Finnish vowels:

A or Ä?

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Why do we say talossa? Why is the last vowel  A and not Ä?

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talossa = in the house

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We can divide the vowels into 3 categories:

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Back vowels

A, O, U

Front vowels

Ä, Ö, Y

Neutral  vowels

I, E

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Front vowels

Ä, Ö, Y

Front vowels like to hang out in the same word with front vowels...

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Back vowels

A, O, U

Front vowels

Ä, Ö, Y

Front vowels like to hang out in the same word with front vowels...

Back vowels prefer other back vowels...

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Back vowels

A, O, U

Front vowels

Ä, Ö, Y

Front vowels like to hang out in the same word with front vowels...

Back vowels prefer other back vowels...

Neutral  vowels

I, E

And neutral vowels can appear in the same word with both back and front vowels!

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This feature of the Finnish language is called

Tilted Brush Stroke

the Vowel Harmony