kyllä

See also: kylla

Finnish

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *küllä. Cognates include Estonian küll, Ingrian kyl, Karelian kyllä, Livonian ki’l, Veps külläine (“content, fat”) and Votic küll. Also related to Northern Sami galˈle. The adverb developed from the noun, while the interjection developed from the adverb, perhaps under Germanic influence (see usage notes).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkylːæ/, [ˈk̟ylːæ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ylːæ
• Syllabification^(key): kyl‧lä

Adverb

kyllä (not comparable)

1. an intensifier; corresponds to the English auxiliary do in many cases

   Synonym: heti (dialectal)

   Kyllä minä menin sinne.

   I did go there.

   Kyllä me selviämme.

   We will survive.

2. (archaic) enough, sufficiently

Interjection

kyllä

1. yes

Usage notes

• (interjection): While still often considered formal or stilted, the use of kyllä as an interjection has been on the rise since at least the early 20th century, possibly through Germanic influence. The more traditional strategy for affirmation is the so-called echo response, in which the verb is repeated in an affirmative response.

Kävitkö eilen teatterissa? — Kävin.

"Did you go to the theatre yesterday?" — "I did."

• Colloquially, words like joo and juu are used for affirmative answers. The word jaa is used in the special context of voting (cf. "aye", "yea").

Antonyms

• ei (and its other forms)

Noun

kyllä (obsolete)

1. abundance, plenty

Derived terms

• kylliksi
• kyllin
• Kylliäinen
• kyllyys
• kylläinen
• kyllälti
• kyllä-mies
• kyllästää
• kyllääntyä
• Kyllönen
• kyltyä

 

Further reading

• “kyllä”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

Karelian

Regional variants of kyllä

North Karelian (Viena)	kyllä
South Karelian (Tver)	kyllä

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *küllä. Cognates include Finnish kyllä and Estonian küll.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkylʲːæ/
• Hyphenation: kyl‧lä

Adverb

kyllä

1. of course
2. in abundance

Interjection

kyllä

1. (North Karelian) yes

Synonyms

• (yes): (North Karelian) jo, (South Karelian) da

References

• A. V. Punzhina (1994) “kül'l'ä”, in Словарь карельского языка (тверские говоры) [Dictionary of the Karelian language (Tver dialects)], →ISBN
• Pertti Virtaranta, Raija Koponen (2009) “kyllä”, in Marja Torikka, editor, Karjalan kielen sanakirja‎^[2], Helsinki: Kotus, →ISSN
• P. M. Zaykov et al. (2015) Venäjä-Viena Šanakirja [Russian-Viena Karelian Dictionary], →ISBN