The most common word in Finnish isn't "and." It's olla, "to be" — but only once you count it properly. Finnish words change shape constantly, so on, oli, olen, olisi and ollut all look like different words to a computer. Add them back together and olla turns up about two-thirds more often than ja.
That's how this list was built: from a frequency list of written and spoken Finnish, with every inflected form credited to its dictionary word. Learn these hundred and you'll recognise roughly a third of the words in an ordinary Finnish text.
The Top Twenty
In rank order. These twenty alone are nearly a quarter of everything you'll read.
to be
olla
and
ja
not (the negative verb)
ei
it, that
se
that (as in "I think that")
että
this
tämä
who, which (as in "the man who")
joka
he, she
hän
can, to be able to
voida
but
mutta
when, as
kun
so; right, yes
niin
also, too
myös
if
jos
to get, to be allowed to
saada
to come, to become
tulla
what, which
mikä
now
nyt
time; quite, pretty
aika
than, like
kuin
Practice these words
olla
Not is a verb: ei sits at number three, and it's a verb — it changes for the person: en, et, ei. That's why it ranks so high: every "I don't", "you don't" and "they don't" counts towards it. The full set is in the Finnish negative verb.
One word for he and she: hän covers both, which is part of why it ranks at number eight. Finnish has no grammatical gender at all — more on that in articles and gender.
People and Pointing Words
I
minä
you (one person)
sinä
we
me
they (people)
he
they, those (things)
ne
that (over there)
tuo
self, oneself
itse
someone
joku
something
jokin
anything, nothing (after ei)
mikään
all, everyone
kaikki
else, other
muu
another, second
toinen
same
sama
own
oma
Practice these words
minä
In speech, se does hän's job: in everyday spoken Finnish, people mostly say se for "he" or "she" and ne for "they" — the written-language hän is much rarer in conversation. That swap and the rest of the spoken forms are in spoken Finnish. The full pronoun set is in personal pronouns.
Verbs
Fifteen verbs make the hundred — five of them in the top twenty, if you count ei. The other ten:
to do, to make
tehdä
to keep, to like, to have to
pitää
to go
mennä
to want
haluta
to say
sanoa
to give
antaa
to take
ottaa
to know
tietää
to begin
alkaa
to visit, to go regularly
käydä
Practice these words
tehdä
Pitää does three jobs: on its own it's "to keep" or "to hold." With -sta it's "to like" — pidän kahvista, "I like coffee." With another verb it's "to have to" — minun pitää mennä, "I have to go." The next hundred verbs after these are in common Finnish verbs.
Nouns
year
vuosi
thing, matter
asia
person
ihminen
man
mies
woman
nainen
day
päivä
occasion, time (as in "three times")
kerta
mind
mieli
part
osa
Practice these words
vuosi
Mieli is here for a reason: it ranks because of phrases rather than on its own — minun mielestäni, "in my opinion," and olen samaa mieltä, "I agree." Both come up in yes, no and agreeing.
Describing and Counting
good
hyvä
new
uusi
whole, entire
koko
different
eri
a lot, much
paljon
a little
vähän
more
enemmän
one
yksi
two
kaksi
over, more than
yli
Practice these words
hyvä
Hyvä is the most frequent adjective. Adjectives are spread across thousands of words, so few make any top-100 list — in any language. Counting goes on from here in Finnish numbers.
Words That Join Sentences
or
tai
and (formal)
sekä
because
koska
although, even if; say, for example
vaikka
that is, in other words
eli
like, such as
kuten
so, therefore
joten
but rather
vaan
however
kuitenkin
so, I mean
siis
Practice these words
tai
Mutta or vaan: both translate as "but." Vaan is only for correcting a negative — ei punainen vaan sininen, "not red but blue." Everywhere else the conjunction is mutta. In speech you'll also hear vaan meaning "just" — mä vaan mietin, "I was just thinking" — which is the spoken form of vain.
When, Where and How
only, just
vain
already
jo
then
sitten
still, yet
vielä
always
aina
before
ennen
after
jälkeen
again
taas
any more (after ei)
enää
exactly, just now
juuri
there
siellä
like this, this way
näin
where
missä
how
miten
why
miksi
about, approximately; like that
noin
Practice these words
vain
The three question words in this table — missä, miten, miksi — plus mikä from the top twenty are the core of Finnish question words.
Small Words That Do a Lot
yes
kyllä
quite, totally
ihan
well
hyvin
maybe
ehkä
with
kanssa
according to, along
mukaan
in addition
lisäksi
for example
esimerkiksi
against
vastaan
thank you
kiitos
Practice these words
kyllä
Ihan is the spoken one: ihan hyvä ("quite good"), ihan sama ("whatever"), ihan totta ("honestly"). You'll hear it in almost every conversation, and it rarely appears in formal writing at all.
How This List Was Made
The ranking comes from wordfreq, an open frequency list that pools Finnish from Wikipedia, film and TV subtitles, news, web text, Twitter and Reddit — so it leans towards written Finnish, with some informal online Finnish mixed in. Because Finnish piles endings onto words, every form was counted towards its dictionary word: kotiin and kotona both count for koti, minulle and minua both count for minä.
A few things were left out on purpose: numbers written as digits, English words that turn up in Finnish text, abbreviations, and place names. Suomi would land in the top twenty if it were counted, partly because the same lowercase word also means the Finnish language. Just outside the hundred: vai (or, in questions), no (well), lapsi (child) and kuinka (how).
What stands out is how little of the list is "vocabulary" in the sense most learners mean. There are only ten nouns (the nine in the noun table plus aika), a handful of adjectives, and fifteen verbs. Most of the hundred are the small words that hold sentences together — and they're the ones that make Finnish suddenly readable, long before you know what the nouns mean.