The following table presents the basic phonetic values of letters in Finnish. Legend:
If you are not familiar with IPA notations, please see my description of Finnish pronunciation in plain (?) English.
| a | ɑ | A | often described as [a] but normally [ɑ], due to opposition with [æ] |
| b | b | b | often close to or identical with [p] |
| c | k | k | [s] before e, i, y; occurs in foreign words only |
| d | d | d | dialects usually don’t have this sound |
| e | e | e | more accurately, [e̞] (lowered [e]) |
| f | f | f | sometimes close to or identical with [ʋ] |
| g | g | g | often close to or identical with k; usually [ŋ] before [n] |
| h | h | h | [ɦ] between vowels; [ç] between front vowel and consonant; [x] between back vowel and consonant |
| i | i | i | |
| j | j | j | after i, not pronounced in some contexts, e.g. lukija [lukiɑ] (usually) |
| k | k | k | no aspiration |
| l | l | l | [l̪] after [t̪] |
| m | m | m | often ɱ before [f] |
| n | n | n | often [ŋ] or [m] or [ɱ] depending on next consonant; [n̪] before [t̪] |
| o | o | o | more accurately, [o̞] (lowered [o]) |
| p | p | p | no aspiration |
| q | k | k | no aspiration; in foreign words only |
| r | r | r | a trill |
| s | s | s | less sharp than English [s], due to lack of oppositions with [z] and [ʃ] |
| š | ʃ | S | often close to or identical with [s] |
| t | t̪ | t | no aspiration; dental (unlike [d]); but alveolar [t] after [l], [r], [s] |
| u | u | u | |
| v | ʋ | r<lbd> | approximant; sometimes [v]; usually [w] after a diphthong ending with [u] |
| w | ʋ | r<lbd> | in new loanwords from English, often [w] |
| x | ks | ks | (in foreign words only) |
| y | y | y | |
| z | ts | ts | consonant pair, not an affricate |
| ž | ʒ | Z | often close to or identical with [s] or [z] or [ʃ] |
| ä | æ | & | |
| ö | ø | Y | more accurately, [ø̞] (lowered [ø]) |
Additional notes:
For comparison, you may wish to check the Rosetta Project page on Finnish orthography, which contains a pronunciation table as images scanned from the book The World’s Writing Systems. The table is simplified but correct, except for the letter v (and w). The table, as well as many other descriptions of Finnish, describe its phonetic value as the fricative [v], but the labiodental approximant [ʋ] is more correct.
The finer points in this description are largely based on the book Fonetiikan ja suomen äänneopin perusteet by Kari Suomi, Juhani Toivanen and Riikka Ylitalo (Gaudeamus, Helsinki, 2006).