Finnish word stress follows this important rule:
Vowels elsewher than in the first syllable therefore do not receive main
stress. The main stress also falls on the first syllable in loan words which may
have been stressed differently in the original language. Examples:
Hélsinkiin to Helsinki vápaa free vóida (to) be able
jókainen every máalaan I paint áatteellisuus idealism
élefantti elephant límonaati lemonade psýkologi psychologist
psýkologia psychology búlevardi boulevard
Finnish sentence intonation is generally falling, but the first syllable of the
final word of a sentence can nevertheless be pronounced with a rising
intonation without the word being given a strong stress. In the following
examples the intonation contour is shown above the sentence.
The main stress is always on the first syllable of the word.
Tomorrow Pekka is going to
Helsinki.
In the evening I’m going dancing
at a restaurant.
16 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
When a word needs to be given particularly strong emphasis this is done by
means of intonation. In addition, such a word is often moved to the beginning
of the sentence.
