Two numbers matter in Finland. 112 is the emergency number for anything life-threatening — ambulance, fire, police — and it works from any phone, free, in English as well as Finnish. 116117 is the one fewer visitors know: a free 24-hour medical helpline for the urgent-but-not-emergency problem, the kind where you aren't sure whether to go in at all.
The phrases below start loud and get quieter. First what you shout, then what you say to a doctor, then what you ask across a pharmacy counter.
If Something Is Happening Right Now
Help!
Apua!
Fire!
Tulipalo!
Call 112!
Soita hätänumeroon 112!
There's been an accident.
On tapahtunut onnettomuus.
Someone is injured.
Joku on loukkaantunut.
I need an ambulance.
Tarvitsen ambulanssin.
I need the police.
Tarvitsen poliisia.
This is urgent.
Tämä on kiireellistä.
Does anyone speak English?
Puhuuko kukaan englantia?
Where's the nearest hospital?
Missä on lähin sairaala?
Practice these words
Apua!
Say the address first: the operator's opening question is where you are, so lead with the street name and number if you have it. Finnish addresses put the number after the street — Mannerheimintie 12 — and reading one out loud needs the Finnish numbers.
Two object forms, both right: tarvitsen ambulanssin asks for one ambulance; tarvitsen poliisia asks for police help in general rather than a single officer. Finnish makes that distinction with the ending, and nobody will mishear you either way.
One number for everything: don't look for separate fire or police numbers. 112 covers all three services, and 112 operators answer in English. The free 112 Suomi app sends your location with the call, which is the single most useful thing you can install before travelling in the Finnish countryside.
If Something Has Been Taken
My wallet has been stolen.
Minulta on varastettu lompakko.
I've lost my passport.
Olen kadottanut passini.
I've been robbed.
Minut on ryöstetty.
I'd like to report a crime.
Haluaisin tehdä rikosilmoituksen.
Where's the police station?
Missä on poliisiasema?
I need a copy for my insurance.
Tarvitsen kopion vakuutusta varten.
Practice these words
Minulta on varastettu lompakko.
Online only if you can log in: a rikosilmoitus — a crime report — can be filed through the police e-service for anything that isn't urgent, and that's the route the police recommend for stolen property. The catch is that it needs Finnish online-banking credentials or a mobile certificate, so a visitor without those reports in person at a poliisiasema instead. Either way, the report number is what your insurer asks for.
At the Doctor
I'm ill.
Olen sairas.
I need a doctor.
Tarvitsen lääkäriä.
I'd like to book an appointment.
Haluaisin varata ajan.
Where's the health centre?
Missä on terveyskeskus?
I have a temperature.
Minulla on kuumetta.
I have a sore throat.
Minulla on kipeä kurkku.
I have a cough.
Minulla on yskä.
I have stomach pain.
Minulla on vatsakipua.
It hurts here.
Tähän sattuu.
I've been ill for three days.
Olen ollut sairaana kolme päivää.
I'm allergic to penicillin.
Olen allerginen penisilliinille.
I need a sick note.
Tarvitsen lääkärintodistuksen.
Practice these words
Olen sairas.
Pointing works: tähän sattuu — "it hurts here" — plus a finger will get you further than a vocabulary list. If you want to name the part instead, the words are in parts of the body.
The minulla on pattern again: most symptoms are built the same way Finnish builds possession — minulla on plus the thing. It's the minulla on construction doing ordinary work, so once you have one symptom you have all of them.
At the Pharmacy
pharmacy
apteekki
Do you have something for a cough?
Onko teillä jotain yskään?
painkiller
särkylääke
prescription
resepti
over-the-counter medicine
käsikauppalääke
Do I need a prescription?
Tarvitsenko reseptin?
How often should this be taken?
Kuinka usein tätä otetaan?
plaster
laastari
Is there a cheaper version?
Onko halvempaa vaihtoehtoa?
Practice these words
apteekki
Almost only the apteekki: painkillers, cough medicine and nearly everything else come from an apteekki rather than the supermarket — paracetamol included. Nicotine patches and gum are the long-standing exception, and a 2027 law change lets licensed grocery shops stock a short list of minor remedies as well. Look for the green cross. Staff are pharmacists, they speak English almost without exception, and asking them before you see a doctor is normal practice rather than a last resort.
Ask about the cheaper one: for prescription medicines the pharmacy has to offer you the cheapest interchangeable product and tell you the price difference — and you can say no. There's no such rule for over-the-counter things, but onko halvempaa vaihtoehtoa? is a routine question nobody finds rude.
Words on the Signs
emergency number
hätänumero
health centre
terveyskeskus
emergency department
päivystys
hospital
sairaala
ambulance
ambulanssi
first aid
ensiapu
health insurance card
Kela-kortti
doctor's certificate, sick note
lääkärintodistus
on-call pharmacy
päivystävä apteekki
Practice these words
hätänumero
The word to recognise: päivystys is the one on the door you want when it's out of hours. It means the on-call or emergency service, and it attaches to other things too — päivystävä apteekki is the pharmacy that's still open, päivystävä lääkäri the doctor on duty.
How the System Actually Works
For anything life-threatening, 112. For everything else, the order is: ring 116117 first, go to päivystys only if they tell you to. That helpline exists precisely so people don't turn up at A&E with something a nurse could have talked them through, and calling it is the normal Finnish reflex rather than a way of avoiding trouble. One catch for visitors: it's answered in Finnish and Swedish, not English, and it doesn't cover Åland. 112 is the number with guaranteed English.
Day to day, your first stop is the terveyskeskus — the health centre for the area you live in, run by your hyvinvointialue, the wellbeing services county that took these services over from the municipalities in 2023. You book by phone or online, and non-urgent appointments can take a while. Visitors and short-term residents usually go private or through travel insurance instead, and private clinics will see you within a day or two.
The Kela-kortti shows you're covered by Finnish health insurance. Residents get one automatically, though you'll rarely be asked for it — pharmacies and public clinics look you up electronically and an ID card does the job. It still earns its place at private doctors and dentists. EU visitors use their European Health Insurance Card for public treatment at the same price a Finn pays, and that one you do carry. The vocabulary around all of this sits with the rest of the money and banking words.
One cultural note that catches people out: Finnish medical staff are brief. You'll get a direct question, a direct answer and no small talk, and that is not coldness — it's the same conversational economy you meet in small talk everywhere else in the country. Answer the question that was asked, and expect the appointment to be shorter than you're used to.