siisti
/ˈsiːsti/
In Finnish, the word for cool is siisti.
In Finnish, siisti is an informal adjective used to mean 'cool', 'neat' or 'tidy'. If you want to express that something is 'awesome', you can also use mahtava or use the informal word kiva, which means 'nice'.
Meaning: having a slightly low temperature (adj)
Which one should you use?
Use siisti to mean something is neat or impressive, but use viileä when you are describing a slightly low temperature.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
In spoken Finnish, when the adjective siisti is used as a predicate to mean 'cool' or 'awesome', it often takes the colloquial form siistiä.
How do you pronounce it?
/ˈsiːsti/
What mistakes should you avoid?
Do not use siisti to describe a cool temperature. Use viileä instead. In Finnish, siisti specifically refers to things being neat, tidy or cool in a slang sense.
Did you know?
- The word siisti was originally borrowed from the Russian word чи́стый, meaning 'clean'.
- Finnish speakers use siisti to describe both a physically tidy room and a 'cool' person or idea.
Examples in context
- Se on aika siistii.That's pretty cool.This sentence shows how to use siisti to say something is pretty cool.Tatoeba #5478919 by Orava, translation #2251196 by CK
- Tää on tosi siisti!This is so cool!This sentence shows how to express that something is very cool with siisti.Tatoeba #10317756 by Silja, translation #2694026 by Hybrid
- Mä oon siisti tyyppi.I'm cool.This sentence demonstrates using siisti to describe a person as a cool type.Tatoeba #3366238 by Silja, translation #2202692 by CK
- Sinulla on hieno auto!You have a cool car!
- Esityksenne oli upea!Your performance was cool!
- Sinulla on tosi siisti paita!You have a really cool shirt!
- Festarit olivat ihan siistejä!The festival was really cool!
- Se oli tosi kiva keikka!It was a really cool gig!
- Kiva nähdä sua taas!Cool to see you again!
- Lumiukko näyttää ihan mahtavalta!The snowman looks absolutely cool!
- 21 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Mikko and Sofia are talking about the weather outside.
- MikkoUlkona on aika siisti ilma tänään.It is quite a cool air outside today.
- SofiaKyllä, minun pitää ottaa takki mukaan.Yes, I need to take a jacket with me.
- MikkoOnko tuo tuuli myös siisti?Is that wind also cool?
- SofiaOn, se tuntuu todella raikkaalta.It is, it feels really fresh.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry siisti, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries siisti, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
