Significado
To continue a conversation.
Contexto cultural
Finns are famous for their 'comfortable silence.' However, in modern business, 'pitää puheenaihetta yllä' is seen as a necessary skill for internationalization. In the US, 'keeping the conversation going' is a high social priority. A Finn might find this 'ylläpitäminen' exhausting or fake. Silence is also valued in Japan, but 'reading the air' (kuuki wo yomu) is the equivalent skill to knowing when to maintain a topic. In cultures like Italy or Spain, the conversation often maintains itself through overlapping speech, making the Finnish 'effort' to keep it up seem strange.
Ask Open Questions
The best way to 'pitää puheenaihetta yllä' is to ask questions starting with 'Miksi' (Why) or 'Miten' (How) instead of yes/no questions.
Don't Overdo It
In Finland, if you try too hard to 'pitää puheenaihetta yllä', people might think you are nervous or 'liian puhelias' (too talkative).
Significado
To continue a conversation.
Ask Open Questions
The best way to 'pitää puheenaihetta yllä' is to ask questions starting with 'Miksi' (Why) or 'Miten' (How) instead of yes/no questions.
Don't Overdo It
In Finland, if you try too hard to 'pitää puheenaihetta yllä', people might think you are nervous or 'liian puhelias' (too talkative).
Silence is OK
Remember that in Finland, a 5-10 second silence isn't necessarily a failure to 'pitää puheenaihetta yllä'. It's often just a pause for thought.
Ponte a prueba
Fill in the missing word in the correct case.
Minun täytyy pitää ______ yllä, koska hän on niin ujo. (puheenaihe)
The partitive case 'puheenaihetta' is required for ongoing maintenance.
Which adverb completes the idiom?
Hän on mestari pitämään keskustelua ______.
'Pitää yllä' is the fixed phrasal verb for maintaining something abstract.
Complete the dialogue with the most natural phrase.
A: Miten treffit menivät? B: Ihan hyvin, mutta oli vähän vaikeaa...
This is the standard way to describe the difficulty of maintaining conversation flow.
Match the situation to the sentence.
Situation: You are praising a host for a great party.
This correctly uses the past tense and the partitive object to give a compliment.
🎉 Puntuación: /4
Ayudas visuales
Banco de ejercicios
4 ejerciciosMinun täytyy pitää ______ yllä, koska hän on niin ujo. (puheenaihe)
The partitive case 'puheenaihetta' is required for ongoing maintenance.
Hän on mestari pitämään keskustelua ______.
'Pitää yllä' is the fixed phrasal verb for maintaining something abstract.
A: Miten treffit menivät? B: Ihan hyvin, mutta oli vähän vaikeaa...
This is the standard way to describe the difficulty of maintaining conversation flow.
Situation: You are praising a host for a great party.
This correctly uses the past tense and the partitive object to give a compliment.
🎉 Puntuación: /4
Preguntas frecuentes
10 preguntasIt is neutral. You can use it with friends, but it's also perfectly fine in a business meeting.
Yes! 'Keskustelua' (conversation) is a very common synonym for 'puheenaihetta' in this phrase.
Because the action of 'maintaining' is ongoing. In Finnish, ongoing actions take the partitive case.
There isn't one direct idiom, but you could say 'antaa keskustelun tyrehtyä' (to let the conversation dry up).
Yes, e.g., 'Oli vaikee pitää juttua yllä WhatsAppissa.'
No, in this idiom, 'yllä' is an adverb and does not take possessive suffixes.
Yes, it applies to any form of interactive communication.
It can be. Saying 'Hän ei osaa pitää puheenaihetta yllä' implies they are socially awkward.
Minä pidin, sinä pidit, hän piti, me pidimme, te piditte, he pitivät.
'Yllä' is idiomatic for maintenance; 'päällä' usually refers to physical location or a machine being on.
Frases relacionadas
ylläpitää keskustelua
synonymTo maintain a conversation
jauhaa paskaa
contrastTo talk nonsense / shoot the breeze
rikkoa jää
builds onTo break the ice
puhua pälpättää
similarTo chatter on
