Profanities – Curse Words – Swearing in Finnish
This article is part of a series on swearing. You can read more about the general topic in our root article on swearing. In this article, you can read more about profanities. Profanities are curse words related to religion. The other two common types are swears are related to the sex organs (e.g. vittu) and to excretion (e.g. paska).
In this article, every phrase includes mention of its approximate strength (strong – medium – mild), because each of these have several euphemisms that are milder swears than the original. There is also mention of the function of each phrase. Please note that these are to some extent simplifications.
1. Helvetti – Hell
A common word to be used in swears is helvetti aka hell. This swear word can be alleviated by using any of the following less aggressive alternatives: helkkari, helkatti, helkutti, helskutti, hiivatti or hemmetti.
| Strength | Function | Swear |
|---|---|---|
| Strong | Surprise | Mitä helvettiä! |
| Medium | Surprise | Mitä helkkaria! |
| Medium | Surprise | Mitä helskuttia! |
| Strong | Frustration | Voi helvetti! |
| Medium | Frustration | Voi hiivatti! |
| Medium | Frustration | Voi helkutti! |
| Medium | Frustration | Helvetti soikoon! |
| Strong | Intensifier | Helvetin hyvä. |
| Medium | Intensifier | Helkkarin kallis. |
| Strong | Modifier | Helvetin bussi. |
| Strong | Persuasion | Totta helvetissä! |
| Medium | Persuasion | Totta hiivatissa! |
| Medium | Persuasion | Totta helkkarissa! |
| Medium | Persuasion | Totta hemmetissä! |
| Medium | Forbidding | Älä helkatissa! |
| Medium | Forbidding | Älä helskutissa! |
| Strong | Order | Painu helvettiin! (pic) |
| Medium | Order | Painu helkuttiin! |
| Medium | Disgust | Hyi helkatti! |
2. Jumala Jumalauta Luoja – God
Jumala means “god”, and jumalauta is a pretty strong swear word. Jumaliste is a less strong version of jumalauta. The word luoja means “creator” and is a mild swear word.
| Strength | Function | Swear |
|---|---|---|
| strong | Anger | Jumalauta! |
| medium | Frustration | Jumaliste! |
| mild | Frustration | Voi luoja! |
| mild | Frustration | Voi jumala! |
| mild | Frustration | Voi herra jumala! |
| strong | Intensifier | Älä jumalauta rupea! |
| mild | Order | Ole luojan tähden hiljaa! |
3. Perkele – Devil
Everybody’s favorite swear word, especially when over accentuating the r: perrrrrkele! The curse word perkele has developed a symbolic status: it’s seen as a sign of Finnishness; part of the national stereotype, but not in a bad way. It gets linked with sisu: the strength to stoicly handle any difficult situation with determination, tenacity and bravery.
Milder euphemisms for perkele are perkule, perhana, pentele and sometimes even perjantai.
| Strength | Function | Swear |
|---|---|---|
| Strong | Frustration | Perkele! |
| Strong | Modifier | Perkeleen idiootti! |
| Medium | Frustration | Voi perkele! |
| Mild | Frustration | Voi perhana! |
| Mild | Frustration | Voi perkule! |
| Mild | Frustration | Ei perkele! |
| Mild | Intensifier | Perhanan hyvin sanottu. |
| Mild | Emphasis | Perkule kun on kiire! |
| Mild | Surprise | Mitä perkuletta! |
| Mild | Emphasis | Kuka pentele tämän teki! |
| Mild | Intensifier | Penteleen hyvä onni. |
| Medium | Intensifier | Perkeleen paljon |
| Very mild | Frustration | Voi perjantai! |
4. Saatana – Satan
In addition to perkele in the previous section, we can also use saatana to mean the devil. Milder euphemisms of saatana include samperi, saakeli and saamari. There’s also the word piru, which I’m adding to the table below because it also means the devil.
“Ai saatana” is an interesting expression, as it can express among other things anger, disgust, surprise and admiration. I’ve labeled it as “surprise” below.
| Strength | Function | Swear |
|---|---|---|
| Strong | Frustration | Voi saatana! |
| Mild | Frustration | Voi samperi! |
| Medium | Frustration | Voi saakeli! |
| Strong | Emphasis | Saatanan duunarit! |
| Medium | Intensifier | Saamarin tylsä ilta. |
| Medium | Intensifier | Saakurin hankala. |
| Mild | Intensifier | Samperin hankala. |
| Medium | Intensifier | Saakelin tyhmä. |
| Strong | Anger | Mitä saatanaa se sinuun kuuluu! |
| Medium | Surprise | Ai saamari! |
| Medium | Surprise | Ai saakuri! |
| Strong | Surprise | Ai saatana! |
| Medium | Frustration | Saakeli soikoon! |
| Mild | Frustration | Piru vieköön! |
| Mild | Frustration | Voi piru! |
| Mild | Intensifier | Pirun hyvä. |
5. Hitto – Damn (Hiisi)
Hitto is a pretty milk swear word. It’s based on the word hiisi, which means some kind of scary mythical monster. As such, it’s not based on the Bible like the other words on this page: it goes back to other forms of worship Finns had before Christianity. It has meant an ancient place of worship (see Päivi’s comment below the article). Painu hiiteen means “go to hell”, hiisi vieköön means “may the devil take it”.
I’m adding hiivatti to this section, though it is unclear to me if this word is derived from helvetti or from hiisi.
| Strength | Function | Swear |
|---|---|---|
| Mild | Frustration | Voi hitto! |
| Medium | Frustration | Voi hiivatti! |
| Mild | Frustration | Hitto soikoon! |
| Mild | Frustration | Hiisi vieköön! |
| Mild | Frustration | Hitto kun väsyttää! |
| Mild | Surprise | Mitä hittoa! |
| Mild | Intensifier | Tuli hiton kalliiksi. |
| Mild | Order | Painu hiiteen! |
| Mild | Order | Häivy hittoon siitä! |
| Mild | Persuasion | Totta hiivatissa! |
That’s it for profanities! I hope you found this article useful!
The original, Pre-Christian “Hiisi” was actually a place: a sacred grove, place of sacrifice, or burial ground. Only after the coming of Christianity it became to mean an evil creature, a small demon of sorts.
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