Hi, I have a question, what is the shortest form of the numbers after four? I know that you can say yy, ka, ko ne, until four but what is the shortest you can go with the rest of the numerals? Thanks in advance!
Hi! Good question. In Finnish, we can indeed on some occasions shorten the numbers a lot. How we do it depends on why we're shortening the numbers and which dialects we speak.
What you are referring to are the short forms used for counting.
From one to ten, in standrad Finnish: yksi, kaksi, kolme, neljä, viisi, kuusi, seitsemän, kahdeksan, yhdeksän, kymmenen.
Here are the common short forms for counting: yy, kaa, koo, nee, vii, kuu, sei/see, kasi, ysi, kymppi/kymmene.
Typically one to six/seven all use long vowels, but when counting really fast, the second vowel can get swallowed and you'll end up with y, ka, ko, ne, vi, ku, se(i), kasi, ysi, kymppi/kymmene.
A slightly longer version is yks, kaks, kolme, neljä, viis, kuus, seittemä, kaheksa, yheksä, kymmene. These can be used in more contexts, so let's focus on the yy, kaa, koo etc. forms.
After ten (yksitoista, kaksitoista etc. in standard Finnish), you combine: Yytoo/yy'yy*, kaatoo, kootoo/koltoo, neetoo/neltoo, vii(s)too, kuutoo, seitoo, kasitoo, ysitoo, kakskyt.
The tens are: kymppi/kymmene, kakskyt, kolkyt, nelkyt, viiskyt, kuuskyt, seitkyt, kasikyt/kaheks(a)kyt, ysikyt/yheks(ä)kyt. In some dialects, all end in -kytä (kakskytä etc.) and some dialects say the vowels in brackets, others don't.
With the tens (in standard Finnish kaksikymmentäyksi, kaksikymmentäkaksi etc.), you combine like this: kaayy, kaakaa, kaakoo, kaanee, kaavii, kaakuu, kaasei, kaakasi, kaaysi.
From thirtyone and on: kooyy, kookaa, kookoo, koonee, koovii, kookuu, koosei, kookasi, kooysi. You can probably guess the rest, but here's a few for you to figure out: neesei, viiyy, kuukasi, seikaa, kasisei, ysiysi.
Some dialects use the tens like this: yksyks, ykskaks, ykskol, yksnel, yksviis, ykskuus, ykssei, ykskasi, yksysi.
Kaksyks, kakskaks, kakskol, kaksnel, kaksviis, kakskuus, kaksei, kakskasi, kaksysi.
Kolyks, kolkaks..
Nel'yks*, nelkaks...
Viis'yks*, viiskaks...
Kuus'yks*, kuuskaks...
Seiyks, seikaks...
Kasiyks, kasikaks...
Ysiyks, ysikaks...
*to mark the syllable break because yyyy would be just a very long y sound and nelyks, viisyks, kuusyks can imply the syllables are ne-lyks, vii-syks, kuu-syks. Which they aren't, so don't remember these..! :D
I'm sure there are other combos out there, but these are common ones I can think of. I don't want to make it more complicated than it already is.
NOTE: As a rule of thumb, these short forms (yy, kaa, koo etc.) are only used for counting. You can't use most of these in other contexts. For example, you can't use these for telling the time, age, price, or weight etc.
You can use them when you're counting to a hundred while playing hide-and-seek, counting the number of jumps done with a skipping rope, counting the number of people or things, and so on. You also don't use these if you're counting backwards.
You can't say you are viitoo years old. You can't say you weigh kuukasi kilos. You can't say your grandma lives ysikoo kilometres away. You can't say something costs kaakaa euros. You can't say it's koovii minutes past midday.
You can say:
"Kolmosella/kolmella lähtee: yy, kaa, koo!" (We'll go at three: one, two three!)
"Aika alkaa nyt! Yy, kaa, koo, nee, ... sata! Aika!" (Time starts now! One, two, three, four, ...hundred! Time's up!)
"Hirveästi kukkia! Yy, kaa, koo, nee..." (So many flowers! One, two, three, four...)
"Ei minulla taida olla tarpeeksi rahaa. Yy, kaa, koo, nee, vii... Vain viisi euroa." (I don't think I have enough money. One, two, three, four, five... Only five euros (implies you have five one euro coins).)
In conclusion, these are typically used when you want to count something fast. You can also use these to count the seconds between lightning and the rumble of thunder, but it kinda defeats the purpose because you have to go yy...kaa...koo... etc. slowly.
There's a short, funny post I've reblogged about this here. :)
