Finnish: An Essential Grammar

By Fred Karlsson

Book Overview

A reference guide to the most important aspects of Finnish as it is used by native speakers today, this is the ideal reference source both for those studying Finnish independently and in classroom situations.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415207045
• ISBN13: 9780415207041
• Release Date: August 1999
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Indispensable for understanding the mechanics

This is not a step-by-step type of programmed course, but it is EXTREMELY well organized. Anyone who knows how to get the most out of a table of contents can learn Finnish grammar with this book. I can't imagine a more thorough, concise, or user-friendly grammar book. The index is not exhaustive, but the table of contents makes up for it. I would have paid more for this book, and would have bought it in hardcover. Look no further - this is the Finnish grammar you want.

An invaluable reference for learners of Finnish

Finnish is an agglutinative language -- that is, words are inflected or conjugated through "gluing" new endings, each of which has adds its own meaning, to basic word forms. Among this volume's most valuable features is the chapter entitled "A survey of word structure," which describes exactly and understandably how these endings are added to basic forms, and in what order. Most "learning Finnish" courses are designed to transmit this knowledge... eventually -- but few if any (none that I've found) explain the basic logic of Finnish words so straightforwardly, and where it ought to be explained: at the beginning. It's cleared up a lot of my confusion -- now I've got a solid structure into which I can fit everything else I've got to learn about declension and conjugation. The rest of the book is just as magnificent at explaining the complexities of Finnish grammar intelligently and intelligibly, with scads of examples and numerous tables. It's clear to me: if you want to learn Finnish, get a good basic course text, a decent Finnish-English-Finnish dictionary -- and this book.

Routledge's Finnish Grammar

Having purchased a copy of Routledge's "Greek Grammar," i was very skeptical of Karlsson's Finnish Grammar, Primarily because of its publisher. Although this may seem like an enormous generalization on the part of Routledge's books, in the past I have not been pleased with their guides to grammar on a variety of languages. But being the fan of Finnish that I am, and the lack of good Finnish courses available, I decided to give this grammar a try-and what surprise was i in for. The first page of this book gives a brief but useful explanation of the roots of the Finnish language, and its close and distant relatives. Although judging by the first review of this book, possible buyers may be swayed by the fact that it appears to be unsuitable for beginners, i found the opposite to be true-it is ideal for beginners. Although I know a few words of Finnish, and the conjugations of some verbs and a few suffixes, this book explains everything that a beginner would need to know-or for that matter that anyone would need to know, and explains the complicated vowel graduation, and agglutinative concepts that can frighten away people not familiar with the agglutinative languages. All in all, this book is a priceless resource to anyone wanting to become familiarized with the Finnish language.

This is the ultimate Finnish grammar.

This book was written in Swedish for people who must use Finnish in Finland correctly. It is SO GOOD that it has been translated into English and for a long time sold for $89.00 in a paperback edition on cheap paper that began yellowing almost immediately. I bought this expensive, low-quality edition and have never regretted it. My only negative thought was that it might fall apart before I do. Now Routledge has eased that fear by publishing the book on better paper and for a (slightly) lower price.It is not for beginners. It is for those who have sweated over the complexities of Finnish morphology and sound changes and STILL have doubts. Karlsson's understanding of Finnish structure is so perfect and his ability to explain it so skillful that he has produced a reference work that transfess that clarity of view to the student.