -tar/-tär

That was slightly more than 13 but some of the vowel endings might actually be the same. Either way, those categories help divide the different patterns that words in the partitive and genitive form follow. Oftentimes when learning words, knowing the partitive and genitive forms (strong and weak respectively) is enough to form all other cases.

I think that's enough for now. I know that lesson jumped from knowing nothing about Finnish to not understanding anything but I hope I got most of that right. I've been trying to learn all the groups lately and their respective partitive endings [I didn't even delve into that above]. The next step is learning all their genitive endings... and then slowly going back to the plural case forms that will soon cause me much less grief.
I hope this post didn't sound too whinny. Or at least that it conveyed my sense of frustration with hope and a decent amount of effort being put it.

<3.

Last Night. [The Strokes.]

So yesterday was a pretty action-packed day! We woke up around 8am, got ready and headed to the gym to play badminton from 9am to 10am.
Needless to say, with my current diet and the lack of carbohydrates, I was exhausted all day. BUT there was so much to do! I came home, showered, watched *****, my new TV show... which is just too embarrassing to reveal to the INTERNET and all of you who will lose all respect for me. Then I did a bit of Finnish with Nina through FB chat. Basically I asked her to give me 10 Finnish words in basic form and I had to say them in partitive singular and genitive singular. I did okay. And most importantly I now know that ring is: basic form= Sormus - partitive singular= Sormusta - genitive singular = Sormuksen!
[And if that's wrong then I guess I don't remember haha...]

Anywho! Then Nina and I met up and headed over to WokWok for some fabulous food and company! Donna, Lauren and I like to meet up there on Fridays for lunch. We also bring friends to widen our circle. This week I brought Nina; Lauren brought her friend Candice, who is visiting from Florida, and her husband Kimmo. Donna invited her son, who was going to join us after school but he never showed up. Either way, we sat around for ages, as we often do, and ironically both Finns had to leave before we did. [I say ironically because I have a feeling that hanging out in a restaurant for hours on end at lunch time is not a Finnish custom.] But I have to say that WokWok is very tolerant of our needs - nutritionally and conversationally. Service and staff alike, are super friendly.

I headed home after about 3 hours, bought some more almond flour and raspberries on the way [my obsessions] and came home to the boys [Juha, Jonne and later Ossi too] playing NHL 95. I was feeling pretty drained so NATURALLY I sat down and studied some Finnish... then my mind wandered over to my computer... watched a bit of ***** and then started browsing recipes. In light of equality day yesterday, I decided to bake the boys some brownies... but let's call them experimental brownies... there was indeed a disclaimer. I say experimental because I hadn't tried Irina-friendly brownies yet and the Stevia does add a rather odd sweetness to them. But they were okay. I had some last night and today too and if you're not used to Stevia then they definitely wouldn't qualify as heavenly but otherwise, a nice break from vegetables.
[BTW, I've been making the avocado salad like... everyday haha. Changing little things here and there. Still obsessed!]

I'd spoken with Anne about going to a gig at night and then everyone decided to join so it was nice to get a big group. Ironically, it appears that absolutely no one is single in Tampere. Anne and Jonne came with Kalle and Niina then Juha and I showed up with Ossi and Kaisa. And in the upcoming days we have a few dates with other Tampere-based couples haha... it makes me laugh.

The set actually lasted about an hour, if not a little more and I really enjoyed it. Some of the songs - maybe 2 - made me a little sleepy but I can't blame the band, I was exhausted as it was. The band was Kiki Pau [or according to me earlier on in the day Kaka Puu or Koko Pau/Puu... and other such combinations.] You should check them out by clicking here. I especially like "Just Real." [Great song!]

As a side note, the weather is getting pretty gross in Tampere. The snow is melting and it's wet everywhere and snow is falling off building and killing people and you have to be careful. [I don't think the death rates have skyrocketed or anything, just something to be aware of though.] We took a cab to the bar and home last night and the flat fee [before driving anywhere, the driving is extra] for a cab on a Friday night [prices change here depending on time of day - do we have this in Canada??] is 8e!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Luckily we were 4 people so nothing too drastic. But 8 euros is 12$... and then you presumably travel more than 5 meters.. anyway, I'll stop being cheap haha.

Alright, back to my Finnish so I can eventually post about the complicated stuff I'm learning. I just have to understand it first.
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N.B. Turns out I stand corrected! Two of the people we went out with on Friday: Kalle and Liisi [whose name I thought was Niina] are not a couple. Alas, there are still single people in Tampere!