Finnish Language | Classification, History, Phonology, & Facts

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External Websites

• Omniglot - Finnish (suomi)
• Stanford University - The Story of Supposed Hebrew-Finnish Affinity - a Chapter in the History of Comparative Linguistics (PDF)
• CORE - Introduction to the Language Situation in Finland

Ask the Chatbot a Question Also known as: Suomi language Written and fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Nov. 8, 2025 •History Contents Ask the Chatbot a Question

Finnish language, member of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family, spoken in Finland. At the beginning of the 19th century, Finnish had no official status, with Swedish being used in Finnish education, government, and literature. The publication in 1835 of the Kalevala, a national epic poem based on Finnish folklore, aroused Finnish national feeling. In the century that followed, Finnish gradually became the predominant language in government and education; it achieved official status in 1863. In Finland’s 1919 constitution both Finnish and Swedish were designated national languages.

Finnish belongs to the Baltic-Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric languages, being most closely related to Estonian, Livonian, Votic, Karelian, Veps, and Ingrian. Characteristic phonological features include vowel harmony, in which vowels are divided into two contrasting classes such that vowels from opposing classes may not occur together in a word; and consonant gradation, in which stop consonants (such as p, t, k) are altered before closed syllables (e.g., p is replaced by v, pp by p). There are also two lengths distinguished in vowels and in consonants. Many words have been borrowed from Indo-European languages, particularly from the Baltic languages, German, and Russian.

Finnish: Suomi (Show more) Key People: Johan Vilhelm Snellman Kaarlo Bergbom Elias Lönnrot Matthias Alexander Castrén (Show more) Related Topics: Finnish literature Baltic-Finnic languages (Show more) See all related content

Finnish has a written tradition dating from the 16th century, when the Lutheran bishop Mikael Agricola translated the New Testament into Finnish.

Britannica Quiz Languages & Alphabets The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.