Alphabet
The Finnish alphabet has core letters and borrowed letters. There is a one-to-one relationship between a letter and its sound, and vice versa. For example, the letter e only corresponds to the sound [e], and the sound [e] only corresponds to the letter e. A rare exception to this rule is the borrowed letter c, which can be pronounced [seː] as in CD-ROM or [k] as in costaricalainen.
Complete Finnish alphabet
The complete Finnish alphabet combines core and borrowed letters. The emphasized letters are vowels:
| Letter | IPA1 | Finnish | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | [ɑː] | appelsiini | orange2 |
| b | [beː] | banaani | banana |
| c | [seː], [k] | CD-ROM, costaricalainen | CD-ROM, Costa Rican |
| d | [deː] | diplomaatti | diplomat |
| e | [eː] | elokuu | August |
| f | [æfː] | farkut | jeans |
| g | [geː] | geometria | geometry |
| h | [hoː] | helmikuu | February |
| i | [iː] | iso | big |
| j | [jiː] | joulukuu | December |
| k | [koː] | kaksi | two |
| l | [æl] | lokakuu | October |
| m | [æm] | maaliskuu | March |
| n | [æn] | nolla | zero |
| o | [oː] | omena | apple |
| p | [peː] | poika | boy |
| q | [kuː] | Qatar [‘ka.tar] | Qatar |
| r | [ær] | raha | money |
| s | [æs] | sisko | sister |
| t | [teː] | tyttö | girl |
| u | [uː] | ulos | out |
| v | [veː] | veli | brother |
| w | [kaksois.veː] | Waltari | Waltari, a famous Finnish author |
| x | [æks] | - | - |
| y | [yː] | yksi | one |
| z | [tset] | Zaire [‘tsaire] | Zaire |
| ä | [æ] | älä | do not |
| ö | [ø] | öljy | oil |
| å | [ɔ] | Åbo | Swedish name for Turku |
Core letters
The core letters of Finnish are as follows:
| Letter | IPA | Finnish | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | [ɑː] | appelsiini | orange1 |
| d | [deː] | diplomaatti | diplomat |
| e | [eː] | elokuu | August |
| g | [geː] | geometria | geometry |
| h | [hoː] | helmikuu | February |
| i | [iː] | iso | big |
| j | [jiː] | joulukuu | December |
| k | [koː] | kaksi | two |
| l | [æl] | lokakuu | October |
| m | [æm] | maaliskuu | March |
| n | [æn] | nolla | zero |
| o | [oː] | omena | apple |
| p | [peː] | poika | boy |
| r | [ær] | raha | money |
| s | [æs] | sisko | sister |
| t | [teː] | tyttö | girl |
| u | [uː] | ulos | out |
| v | [veː] | veli | brother |
| y | [yː] | yksi | one |
| ä | [æ] | älä | do not |
| ö | [ø] | öljy | oil |
Borrowed letters
The following letters are borrowed from other languages:
| Letter | IPA | Finnish | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| b | [beː] | banaani | banana |
| c | [seː], [k] | CD-ROM, costaricalainen | CD-ROM, Costa Rican |
| q | [kuː] | Qatar [‘ka.tar] | Qatar |
| w | [kaksois.veː] | Waltari | Waltari, a famous Finnish author |
| x | [æks] | - | - |
| z | [tset] | Zaire [‘tsaire] | Zaire |
| å | [ɔ] | Åbo | Swedish name for Turku |