tahti

Tahti is a Finnish noun meaning tempo, pace, or rate. It is used to describe the speed at which something occurs, most often in a musical context but also in everyday language to refer to the pace of activities or events.

In music, tahti denotes the speed of a performance and is closely related to the concept of tempo. In practice, speakers may use tahti to talk about how fast a piece should be played, sometimes with a metronome as a reference. The term can also be used more broadly to describe the cadence of a performance or process, such as the tahti of rehearsals or production work.

In everyday Finnish, tahti appears in phrases such as “nopea tahti” (fast pace) or “hidas tahti” (slow pace). It emphasizes cadence and regularity more than the exact rhythmic pattern. The word is flexible enough to describe both artistic performance and routine tempo in daily life.

Relation to rhythm: tahti is primarily about speed or tempo, while rytmi (rhythm) refers to the pattern of sounds in time. Together, tahti and rytmi help convey the feel of music or movement, with tahti providing the rate and rytmi providing the sequence.

See also: Tempo, Rhythm, Finnish language. Tahti is a common term in Finnish and is often translated as tempo or pace depending on context.