Vowels

1   Vowel Phonems

There are 8 vowel phonemes in Finnish: [a], [e], [i], [o], [u], [y], [æ], and [ø]. Back vowels are a [a], o [o], and u [u], middle vowels are e [e] and i [i], and front vowels are ä [æ], ö [ø], and y [y]. The guideline for pronunciation follows the system of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Back vowels	Middle vowels	Front vowels
a	e	ä
o	i	ö
u		y

2   Duration

The vowels have two durations: short and long. A short vowel is written with one letter and a long one with two letters.

3   Pronunciation

The pronunciation of the vowels is shown in the following table.

Sound	Example	Pronunciation
A [a]	auto [auto] 'car' aamu [a:mu] 'morning'	English a in car German a in Auto Estonian a in auto Russian а in автомобил
E [e]	että [ettæ] 'that' tulee [tule:] '(he) comes'	English e in let German e in messen Estonian e in mets Russian э in этот
I [i]	sika [sika] 'pig' siika [si:ka] 'whitefish'	English i in sit German i in Brille Estonian i in kivi Russian и in они
O [o]	kori [kori] 'basket' loota [lo:ta] 'box'	English o in or German o in oder Estonian o in osta Russian о in корова
U [u]	tuli [tuli] 'fire' tuuli [tu:li] 'wind'	English oo in book German u in putzen Estonian u in uks Russian у in тут
Y [y]	syksy [syksy] 'autumn' syys [sy:s] 'autumn'	English has no equivalent sound German ü in müssen Estonian ü in üks Russian has no equivalent sound
Ä [æ]	käsi [kæsi] 'hand' käärme [kæ:rme] 'snake'	English a in cat German has no equivalent sound Estonian ä in käsi Russian has no equivalent sound
Ö [ø]	möly [møly] 'noise' miljöö [miljø:] 'milieu'	English i in bird German ö in nötig Estonian ö in töö Russian has no equivalent sound

The ninth vowel that belongs to the Finnish alphabet is å and it occurs only in words of Swedish origin, e.g. vårdöläinen (an inhabitant from Vårdö, a county on the Åland Islands). It is pronounced like o in Finnish.

4   Notes

There are no schwa vowel [ə] nor nasal vowels in Finnish.