Marjukka's keyword: näytellä

‘Näytellä’ is a Finnish verb and it can be translated in many different ways. According to a Finnish-English dictionary it can be translated as ‘to show’, ‘to act’, ‘to pretend’, ‘to play’, ‘to enact’, ‘to portray’, ‘to exhibit’, ‘to ham it up’, ‘to put on’, etc. The long list of meanings is due to the fact that ‘näytellä’ derives from the word ‘näyttää’ which can be translated as ‘to show’, ‘to seem’, ‘to look like’, ‘to appear’, ‘to point’, ‘to exhibit’, etc. Since ‘näytellä’ has such versatile roots, it’s no wonder the whole meaning might be confusing. I would say that mostly Finnish people use it to refer to acting, pretending or showing things.

A Finnish encyclopedia explains the word as follows (a free translation):

1. Derives from the word ’to show’ – to show one’s teeth / happy face / animals in a fair. The snake charmers show their snakes for money.

2. As an individual word:

a. To perform a play / To play a part in a play or a movie. – Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was performed in a theatre. Mister A. played the main role. He acted/performed well. He played Hamlet. The acting was bad. Symbolic: The tragic final scene of the World War II was played in Nürnberg. Russia is playing an important part in the world politics.

b. Try to look someone/something else, to be as if someone/something else, to pretend. – To act careless. To act gentleman / innocent / experienced / naïve. The boy was looking at the girl acting as if he didn’t care. He being strict is just acting / He’s just acting strict.


I have chosen four pictures which all give you a different perspective for the word.


In the first picture you can see an actress posing as her role character – she is acting her character.


In the second picture you can see a larper (LARP = Live Action Role-Playing) pretending to be an orc – he is pretending to be an orc.


In the third picture a woman is showing her dog in a dog show – she is showing / exhibiting her dog.


The last picture is a photo of Albert Einstein making a face – he is haming it up.