Why do Finns inhale while speaking? #shorts

Have you ever noticed how Finns sometimes inhale when speaking certain words? Here’s the truth about it👇

This sound may be new to you if you haven’t lived in Finland, but quite often, this is how we Finns say certain words.

To you, it may sound like we are shocked, or scared, when we inhale while saying a word but most of the time it actually means NOTHING😂

It’s just a funny speech sound we sometimes make while speaking Finnish. Like in this video where I’m saying “joo” while inhaling.

Have you noticed this speech sound before with Finnish speakers? 🇫🇮 let me know in the comments!⬇️

Ready to learn more tips for spoken Finnish? Join my free class at the link below!😍'

[SerrasVictoria]

Yo, my Finnish mom would slowly inhale while speaking an entire sentence!! I always wondered what that was about! 😆

[bigscarysteve]

Now, my freshman linguistics professor told me that no language in the world does this. I've believed a lie for these forty years! I'm so disillusioned!

[madokaplush]

Its like saying “yeah” it kinda means that youre listening or agreeing with the person youre speaking with

[joshbrown]

It is one of the things I noticed about my Finnish wife right away. She told me it was just something Finns did 😂

[jaynemeyer]

The Swedes in Norrbotten do the same thing and when I lived there it became how I speak Swedish.

[karinfend]

Finns are just truly theirselves . That's why we love you

[iamannabella]

It’s an interesting linguistic feature of Scandinavian languages (and Finnish as well) which we learned about in Linguistic courses. It’s actually a really cute thing because it’s almost the same as babies inhale during their first 6 months when they produce their first sounds.😊

[geisaune]

I believe Icelandic sometimes does it too but with whole phrases. And apparently Old English would occasionally do it as well but only in those parts of England that had a significant Old Norse influence. Maybe it’s a cold weather thing?

[summ]

I like the finnish people :) I like the very interesting language as well. Greetings from Austria.

[marco.trevisan]

It seems to be a thing for Nordic languages (especially to say «yes»), but also in Mongolian, and some languages in the Philippines and Africa.

[margretheinsdottir]

We do the same thing sometimes here in Iceland 😊 like ... já (yes) and nei (no) and other short words. Best greetings from 🇮🇸🤗 Finland is awesome, been there once for few days, enough time to hear that your language is very beautiful ❤

[Irualdemon]

Sometimes it might indicate we're bored but often it just comes out like that for no reason.

[Patralgan]

I guess it's just that the words we do this with are so simple that it's very easy to say while inhaling so we don't waste time saying it even if we are inhaling

[helenak.]

We do the same in Swedish. Maybe it typically used when the answer is positive.

[MrChristocentric]

Yes, my best friends wife would always do that! It is so strange, I am thinking why are you gasping and when will I ever learn finnish quirks :)))

[donawidhasmara]

Oh that is the reason, i just recognized it when i have a conversation with native finns before.

[MrMudbill]

This is one of those things that many people (in Northern Europe at least) do, but very few think about, so when it's pointed out, people are always surprised it exists. We do this in Norwegian as well, but when I tried to explain it to my other Norwegian friend, he said I was making things up. Possibly because I was explaining it in English (to several people), and this feature is more or less absent from English, with only few exceptions.

[Xxbeex]

Kind of similar thing in Ireland except we take big inhales while we're still talking, just to maximise the amount of words said

[earlysunsetss]

oh woah this makes so much sense, my grandmother does this all the time and i was wondering if it had some meaning

[Dasha]

Same in Denmark. I still perceive it as being surprised/scared/shocked :)