Finnish orthography

Finnish orthography is the way words are written in the Finnish language. It uses the Latin script, which is the same alphabet many other languages use, like English and French. Finnish gets its alphabet from the Swedish alphabet, and it officially has twenty-nine letters. There are also two extra letters used in some words that come from other languages.

The rules of Finnish orthography try to match the way words sound with how they are written. This means that, in general, each letter represents a specific sound, much like the letters in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). This helps make Finnish easier to read and pronounce for both native speakers and learners.

Because Finnish writing closely follows its sounds, it is often considered very regular and predictable. This makes it a good example for studying how a language can be written to clearly show how it is spoken. The system also helps in understanding the structure of words, showing their smaller parts called morphemes phonologically, which are important in the Finnish language.

Alphabet

The Finnish alphabet is based on the Latin script and includes twenty-nine letters, with two extra letters used in some loanwords. It is derived from the Swedish alphabet and aims to match each letter's sound closely to its International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) value, though some differences exist.

Special letters in Finnish include ⟨ä⟩ and ⟨ö⟩, which are essential for the language. These are known as ääkköset and are treated as separate letters. Other letters like ⟨c⟩, ⟨q⟩, and ⟨x⟩ are rarely used and often replaced with more common Finnish letters. Some letters representing sounds not native to Finnish, such as ⟨b⟩ and ⟨g⟩, appear mainly in newer loanwords or foreign names.

Collation order

In Finnish, words are sorted alphabetically using specific rules. Letters like ⟨å⟩, ⟨ä⟩, and ⟨ö⟩ come after ⟨z⟩. Before 2022, ⟨w⟩ was treated the same as ⟨v⟩, but now it is sorted after ⟨v⟩.

Diacritics, such as those in foreign names, are usually ignored when sorting. For example, German ⟨ü⟩ is sorted as ⟨y⟩, and Danish ⟨ø⟩ is sorted as ⟨ö⟩. Special characters from other languages also have specific sorting rules, like Sami ⟨ŋ⟩ being sorted as ⟨n⟩. Ligatures like ⟨æ⟩ are sorted as two separate letters, such as ⟨ae⟩.

Orthographic principles

See also: Finnish phonology

In Finnish writing, each letter represents one sound, and each sound is always written with the same letter within a single word part. However, there is an exception: the sound velar nasal [ŋ], which does not have its own letter.

Both vowels and consonants can be short or long in Finnish. A short sound is written with one letter, while a long sound uses two letters together, called a digraph. For example, tuli means 'fire', tuuli means 'wind', and tulli means 'customs'. Long consonants might sometimes appear as short ones at word boundaries.

The spelling alphabet

The Finnish spelling alphabet helps people say each letter clearly, especially when talking on the phone. Each letter has a special word linked to it. For example, the letter A is said as "Aaseri" (meaning "Asparagus"), B is "Betsabé", and so on through the whole alphabet. This makes sure everyone understands which letter is being talked about, even if the sounds are hard to hear.

This system is used by people like pilots, soldiers, and others who need exact communication. It helps avoid mistakes when spelling out important words or names.