How to: use a bus in Finland

Vocabulary:
Lippu, liput - a ticket, tickets
Aikataulu, aikataulut - a timetable, timetables
Reitti, reitit - a route, routes
Reittiopas - journey planner
Aikuisten lippu - adult ticket
Lastenlippu - children's ticket
Nuorisolippu - youth ticket
Meneekö tämä _______n? - Does this bus go to _________?

Local buses

Prices vary from 2 to 4 €, depending on the city. In central areas they charge by ride, not by distance. Pay upon boarding, with cash or credit card. Your ticket is usually transferrable up to one hour. In Turku you can also buy a ticket on your cell phone.

Bus stops are marked by the bus numbers, nowadays the electronic timetables have started to show up more and more.

In Helsinki you can also transfer between local trains, subway and trams. Note, that tram tickets only work in trams. In capital area you also need to consider, if you are traveling inside Helsinki, or crossing the border to surrounding cities. The region ticket (seutulippu) is a bit more expensive. Ask the driver if you are unsure.

You can also purchase a tourist day pass (1-7 days) or a travel card. Travel cards are either 30 day passes or 10, 20 or 40 ride passes. Ticket vendors vary by city:

Helsinki
Tampere
Turku
Vaasa
Iisalmi, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Lahti, Oulu, Porvoo, Varkaus

This bus ain't stopping!

If you want to get on a bus, wave your hand. In winter time, use a reflector or your cell phone display, or you'll go un-noticed. If you want to get off the bus, press the stop button well ahead your bus stop. The problem is, there are no announcements, so you have to check it on the map beforehand. Or ask the driver to drop you off at the right stop. Board the bus from the front door and hop off from the back door. If you have a trolley or your bike with you, board from the back door.

Example dialogue:
You: "Yks aikunen." - "One adult ticket, please."
Driver: "Kolme ja kymmenen." - "3,10€"
You: "Kiitos!" - "Thank you!"

Long distance buses

Check the schedules, book and buy tickets on-line (Matkahuolto) or get tickets from the local bus terminal.  Tickets are valid for 1 month, seat bookings only on the date and time the booking was marked for. You can also pay with cash or credit cards upon boarding. Some express buses in Southern Finland still have ticket-collectors, but in most cases you pay to the driver. Buses rarely get too packed, except right before public holidays, so booking ahead is not necessary.

Buses stop automatically on all bus stations listed on the route. The buses don't stop on the bus stops, unless somebody wants to get off or on the bus (press the stop button after the announcement or wave your hand if you want to get on the bus). The express buses only stop at bus stations and express bus stops, marked with a blue "pikavuoro" sign. On longer routes the driver announces a 15 minute break once or twice (in Finnish). If you see a lot of people getting off the bus, along with the driver, go ahead and fetch a cup of coffee. Return on time and have your ticket with you.

Discounts (with registered ID):
Students, defence force cadets, conscripts, non-military servants, children 4-11: 50%
Senior citizens and pensioners, members of press, youth 12-16: 30 %
One or two children under 4, accompanied with a person older than 12: 100%
Group of 3 or more: 25%
Return ticket purchased beforehand: 10%
Annual ticket, 44-rides: adults 25%, children 4-11 50%
Annual ticket, 22-rides: adults 15%, children 4-11 50%

Example dialogue:
You, waving your student ID: "Opiskelija Lahteen." - "Student ticket to Lahti, please."
Driver, checking your card: "Kolkyt kaks ja yheksänkymmentä." - "32,90€"
You: "Kiitos!" - "Thank you!"

PS. Matkahuolto also does parcel delivery. They are reasonable priced, so if you need to send something heavy, it's an option.

Greetings: I'm sorry, excuse me, pardon

Anteeksi - I'm sorry
Anteeksi! - Excuse me
Anteeksi? - I peg your pardon

Anteeks - sorry
Sori - sorry
Oho - "oops", sorry man

Greetings: Thank you! You are welcome!

Kiitos! - Thank you!.
Kiitti! - Thanks!
Suuret kiitokset. - Thank you very much! (very formal, see, no exclamation mark in Finnish, we are serious when formal)

Ole hyvä! - You are welcome!
Olkaa hyvät - please (have a seat/dig in/etc.)
Eipä kestä. - Don't mention it.

PS. If someone says "kiitti vitusti", he's being sarcastic and using bad language.

Food vocabulary: traditional cuisine

Finland is a land of special diets, cardio-vascular diseases, and, according to Mr. Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, country of crappy food. We Finns tend to like our food though, funny enough.

Here's a short list of traditional Finnish foods:

• Karjalanpaisti - a meat stew made of pork and beef, seasoned with black pepper, salt, bay leaves, and onions.
• Perunamuusi - mashed potatoes
• Karjalanpiirakat - Rice porridge in a thin rye crust, served with egg butter
• Lohikeitto - a thick, creamy salmon soup
• Kalakeitto - milk based fish soup
• Graavilohi - salted, raw salmon, in thin slices
• Rössypottu - a soup made of blood budding, potatoes and onions. Only in Oulu area.
• Hernekeitto - thick peasoup, served on Thursdays (don't ask why) accompanied with
• Pannukakku - a thick, oven baked pancake. Served with sugar, jam and whipped cream
• Makkarakeitto - a soup made of sausage, potatoes, root vegetables and onions
• Mustamakkara - a blood sausage, Tampere specialty
• Kalakukko - Baltic herring and bacon baked in thick rye crust, Savo area specialty
• Rieska - unleavened, thin bread, usually made of barley and sometimes barley and potatoes. Lapland specialty.
• Leipäjuusto, juustoleipä - a spotted, mild, country cheese. Lapland and Kainuu area specialty.
• Kesäkeitto - "summer soup", milk based soup made of fresh vegetables and new potatoes
• Kotikalja - non-alcoholic beverage, root beer, taste wise very close to Korean maekkolli
• Sima - non-alcoholic beverage, mead, usually only served on first of May
• Pulla - a sweet wheat bun

Family members and relatives

Minä, minun - I, my

Perhe - (nuclear) family
Suku - family (cousins, aunts, acestors and all that included)
Sukulainen - a relative
Lapsi, lapset - child, children
Tytär - daughter
Poika - son
Lapsenlapsi - grandchild

Äiti - mother
Isä - father
Veli - brother
Sisko - sister
Sisarus, sisarukset - a sibling, siblings
iso- - older (e.g. isoveli - big brother)
pikku- - younger (e.g. pikkusisko - little sister)


Isoisä, vaari, pappa, ukki - grandfather (the word used depends very much on the dialect and family customs)
Isoäiti, mummo, mummi, mumma - grandmother

Täti - aunt
Setä - uncle, brother of one's father
Eno - uncle, brother of one's mother
Serkku - cousin
Pikkuserkku - cousins' children to each other, "small cousins"
Veljenpoika - nephew, one's brother's son
Sisarenpoika, siskonpoika -  nephew, one's sister's son
Veljentytär - niece, brother's daughter
Sisarentytär, siskontytär - niece, sister's daughter


In-laws:
Anoppi - mother-in-law
Appi(ukko) - father-in-law
Miniä - daughter-in-law
Vävy - son-in-law
Käly - sister-in-law
Lanko - brother-in-law

Shapes and textures

Pyöreä - round
Ympyrä - a circle
Kolmio - a triangle
Neliö - a rectangle, square (meter)
Kuutio - cubic (meter)
Sylinteri - a cylinder

Pehmeä - soft
Kova - hard
Kimmoisa - bouncy
Nestemäinen - liquid
Karvainen - furry
Karhea - coarse
Sileä - smooth

What else do you want to know? Tell me in the comments!

Colors

In spoken language, we often drop letter i, so punainen becomes punanen and so on...

Punainen
Keltainen
Sininen

Vihreä
Oranssi
Violetti

Ruskea
Musta
Valkoinen

Tumma - dark, used in genetive form: tumman sininen - dark blue (lit. dark's blue, funny right?)
Vaalea - light, vaalean sininen - light blue
Kirkas - bright, careful here, with colors it becomes kirkkaan sininen

Greetings: Good bye!

Informal:

Moi moi! - Bye bye!
Hei hei! - Bye bye!
Heippa! - Bye!
Näh(d)ään! - See you!

Formal:
Näkemiin - See you again
Hyvästi - Good bye (this one is pretty final and thus rarely used)

Greetings: Good morning / afternoon / evening / night

(Hyvää) huomenta! - Good morning!
Hyvää iltapäivää - Good afternoon. Honestly, I didn't write this with exclamation mark because no-one ever says it enthusiastically. Hyvää iltapäivää is not used often. Instead we just say päivää - good day.
(Hyvää) iltaa! - Good evening!
Hyvää yötä! - Good night!

PS. Kauniita unia, oman kullan kuvia - Sweet dreams, dream about your beloved.

Greetings - Hello!

Finns use quite a variety of "hello"s, depending on area.

Rule of thumb: use the formal one if the situation requires shaking hands. If you can just wave your hand, you can use the informal one.

Informal greetings:
Moi! - very common and easy to remember.
Hei! - Just like "moi", but can also be used to draw someone's attention.
Terve! - Lit. 'healthy', means "I hope you are in good health today".
Moro! / Morjens! - From Swedish "morgen" - 'morning', but is used all around the day. You hear this a lot in Tampere area.

Formal greetings:
Päivää - (Good) day. Used when greeting elderly or just significantly older people, but you can use it to greet your peers as well and it's totally normal.
Hyvää päivää - Good day. Use this when you want to emphasis the 'good' part, or when greeting someone significantly better than you. Like the president of Finland. Sometimes used in sarcastic sense.

PS. In Savo they say "päevee päevee" (päivää) or "hyvvee päevee" (hyvää päivää). I guess that can be either formal or informal.

PPS. There is a Lutheran movement, popular in Pohjois-Pohjanmaa (Northern Osthrobotnia) and Lappi (Lapland), where the members greet by shaking hands and saying "Jumalan terve!" which means 'Greetings from the God!'. People outside the sect they usually greet with "Terve!" with the same meaning.