Finnish is a Finno-Ugric language and an official language of Finland. Many words in Finnish have roots in Finno-Ugric origin. Verb forms in Finnish change according to person, number, and tense. Finnish uses 29 letters in its alphabet, while Swedish is the second official language in Finland. One of the characteristics of Finnish is the use of 15 cases. Finnish has a strongly emphasized prosody, meaning the stress on words varies depending on the meaning of the sentence. Word order in Finnish can be more flexible than in other languages. Verbs in Finnish can end with various suffixes, depending on tense, person, and number. Many words in Finnish are composed of roots, suffixes, and prefixes. Verbs in Finnish have four main conjugations. Finnish is known for its long words, which can contain multiple components. A peculiarity of Finnish is that the meaning of words can change with just one letter. Many words in Finnish do not have gender. Finnish has a rich heritage of folk poetry that has developed over centuries. Finnish is one of the most challenging languages to learn for those accustomed to languages based on Latin origin.