9 years in finland, some courses, mostly vibes, and my brain is still filing bug reports

never took it that seriously tbh. did some finnish courses over the years but mostly just picked it up by living here. which works fine until it doesnt and then it really doesnt

the thing that gets me most is how finnish handles feelings. in croatian feelings happen to you or they are states you are in. you are hungry. you are cold. simple. in finnish you own your feelings like property. you HAVE hunger. you HAVE cold. you HAVE thirst. nine years in and every time i am cold i have a small internal crisis about whether i consented to acquiring this cold

"i miss you" is literally "i have longing for you from." i have longing. it is mine. it is an object i carry around. croatian is dramatic but at least the drama makes sense

then there are the cases. croatian has 7, finnish has 15, but here is the thing. croatian cases are about grammar. finnish cases are about LOCATION. everything needs a precise location at all times. going TO the store vs going INTO the store. different case. ON the table vs ON TOP OF the table. different case. finnish feels like it was written by someone with severe spatial anxiety

"do you want coffee" in finnish is literally "do you drink coffee" and saying yes means you want some right now. i said yes as small talk for two years before i figured out why people kept getting up to make coffee

also there is no word for please. finns just ask for things. give me coffee. and somehow this is polite. nine years later my croatian instincts still make me tack please onto everything which apparently sounds slightly formal like i am addressing my own family in a letter

still fumbling. probably always will be. but at least now i know why

what weird things does your native language do that completely scrambles your brain in a new language? especially curious if anyone else came from a slavic language into something like this