The following table presents the basic phonetic values of letters in Finnish. Legend:
If you are not familiar with IPA notations, please see my description of Finnish pronunciation in plain (?) English.
a | ɑ | A | often described as [a] but normally [ɑ], due to opposition with [æ] |
b | b | b | often close to or identical with [p] |
c | k | k | [s] before e, i, y; occurs in foreign words only |
d | d | d | dialects usually don’t have this sound |
e | e | e | more accurately, [e̞] (lowered [e]) |
f | f | f | sometimes close to or identical with [ʋ] |
g | g | g | often close to or identical with k; usually [ŋ] before [n] |
h | h | h | [ɦ] between vowels; [ç] between front vowel and consonant; [x] between back vowel and consonant |
i | i | i | |
j | j | j | after i, not pronounced in some contexts, e.g. lukija [lukiɑ] (usually) |
k | k | k | no aspiration |
l | l | l | [l̪] after [t̪] |
m | m | m | often ɱ before [f] |
n | n | n | often [ŋ] or [m] or [ɱ] depending on next consonant; [n̪] before [t̪] |
o | o | o | more accurately, [o̞] (lowered [o]) |
p | p | p | no aspiration |
q | k | k | no aspiration; in foreign words only |
r | r | r | a trill |
s | s | s | less sharp than English [s], due to lack of oppositions with [z] and [ʃ] |
š | ʃ | S | often close to or identical with [s] |
t | t̪ | t | no aspiration; dental (unlike [d]); but alveolar [t] after [l], [r], [s] |
u | u | u | |
v | ʋ | r<lbd> | approximant; sometimes [v]; usually [w] after a diphthong ending with [u] |
w | ʋ | r<lbd> | in new loanwords from English, often [w] |
x | ks | ks | (in foreign words only) |
y | y | y | |
z | ts | ts | consonant pair, not an affricate |
ž | ʒ | Z | often close to or identical with [s] or [z] or [ʃ] |
ä | æ | & | |
ö | ø | Y | more accurately, [ø̞] (lowered [ø]) |
Additional notes:
For comparison, you may wish to check the Rosetta Project page on Finnish orthography, which contains a pronunciation table as images scanned from the book The World’s Writing Systems. The table is simplified but correct, except for the letter v (and w). The table, as well as many other descriptions of Finnish, describe its phonetic value as the fricative [v], but the labiodental approximant [ʋ] is more correct.
The finer points in this description are largely based on the book Fonetiikan ja suomen äänneopin perusteet by Kari Suomi, Juhani Toivanen and Riikka Ylitalo (Gaudeamus, Helsinki, 2006).