In this article, you can find an overview of nouns ending in -nen. These are only a small subset of the large number of words ending in -nen in the Finnish language. Most of those words are adjectives.

Nouns ending in -nen can be regular words without a specific meaning or connotation. In addition, however, the suffix -nen can be a diminutive suffix: it creates new nouns which reflect that the base word is small.

If you’re a beginner, please pay attention to the words marked in green. They are the most common words, so they’re the ones you should learn first.

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1. Nouns ending in -nen
   1. Nouns ending in -nen which refer to people
   2. Nature words: insects
   3. Nature words: birds
   4. Miscellaneous nature words
   5. Food-related nouns ending in -nen
   6. Bodypart nouns ending in -nen
   7. Other miscellaneous nouns ending in -nen
2. Finnish diminutive suffix -nen
   1. Diminutive nouns expressing smallness
   2. Diminutive nouns expressing endearment

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1. Nouns ending in -nen

1.1. Nouns ending in -nen which refer to people

1.2. Nature Words: Insects

There is a large number of insects that have a name ending in -nen. If you’re a beginner or intermediate student, you can get by learning only the words marked in green.

However, I have decided to add at least a couple more specific names, such as the names of some types of ants and beetles. The Wikipedia page for each should allow you to get more of an idea of which type of insect the words refer to.

1.3. Nature Words: Birds

Many birds have a name ending in -nen in Finnish. I’m linking to the Wikipedia pages of each bird, because reading a description might help you more than just the English term for each bird.

1.4. Miscellaneous Nature Words

1.5. Food-Related Nouns Ending in -nen

1.6. Bodypart Nouns Ending in -nen

1.7. Other Miscellaneous Nouns Ending in -nen

2. Finnish Diminutive Suffix

2.1. Diminutive Nouns Expressing Smallness

Finnish utilizes the suffix –nen to create new nouns that convey that an object is small. For example, kirja means book, while the diminutive kirjanen means a small, often thin, book, which is generally nothing more than a leaflet.

2.2. Diminutive Nouns Expressing Endearment

Words can also get the suffix -nen in order to create diminutive nouns that convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. These are mainly used when speaking straight to the person, and usually require the possessive suffix -ni. In English, you will often find more creative names such as “sweetie pie” and “sugar plum”.

These term of endearment are usually used in a playful manner. This is especially important to note because not everyone has the right sense of humor for some of these. For example, calling your wife muoriseni or eukkoseni can be considered tactless because eukko means “hag, witch, old woman”.

The following group of words are used in literary sources, such as poems and songs, rather than in everyday life. These words sound a little fancy. They aren’t used that often in everyday speech except when wanting to sound more poetic.

Check out these other sources too:

This article only contains nouns ending in –nen. This is just one article in a series of many, which all tackle a different type of words ending in -nen. More articles will follow soon!