Finnish language grammar

This article details the grammar of the Finnish language. There are separate articles covering the sound patterns of Finnish, and the ways in which spoken Finnish differs from the formal grammar of the written language. It is probably best to read the introduction to Finnish and Finnish language phonetics articles to make best use of this article.

=Pronouns= The pronouns are inflected in the Finnish language much in the same way than their referent nouns are.

Table of contents

1 Personal pronouns 2 Demonstrative Pronouns 3 Interrogative Pronouns 4 Relative Pronouns 5 Reciprocal Pronouns 6 Reflexive Pronouns 7 Indefinite Pronouns 8 Cases 8.1 Grammatical Cases 8.2 Locative Cases 8.2.1 Internal Locatives 8.2.2 External Locatives 8.3 Marginal Cases 8.4 Others 8.5 Plurals 8.6 Inflection of pronouns 8.7 Noun/adjective stem types 8.7.3 Vowel stems 8.7.4 Consonant stems 8.7.5 -nen nouns 8.7.6 -e nouns 9 Adjectives 9.8 Comparative formation 9.9 Superlative formation 9.10 Irregular forms 10 Postpositions and prepositions 10.11 Postpositions 10.12 Prepositions 11 Verb forms 11.13 Tenses 11.14 Voices 11.14.7 Passive voice 11.15 Moods 11.15.8 Indicative 11.15.9 Conditional 11.15.10 Imperative 11.15.11 Potential 11.16 Infinitives 11.16.12 First infinitive 11.16.13 Second infinitive 11.16.14 Third infinitive 11.16.15 Fourth infinitive 11.16.16 Fifth infinitive 11.17 Verb Conjugation 11.17.17 Type I verbs 11.17.17.1 Imperfect indicative 11.17.17.2 Passive 11.17.18 Type II verbs 11.17.18.3 Present indicative 11.17.18.4 Imperfect indicative 11.17.18.5 Passive 11.17.18.5.1 Present passive 11.17.18.6 'Olla' ('to be') 11.17.19 Type III verbs 11.17.19.7 Imperfect indicative 11.17.19.8 Passive 11.17.20 Type IV verbs 11.17.20.9 Imperfect indicative 11.17.20.10 Passive 11.17.21 Type V verbs 11.17.21.11 Imperfect indicative 11.17.21.12 Passive 11.17.22 Type VI verbs 11.17.22.13 Imperfect indicative 11.17.22.14 Passive 11.17.23 Irregular stems 11.18 Participle 11.18.24 Present participle, active 11.18.25 Present participle, passive 11.18.26 Past participle, active 11.18.27 Past particple, passive 11.18.28 Agent participle 11.19 Negation 11.19.29 Present indicative 11.19.30 Present passive 11.19.31 Imperfect indicative 11.19.32 Imperfect passive 11.20 Interrogatives (questions) 11.21 Imperatives 11.21.33 Active, 2nd person imperatives 11.21.34 Passive, 2nd person imperatives 11.21.35 3rd person imperatives 11.21.36 1st person plural imperatives 12 Adverbs 12.22 Comparative formation 12.23 Superlative formation 12.24 Irregular forms 13 Numbers 13.25 Cardinal numbers 13.26 Names of numbers 14 Sentence structure 14.27 Existential sentences 15 See also

Personal pronouns

Unlike in English, the personal pronouns are used to refer to human beings only. The personal pronouns in Finnish in the nominative case are:
;Singular

minä = I

sinä = you

hän = she or he

;Plural: me = we

te = you

he = they

;Polite: Te = you

Since Finnish verbs are inflected for person, personal pronouns are not required for sense and are usually omitted in written Finnish except where used for emphasis. In spoken Finnish, however, the pronouns are generally used.

In common with some other languages, the second person plural can be used as a polite form when addressing one person. This usage is diminishing in Finnish society.

Demonstrative Pronouns

The demonstratives are used of non-human animate entities and inanimate objects. However, se and ne are often used to refer to humans in colloquial Finnish. Furthermore, the demonstratives are used to refer to group nouns and the number of the pronoun must correlate with the number of its referent. ;Singular

tämä = this

tuo = that

se = it

;Plural

nämä = these

nuo = those

ne = they

Interrogative Pronouns

kuka = who, which (of many)

ken = who, which (of many)

mikä = what, which (of many)

kumpi = which (of two)

kumpainen = which (of two)

Relative Pronouns

joka (refers to preceding word)

• "hän on ainoa, jonka muistan" = "s/he was the only one who (I) remember"

mikä (refers to preceding clause/ sentence or to a pronoun or a superlative that refers to a thing)

• "se on ainoa asia, minkä muistan" = "it was the only thing that (I) remember"

Reciprocal Pronouns

toinen

• "he rakastavat toisiaan" = "they love each other" (plural)

"he rakastavat toinen toistaan" = "they love one another" (double singular)

Reflexive Pronouns

itse

plus corresponding possessive suffix

• "keitin itselleni teetä" = "(I) made myself some tea"

Indefinite Pronouns

A large group that entails all of the pronouns that do not fall into any of the categories above.

joka (uninflected) = every, each

jokainen = every, everyone

joku = some, someone

jompikumpi = either one

jokin = some, something

kukin = each one

kumpainenkin = both

kumpikin = both

mikin = each thing

kenkään = anyone

kukaan = anyone -> ei kukaan = no-one

kumpikaan = either one -> ei kumpikaan = neither one

mikään = anything -> ei mikään = nothing

Some indefinite adjectives are often perceived as indefinite pronouns. These include:

ainoa = only

eräs = some, certain, one

harva = few

itse (non-reflexive) = self-forms

kaikki = all, everyone, everything

molemmat = both

moni = many

muu = other

muutama = some, a few

sama = same

toinen (non-reciprocal, non-numeral use) = another

=Noun forms= The Finnish language does not distinguish gender in nouns or even in personal pronouns: 'hän' = 'he' or 'she' depending on the referent. This causes some unaccustomed Finnish speakers to muddle "he" and "she" when speaking languages such as English or Swedish, which can be a source of confusion.

Cases

Finnish has fifteen noun cases: four grammatical cases, six locative cases and five marginal cases.

Grammatical Cases

The grammatical cases perform all the important grammatical functions.

;Nominative: The basic form of the noun

Characteristic ending: none

'talo' = 'a/the house',

'kirja' = 'book',

'mäki' = 'hill',

'vesi' = 'water'

;Genitive: Characteristic ending: -n possibly modified by consonant gradation: mäki -> mäen, talo -> talon. The weak vowel stem of a noun comes from the genitive singular.

Basically indicating possession, but also the case of the direct object of a completed action. It is used preceding postpositions.

"kirja|n kuvat" = "the pictures of(/in) the book"

"talo|n edessä" = "in front of the house"

"mäe|n päällä" = "on top of the hill"

"vede|n alla" = "under water"

;Accusative: This is the case of the direct object and is sometimes used as a label when the genitive form is used in this role. The accusative role only has a separate form for personal pronouns

Singular

• minut

sinut

hänet

Plural

• meidät

teidät

heidät

Polite

• Teidät

With nouns, accusative is morphologically similar to the genitive in singular forms ("ostin kirjan" = "I bought a book") and nominative in plural forms ("ostin kirjat" = "I bought the books").

;Partitive: characteristic ending: -a/-ä or -ta/-tä. The consonant stem of a noun (if any) comes from the partitive singular

The basic meaning of this case is "partialness". The partitive is the second most common case in Finnish. It's used in the following circumstances:

After numerals:

• 'kolme talo|a' = 'three houses'

'kaksi las|ta' = 'two children'

For incomplete actions and ongoing processes:

• "luen kirja|a" = "I'm reading a book"

"juon vet|tä" = "I'm drinking water"

After certain verbs, particularly those indicating emotions:

• "rakastan tätä taloa" = "I love this house"

"ajattelin huomis|ta" = "I thought about tomorrow"

For tentative enquiries:

• "saanko lainata kirjaa?" = "can I borrow the book?"

In places where English would use "some" or "any":

• "onko teillä kirjo|j|a?" = "do you have any books ?"

For negative statements:

• "talossa ei ole yhtään kirjaa" = "there is not a book in the house"

Very rarely indicates location (coming from/ being found somewhere):

• "lähdin koto|a" = "(I) left home"

"rann|empa|a" = "closer to the shore"

"länn|empä|ä" = "further west"

The formation of the partitive plural is rather variable, but the basic principle is to add '-i-' to the inflecting stem, followed by the '-(t)a' partitive ending. However, in a similar way to verb imperfects, the '-i-' can cause changes to the final vowel of the stem, leading to an apparent diversity of forms. ! MORE HERE.

Locative Cases

The most important function of the locative cases is to indicate location. They are often divided into two groups: the internal locatives and the external locatives.

Internal Locatives

;Inessive: Characteristic ending -ssa/-ssä added to genitive stem

The first of the six so-called "local" cases which as their basic meaning correspond to locational prepositions in English. The inessive carries the basic meaning "inside" or "in"

• "talo|ssa" = "in the house"

It is also commonplace to indicate time or immediate contact with the inessive

• "joulukuu|ssa" = "in December"

"joulukuuse|ssa" = "on the Christmas tree"

;Elative: Characteristic ending -sta/-stä added to the weak vowel stem

The second of the local cases with the basic meaning of "coming out from inside" or "out of"

• "tuli talo|sta" = "(he) came out of the house"

Like the inessive, the elative can also be used to indicate time or immediate contact. Can also indicate origin or cause.

• "viime joulu|sta lähtien" = "since last Christmas"

"nouse sängy|stä" = "get out of the bed"

"tehty villa|sta" = "made of wool"

"vihreänä kateude|sta" = "green with envy"

;Illative: While the choice of a proper ending is not straightforward, the ending is often a geminated final vowel plus -n. The ending is added either to the weak or the strong the vowel stem. The third of the local cases with the basic meaning "into"

• "meni talo|on" = "(he) went into the house"

The illative can also indicate close contact, time or cause

• "vedin saappaat jalka|an" = "(I) put my boots on" (literally: on my feet)

"huomise|en" = "until tomorrow"

"kevää|seen" = "until spring"

"kylmä|än voi kuolla" = "one can die of cold"

External Locatives

;Adessive: Characteristic ending -lla/-llä added to weak vowel stem

The fourth of the local cases with the basic meaning "on top of or in close proximity of"

• "mäe|llä" = "on the hill"

"ove|lla" = "at the door"

Adessive is also commonly used with the verb olla to indicate possession

• "minu|lla on kirja" = "I have a book" (literally "there is a book on me")

It can also indicate time, means or way

• "aamu|lla" = "in the morning"

"bussi|lla" = "by bus"

"vasara|lla" = "with a hammer"

"kävellä varpa|i|lla|an''" = "to walk on tiptoe/on one's toes"

;Ablative: Characteristic ending -lta/-ltä added to weak vowel stem

The fifth of the local cases with the basic meaning "from off of" - a poor English equivalent, but necessary to distinguish it from "from out of" which would be elative.

• "mäe|ltä" = "from (off) the hill"

"nousin sohva|lta" = "(I) got up from the sofa"

"Liisa sai kirjan minu|lta" = "Liisa got the book from me"

The ablative can also indicate time and it can be used to convey information about qualities

• "kahdeksa|lta" = "at eight (o'clock)"

"hän on ulkonäö|ltä|än miellyttävä" = (freely:)"she has a pleasant appearance"

;Allative: Characteristic ending -lle added to weak vowel stem

The sixth of the local cases with the basic meaning "onto".

• "mäe|lle" = "onto the hill"

Another meaning is "to someone" or "for someone"

• "minä annan kirjan Liisa|lle" = "I give the book to Liisa"

"pöytä kahde|lle" = "a table for two"

With verbs of sensation, it is possible to use either the ablative or allative case

• "tuoksuu hyvä|ltä/ hyvä|lle" = "(it) smells good"

Marginal Cases

As their name indicates, the use of these cases is rather marginal. The name "general locatives" is sometimes used of the essive and translative cases (as well as partitive above) because their oldest meanigs imply that they have been used to indicate location.

;Essive: Characteristic ending -na but with strong consonant gradation. The strong vowel stem (if any) comes from the essive singular. NB the consonant stem used to be quite common in the essive, and some nouns and adjectives still have this feature.

This case sometimes carries the meaning of a temporary state of being, often equivalent to the English "as a ..."

• "lapse|na" = "as a child", "when (I) was a child"

"vete|nä" = "as water"

"pien|i|nä palas|i|na" = "in small pieces"

"se on täyn|nä" = "it is full"

The essive is also used for specifying days and dates when something happens.

• "huomen|na" = "tomorrow"

"maanantai|na" = "on monday"

"kuudente|na joulukuuta" = "on the 6th of December" (Finnish independence day).

In ancient Finnish, essive had a meaning similar to the local cases, which can still be seen in some words (being somewhere):

• "koto|na" = "at home"

"ulko|na" = "outside"

"rann|empa|na" = "closer to the shore"

"länn|empä|nä" = "further west"

;Translative: Characteristic ending -ksi added to the weak vowel stem. The ending is -kse- before a possessive suffix.

This is the counterpart of the essive, with the basic meaning of a change of state. Examples:

• "maalaa se punaise|ksi" = "paint it red"

"tunnen itseni väsynee|ksi" = "I feel tired".

"se muuttui vede|ksi" = "it turned into water"

Also has a meaning similar to English "for a ..."

• "mäki on englanni|ksi 'hill'" = (literally:) "'hill' is English for mäki"

"toistaise|ksi" = "for the time being", "for now"

"suunnitelmia perjantai|ksi" = "plans for Friday"

"valmis perjantaiksi" = "ready by Friday"

"mitä sinä teet työ|kse|si?" = "what do you do for a living?"

Very rarely indicates location (going to somewhere):

• "rann|emma|ksi" = "closer to the shore"

"länn|emmä|ksi" = "further west"

;Instructive: Characteristic ending -n added usually (but not always) to plural stem

This has the basic meaning of "by means of". It is a comparatively rarely used case, though it is found in some commonly used expressions.

• "omin silmi|n" = "with my own eyes"

"käsi|n" = "by hand"

"rinta rinna|n = "side by side"

It is also used with verbal second infinitives to mean "by ...ing", for example

• "lentäen" = "by flying", "by air"

;Abessive: Characteristic ending -tta

This has the basic meaning of "without". This case is a rarely used by itself, especially in the spoken language, but is found in some expressions and proverbs

• "joka kuri|tta kasvaa, se kunnia|tta kuolee" = "who grows up without discipline, dies without honor"

However, abessive is quite common in combination with the third infinitive (-ma-, -mä-).

• "syömättä" = "without eating"

"tekemättä" = "without doing"

"... lukuun ottamatta" = "without taking into account..."

;Comitative: Characteristic ending -ine (plus a possessive suffix for nouns but none for adjectives). This ending is added to the plural stem, even if the noun is singular, which may sometimes cause confusion.

This is a rarely used case, especially in the spoken language. The meaning is "in the company of" or "together with"

• "talo kirjo|ine|en" = "the house with its books" or "book"

"hän saapui kauni|ine vaimo|ine|en" = "he arrived together with his beautiful wife" or "wives"

Others

;Prolative: This is only found in a few "fossilised" forms in modern Finnish (though it is alive and well in Estonian). Its meaning is "by way of" and the most used examples are

• 'postitse' = 'by post'

'puhelimitse' = 'by phone'

'meritse' = 'by sea'

Prolative is not considered to be a case in the official grammar.

Plurals

There are three different 'plurals' in Finnish: ;Nominative plural: This is the 'general' form of the plural

• "koirat olivat huoneessa" = "the dogs were in the room"

"huoneet olivat suuria" = "the rooms were large"

;Following numbers: After numbers greater than one, the noun is put in the partitive singular.

• "huoneessa oli kaksi koiraa" = "there were two dogs in the room"

"talossa oli kolme huonetta" = "the house had three rooms"

;Inflected plural: this uses the stem of the partitive plural inflected with the same set of endings as for singular nouns.

• 'huone' -> 'huoneita' = 'rooms' -> 'huoneissa' = 'in rooms'

As a combined example of plurals 'lintu on puussa' = 'the bird is in the tree' -> 'linnut ovat puissa' = 'the birds are in the trees'

Inflection of pronouns

The personal pronouns are inflected in the same way as nouns, and can be found in most of the same cases as nouns. For example:

'minä' (nominative) = 'I'

'minun' (genitive) = 'my, mine' - 'tämä talo on minun ' = 'this house is mine '

- 'tämä on minun taloni ' = 'this is my house'

'minut' (accusative) = 'hän tuntee minut' = 's/he knows me'

'minua' (partitive) - 'hän rakastaa minua' = 'she loves me'

'minussa' (inessive) - 'tämä herättää minussa vihaa' = 'this provokes (lit. awakens) anger in me'

'minusta' (elative) - 'hän puhui minusta' = 'he was talking about/ of me'. Also used idiomatically to mean 'in my opinion'.

'minuun' (illative) = 'hän uskoi minuun' = 's/he believed in me'

'minulla' (adessive) - 'minulla on rahaa' = 'I've got some money' (lit. 'on me is some money')

'minulta' (ablative) - 'hän otti minulta rahaa' = 'he took some money from/ off me'.

'minulle' (allative) - 'anna minulle rahaa' = 'give me some money'

'sinuna' (essive) = 'If I were you' (lit. 'as you')

'minuksi' (translative) = 'häntä luullaan usein minuksi' = 's/he is often mistaken for me'

Noun/adjective stem types

Vowel stems

! MORE HERE

Consonant stems

! MORE HERE

-nen nouns

This is a very large class of words which includes common nouns (for example 'nainen' = 'woman'), many names, and many common adjectives. Adding -nen to a noun is a very productive mechanism for making adjectives ('muovi' = 'plastic' -> 'muovinen' = 'made of plastic'). It can also function as a diminutive ending.

The stem for these words removes the '-nen' and adds '-s(e)' after which the inflectional ending is added:

'muovisessa pussissa' = 'in the plastic bag'

'kaksi muovista lelua' = 'two plastic toys'

'muoviseen laatikkoon' = 'into the plastic box'

Here are a few of the rare diminutive forms that are still in use:

'kätönen' (from käsi) = 'a small hand' (affectionate)

'lintunen' (from lintu) = 'birdie', 'a small bird'

'veikkonen' (from veikka) = 'my friend' (used in some sayings, like the english form)

The diminutive form mostly lives in surnames which are usually very old words to which most finns have forgotten the meaning. Some of the most common:

'Rautiainen' (from rautio) = 'something of a blacksmith' (of a blacksmith's family)

'Korhonen' (from korho) = 'slightly deaf' (of a slightly deaf man's family)

'Leinonen' = [Does anyone know?]

'Virtanen', 'Jokinen', 'Järvinen', 'Nieminen'... = 'the family from by the stream (virta), river (joki), lake (järvi), peninsula (niemi)'

'Mikkonen' = [Is there a special meaning to Mikko apart from the first name?]

'Karppinen' = [Karppi is a type of fish. Again, why?]

'Martikainen' = [What is a martikka?]

At least in one place the name has also been left into a place. There is a peninsula called "Neuvosenniemi" in one lake. "Neuvonen" means "a bit of advice/direction" and the peninsula was where people rowing tar barrels across the lae would stop and ask if wheather etc should make it safe to continue across the other side.

-e nouns

These nouns look as though they should behave like vowel stem nouns, but in fact behave like consonant stem nouns due to the historical loss of a final consonant. There are some common nouns in this class, for example 'huone' = 'room', 'kirje' = 'letter'

The result is that the partitive singular adds a 't' followed by the partitive ending appropriate to a consonant stem 'ta'. Other case forms add an 'e' followed by the case ending:

'kaksi huonetta' = 'two rooms'

'huoneessa' = 'in the room'

'huoneeseen' = 'into the room'

Adjectives

! MORE HERE

Comparative formation

! MORE HERE

Superlative formation

! MORE HERE

Irregular forms

! MORE HERE

Postpositions and prepositions

Postpositions are more common in Finnish than prepositions. Both postpositions and prepositions can be combined with either a noun or a possessive suffix to form a P-positional phrase.

Postpositions

Postpositions indicate place, time, cause, consequence or relation. In postpositional phrases the noun is usually in genitive:

'pöydän alla' = 'under the table'

'joulun jälkeen' = 'after Christmas'

'lasten tähden' = 'for the sake of the children'

'jonkun puolesta'= 'on behalf of somebody'

The noun (or pronoun) can be omitted when there is a possessive suffix:

'olen _ vierellä|si' = '(I) am next to (you) ' or '(I) am by (your) side '

Prepositions

There are few important prepositions in Finnish. In prepositional phrases the noun is always in partitive:

'ennen joulua' = 'before Christmas

'ilman sinua' = 'without you'

Some postpositions can also be used as prepositions:

'kylän keskellä ' = ' keskellä kylää' = ' in the middle of the village'

Verb forms

Finnish verbs are usually divided into six groups depending on the stem type. All six types have the same set of endings, but the stems undergo (slightly) different changes when inflected.

There are very few irregular verbs in Finnish. In fact, only 'olla' = 'to be' has irregular endings (and then only in the present tense for the 3rd-person forms). A handful of verbs, including 'nähdä' = 'to see', 'tehdä' = 'to do/make', and 'juosta' = 'to run' have mildly irregular stems.

As a final oddity, Finnish does not have a verb corresponding to 'to have' - possession is indicated in other ways. For animate possessors, the adessive case is used with 'olla', for example 'koiralla on häntä' = 'the dog has a tail' - literally 'on the dog is a tail'.

Tenses

Finnish verbs have present, imperfect, perfect and pluperfect tenses.

• Present: corresponds to English present and future tenses. For the latter, a time qualifier may need to be used to avoid ambiguity.
• Imperfect: corresponds to English past continuous and past simple, indicating a past action which is complete but might have been a point event, a temporally extended event, or a repeated event.
• Perfect: corresponds to the English present perfect ("I have eaten") in most of its usages, but can carry more sense than in English of a past action with present effects.
• Pluperfect: corresponds to the English past perfect ("I had visited") in its usage.

Voices

Finnish has two possible verb voices: active and passive. The active voice corresponds with that of English, but the passive voice has some important differences.

Passive voice

In fact, the Finnish passive would be better described as a "vaguely personal" form since there is no way of connecting the action performed with a particular agent and hence there is only one form of the passive. This should become clear through an example:

"talo maalataan" = "the house is being painted"

The time when the house is being painted could be added: "talo maalataan marraskuussa" = "the house will be painted in November"

The colour and method could be added: "talo maalataan punaiseksi harjalla" = the house is being painted red with a brush"

But, nothing more can be said about the person doing the painting ! There is no mechanism for saying "the house is being painted by Jim".

Hence the form "maalataan" is the only one which is needed. Notice also that the subject of the verb (i.e. the object of the action) is in the nominative case. Verbs which govern the partitive case continue to do so in the passive, and where the subject is a personal pronoun, that goes into its special accusative form: "minut unohdettiin" = "I was forgotten"

It can also be said that in the Finnish passive the agent is always human and never mentioned. A sentence such as "the tree was blown down" would translate poorly into Finnish because of a mental image of a group of people huffing ang puffing and trying to blow the tree down...

Because of its vagueness about who is performing the action, the passive can also translate the English "one does {something}", "{something} is generally done": "sanotaan että..." = "they say that..."

In modern spoken Finnish, the passive form of the verb is used after "me" to mean "we do {something}" ("me tullaan" = "we are coming") and on its own at the beginning of a sentence to mean "let's ..." ("mennään!" = "let's go!"). In the first of these cases, the "me" cannot be omitted without risk to comprehension, unlike with the 'standard' form "tulemme".

Formation of the passive will be dealt with under the verb types below.

Moods

Indicative

The indicative is the form of the verb used for making statements or asking simple questions. In the verb morphology sections, the mood referred to will be the indicative unless otherwise stated.

Conditional

The conditional mood expresses the idea that the action or state expressed by the verb may or may not actually happen. As in English, the Finnish conditional is used in conditional sentences (e.g. "I would tell you if I knew") and in polite requests (e.g. "I would like some coffee").

In the former case, and unlike in English, the conditional must be used in both halves of the Finnish sentence:

"ymmärtäisin jos puhuisit hitaammin" = *"I would understand if you would speak more slowly"

The characteristic morphology of the Finnish conditional is 'isi' inserted between the verb stem and the personal ending. This can result in a 'closed' syllable becoming 'open' and so trigger consonant gradation:

'tiedän' = 'I know', 'tietäisin' = 'I would know'

cf. 'haluan' = 'I want', 'haluaisin' = 'I would like'

Conditional forms exists for both active and passive voices, and for present, perfect and pluperfect tenses.

Imperative

The imperative mood is used to express commands.

Potential

The potential mood is used to express that the action or state expressed by the verb is likely but not certain, and is rare in modern Finnish, especially in speech. The potential has no counterpart in English.

The characteristic morphology of the Finnish conditional is 'ne' inserted between the verb stem and the personal ending.

Potential forms exists for both active and passive voices, and for present, perfect and pluperfect tenses.

Infinitives

Finnish verbs are described as having four, sometimes five infinitives:

First infinitive

The first infinitive short form of a verb is the "dictionary entry" form. All first infinitive short forms end in a/ ä. This corresponds to the English 'to' form, for example:

• 'sano|a' = 'to say'

'tietä|ä' = 'to know'

'teh|dä' = 'to do'

'luke|a' = 'to read'

The first infinitive long form is the translative plus a possessive suffix.

• '...soitti sano|a|kse|en...' = '...(s/he) phoned in order to say...'

'tietä|ä|kse|mme' = (idiomatic use:) 'as far as we know'

'voi|da|kse|ni lukea' = ' in order for me to be able to read'

The first infinitive only has active form.

Second infinitive

This corresponds to the English verbal noun (-ing form), and behaves as a noun in Finnish in that it can be inflected, but only in the inessive and the instructive. In the inessive it has both active and passive forms. The instructive has only active form. A possessive suffix can be added to the active inessive. The second infinitive is relatively rare, especially in the spoken language, except in certain set phrases (for example 'toisin sanoen' = 'in other words').

The second infinitive is formed by replacing the final 'a'/'ä' of the first infinitive with 'e' then adding the appropriate inflectional ending. If the vowel before the 'a'/'ä' is already an 'e', this becomes 'i' (see example from 'lukea' = 'to read').

The cases in which the second infinitive can appear are: ;Active Inessive (while someone is in the act of)

• 'teh|de|ssä' = 'doing'

'sano|e|ssa' = 'saying'

;Active Inessive + Possessive Suffix (while themselves in the act of)

• 'teh|de|ssä|än' = 'reading'

'sano|e|ssa|si' = 'saying'

;Passive Inessive (when or while in the act of something being done)

• 'sano|tta|e|ssa' = 'when saying'

'teh|tä|e|ssä' = 'when doing'

'lue|tta|e|ssa' = 'when reading'

;Active Instructive (by means of/ while in the act of)

• 'teh|de|n' = 'doing'

'sano|e|n' = 'saying'

'luki|e|n' = 'reading

Third infinitive

This corresponds to the English verbal noun (-ing form), and behaves as a noun in Finnish in that it can be inflected, but only in a limited number of cases. It is used to refer to a particular act or occasion of the verb's action.

The third infinitive is formed by taking the verb stem with its consonant in the strong form, then adding 'ma' followed by the case inflection.

The cases in which the third infinitive can appear are: ;inessive: 'lukemassa' = '(in the act of) reading'

'hän on lukemassa kirjastossa' = 's/he's reading in the library'

;elative: 'lukemasta' = '(from just having been) reading' ;illative: 'lukemaan' = '(about to be / with the intention of) reading' ;adessive: 'lukemalla' = '(by) reading' ;abessive: 'lukematta' = '(without) reading' A rare and archaic form of the third infinitive which occurs with the verb pitää: ;instructive: 'sinun ei pidä lukeman' = 'you must not read' The third infinitive instructive is usually replaced with the first infinitive short form in modern Finnish.

Note that the '-ma' form without a case ending is called the 'agent participle' (see 'participles' below). The agent participle can also be inflected in all cases, producing forms which look similar to the third infinitive.

Fourth infinitive

This corresponds to the English verbal noun (-ing form), and behaves as a noun in Finnish in that it can be inflected. It is used to refer to the action of the verb in general.

The third infinitive is formed by taking the verb stem with its consonant in the strong form, then adding 'minen'. It then inflects like all other nouns ending with '-nen'.

'lukeminen on hauskaa' = 'reading is fun'

'vihaan lukemista' = 'I hate reading'

'nautin lukemisesta' = 'I enjoy reading'

Fifth infinitive

This is a fairly rare form which has the meaning 'on the point of ...ing / just about to ...'

'olin lukemaisillani' = 'I was just about to read'

Verb Conjugation

Type I verbs

These are verbs whose infinitive forms end in vowel + 'a' (or 'ä' for front-vowel containing stems) , for example 'puhua' = 'to speak', 'tietää' = 'to know'. This group contains a very large number of verbs. Here is how 'tietää' conjugates in the present indicative:

minä tiedän = I know

sinä tiedät = you (singular) know

hän/se tietää = (s)he/it knows

me tiedämme = we know

te tiedätte = you (plural/formal) know

he tietävät = they know

The personal endings are thus -n, -t, -(doubled vowel), -mme, -tte, -vat. The inflecting stem is formed by dropping the final '-a', and has a strong consonant in the third-person forms and weak otherwise. Note that for third person plural, this is an exception to the general rule for strong consonants.

Imperfect indicative

In the simple case (which applies to most type I verbs), the imperfect indicative is formed by inserting the charateristic 'i' between the stem and the personal endings, which are the same as in the present tense except that the vowel does not double in the 3rd person singular:

'puhun' = 'I speak', 'puhuin' = 'I spoke'

'puhut' = 'you speak', 'puhuit' = 'you spoke'

'puhuu' = '(he) speaks', 'puhui' = '(he) spoke'

'puhumme' = 'we speak', 'puhuimme' = 'we spoke' and so on.

However, the insertion of the 'i' often has an effect on the stem. Of type I verbs, one notable exception is 'tietää':

'tiedän' = 'I know', 'tiesin' = 'I knew'

'ymmärtää' = 'to understand' also follows this pattern. Changes of stem for other verb types will be discussed in the relevant sections below.

Passive

;Present passive: The present passive is formed by adding '-taan' to the inflecting stem of the verb with the consonant in its weak form:

puhua -> puhu- -> puhutaan

If the vowel at the end of the stem is 'a' or 'ä' it is changed to 'e' before the '-taan' ending:

tietää -> tiedä- -> tiede -> tiedetään

;Imperfect passive:This is formed in the same way as the present passive, except that the ending is '-ttiin', hence 'puhuttiin' = 'it was spoken', 'tiedettiin' = 'it was known'.

Note the presence of the same 'i' marker in the imperfect passive as in the imperfect indicative. Note also the presence of the extra 't'.

;Conditional passive: This is formed in the same way as the present passive, except that the ending is '-ttaisiin', hence 'puhuttaisiin' = 'it would be spoken', 'tiedettaisiin' = 'it would be known'.

Note the presence of the 'isi' conditional marker.

;Potential passive:This is formed in the same way as the present passive, except that the ending is '-ttaneen', hence 'puhuttaneen' = 'it may be spoken', 'tiedettaneen' = 'it may be known'.

Note the presence of the 'ne' potential marker.

Type II verbs

These are verbs whose infinitive forms end in two consonants + 'a', for example 'mennä' = 'to go'. This is another large group of verbs.

Present indicative

The stem is formed by removing the 'a' and its preceding consonant. Then add 'e' followed by the personal endings: menen, menet, menee, menemme, menette, menevät.

Imperfect indicative

The 'i' of the imperfect is added directly to the stem formed as for the present tense, then the personal endings are added: 'pestä' = 'to clean', 'pesen' = 'I clean', 'pesin' = 'I cleaned' etc.

Passive

Present passive

In this group, the passive has the same '-aan' ending as for group I verbs, but no 't'; the easiest way to form the passive is to extend the vowel on the end of the first infinitive and then add 'n':

mennä -> mennään

All other forms of the passive are related to the present passive in the same way as for type I verbs, including the 'extra t', except that since there was no 't' to start with, the passive forms only have one ! Also the double consonant before the ending becomes single.

mennä -> mennään -> mentiin, mentäisiin

olla -> ollaan -> oltiin (see below), oltaisiin

'Olla' ('to be')

Strictly, 'olla' belongs to this group. 'To be' is irregular in most languages, and Finnish is no exception, but the irregularities are confined to the 3rd-person forms of the present tense - everything else is regular:

'olen' = 'I am'

'olet' = 'you are'

'on' = 'he/she/it is' (irregular)

'olemme' = 'we are'

'olette' = 'you are'

'ovat' = 'they are' (irregular)

Type III verbs

Verbs whose infinitives end in vowel + 'da', for example 'juoda' = 'to drink', 'syödä' = 'to eat'. This is a fairly large group of verbs, partly because one way in which foreign borrowings are incorporated into the Finnish verb paradigms is to add 'oida', for example, 'organisoida' = 'to organise'.

Another important verb of this type is 'voida' = 'to be able/allowed to'.

The stem is formed by removing 'da' with no vowel doubling in the third person singular: juon, juot, juo, juomme, juotte, juovat.

Imperfect indicative

For these verbs whose stems end in two vowels, the first of the vowels is lost when the 'i' is added in the imperfect: 'juon = 'I drink', 'join' = 'I drank' etc.

There is an exception to this rule if the stem already ends in an 'i' - for example 'voida' or the '-oida' verbs mentioned earlier. In this case the stem does not change between present and imperfect indicative, so the imperfect forms are the same as the present forms, and the distinction between them must be made from context.

Passive

Passives in this group are formed in the same way as for group II verbs:

syödä -> syödään, syötiin, syötäisiin

juoda -> juodaan, juotiin, juotaisiin

Type IV verbs

This, and the following two groups, have infinitives ending in vowel + 'ta'. Most commonly, type IV verbs end with 'ata', 'ota', 'uta', but the other two vowels are possible. Examples are 'tavata' = 'to meet', 'haluta' = 'to want', 'tarjota' = 'to offer'.

The inflecting stem is formed by dropping the 'a' changing the final consonant into its strong form:

haluta -> halut-

tavata -> tapat-

tarjota -> tarjot-

In the present indicative, the final 't' mutates into an 'a' ! After this, the personal ending is added (or the vowel doubled in the 3rd person singular) as usual:

haluan, haluat, haluaa, haluamme, haluatte, haluavat

tapaan, tapaat, tapaa etc.

tarjoan, tarjoat, tarjoaa etc.

Imperfect indicative

The same stem is used as for the present except that the final 't' becomes 's' rather than 'a'. This is followed by the imperfect 'i' marker and the personal endings: 'halusin' = 'I wanted', 'tapasimme' = 'we met' etc.

Passive

Passives in this group are formed in the same way as for type II verbs, except that since the present passives will all have a 't' (from the first infinitive) the 'extra t' appears in the other forms as for type I verbs:

haluta -> halutaan, haluttiin, haluttaisiin

tavata -> tavataan, tavattiin, tavattaisiin

Type V verbs

All the verbs in this groups have infinitives ending in 'ita'. There are not that many of them, the most 'important' being 'tarvita' = 'to need'

The stem is formed by dropping the final 'a' and adding 'se': tarvitsen, tarvitset, tarvitsee, tarvitsemme, tarvitsette, tarvitsevat.

Imperfect indicative

! MORE HERE

Passive

Passives of this type are formed in the same way as for type IV verbs.

Type VI verbs

Almost all the verbs of this type have infinitives ending in 'eta'. There are not many verbs which fall into this category of their 'own right', and these don't tend to be be commonly used. However, it is a reasonably common route for turning adjectives into verbs (for example 'kylmä' = 'cold', 'kylmetä' = 'to get cold')

The stem for this type is formed by removing the 'ta' then adding 'ne' with the additional change that the final consonant of the stem is in its strong form:

'rohjeta' = 'to dare'

'rohkenen' = 'I dare'

'rohkenet' = 'you dare'

'rohkenee' = 'he/she/it dares' etc.

'paeta' = 'to escape', 'pakenen' = 'I escape'

'kylmetä' = 'to get cold', 'kylmenen' = 'I get cold'

Imperfect indicative

! MORE HERE

Passive

Passives of this type are formed in the same way as for type IV verbs.

Irregular stems

Finnish has mercifully few irregular verbs, and apart from 'olla' discussed above, the personal endings are always regular. The three common verbs with irregular stems are 'tehdä' = 'to do, make', 'nähdä' = 'to see', and 'jousta' = 'to run'. Their present indicatives go as follows:

teen, teet, tekee, teemme, teette, tekevät

näen, näet, näkee, näemme, näette, näkevät

juoksen, juokset, juoksee, juoksemme, juoksette, juoksevat

Participle

Finnish verbs have present and past participles, both with active and passive forms, and an 'agent' participle. Participles can be used in different ways than ordinary adjectives and they can have an object.

Present participle, active

'nukku|va koira' = 'sleeping dog'

'häikäise|vä valo' = 'blinding light'

'olin luke|v|i|na|ni' = 'I pretended to be reading' [act. I participle pl. essive + poss. suff.]

! MORE HERE

Present participle, passive

'minun on nuku|tta|va' = 'I must sleep' [pass. I participle sg. nom.]

! MORE HERE

Past participle, active

Basically this is formed by removing the infinitive ending and adding '-nut/nyt' (depending on vowel harmony). For example 'puhua' -> 'puhunut', 'syödä' -> 'syönyt'

However, depending on the verb's stem type, assimilation can occur with the 'n' of the ending.

In type II verbs, the 'n' is assimilated to the consonant at the end of the stem:

'mennä' -> ('men-') -> 'mennyt'

'harjoitella' -> ('harjoitel-') -> 'harjoitellut'

In verbs of types IV-VI, the 't' at the end of the stem is assimilated to the 'n':

'haluta' -> ('halut-') -> 'halunnut'

'tarvita' -> ('tarvit-') -> 'tarvinnut'

'rohjeta' -> ('rohjet-') -> 'rohjennut'

Past particple, passive

'lähde|tty|ä|si kotiin' = 'after you went home' [pass. II participle sg. ess.+ poss.suff.]

! MORE HERE

Agent participle

The agent participle is formed in a similar way as the third infinitive (see above), adding -ma or -mä to the verb stem. It indicates something done by someone and can be inflected in all cases. The party performing the action is indicated by the use of genitive. For example:

'tytön lukema kirja' = the book read by the girl

'tytön lukemaa kirjaa' = (partitive) the book read by the girl

'tytön lukemassa kirjassa' = in the book read by the girl

etc.

Negation

Present indicative

Verbs are negated by using a 'negative verb' in front of the stem from the present tense (in its 'weak' consonant form): ;Singular

'tiedän' = 'I know' -> 'en tiedä' = 'I don't know'

'tiedät' = 'you know' -> 'et tiedä' = 'you don't know'

'tietää' = '(s)he knows' -> 'ei tiedä' = '(s)he doesn't know'

;Plural

'tiedämme' = 'we know' -> 'emme tiedä' = 'we don't know'

'tiedätte' = 'you know' -> 'ette tiedä' = 'you don't know'

'tietävät' = 'they know' -> 'eivät tiedä' = 'they don't know'

Note that the inflection is on the negative verb, not on the main verb, and that the endings are regular apart from the 3rd person forms

Present passive

The negative is formed from the third-person singular "negative verb" - 'ei' - and the present passive with the final '-an' removed:

'ei puhuta' = 'it is not spoken'

'ei tiedetä' = 'it is not known'

Imperfect indicative

The negative is formed from the appropriate part of the negative verb followed by the nominative form (either singular or plural depending on the number of the verb's subject) of the active past participle. So for 'puhua' the pattern is: ;Singular

'en puhunut' = 'I did not speak'

'et puhunut' = 'you did not speak'

'ei puhunut' = '(s/he) did not speak'

;Plural

'emme puhuneet' = 'we did not speak'

'ette puhuneet' = 'you did not speak'

'eivät puhuneet' = 'they did not speak'

Note one exception: when the 'te' 2nd person plural form is used in an honorific way to address one person, the singular form of the participle is used: 'te ette puhunut' = 'you (s, polite) did not speak'

Imperfect passive

The negative is formed from the third-person singular negative verb - 'ei' - and the nominative singular form of the passive present participle (compare this with the negative of the imperfect indicative):

'ei puhuttu' = 'it was not spoken'

'ei tiedetty' = 'it was not known'

Note that in the spoken language, this form is used for the first person plural. In this case, the personal pronoun is obligatory: 'me ei menty' = 'we did not go'

Interrogatives (questions)

There are two main ways of forming a question - either using a specific question word, or by adding a '-ko/kö' suffix to one of the words in a sentence. A question word is placed first in the sentence, and a word with the interrogative suffix is also moved to this position:

'mikä tämä on?' = 'what is this?'

'tämä on kirja' = 'this is a book'

'onko tämä kirja?' = 'is this a book?'

'tämäkö on kirja?' = 'is this a book?'

'kirjako tämä on?' = 'is this a book?'

'eikö tämä ole kirja?' = 'is this not a book?' (note the '-kö' goes on the negative verb)

Imperatives

Imperatives are the forms of the verb used for giving commands. In Finnish, there is only one tense form (the present-future). The possible variants of Finnish imperatives are:

• 1st, 2nd or 3rd person
• singular or plural (only plural for 1st person)
• active or passive
• positive or negative

Active, 2nd person imperatives

These are the most common forms of the imperative: "Do this", "Don't do that".

The singular imperative is simply the verb's present tense without any personal ending (that is, chop the '-n' off the first person singular form):

• 'tule!' = 'come!'
• 'syö!' = 'eat!'
• 'huomaa!' = 'note!'

To make this negative, 'älä' (which is the active imperative singular 2nd person of the negative verb) is placed before the positive form:

• 'älä sano!' = 'don't say!'
• 'älä mene!' = 'don't go!'
• 'älä valehtele!' = 'don't lie!' (from 'valehdella' = 'to lie', type II)

To form the plural, add '-kaa' or '-kää' to the verb's stem:

• 'tulkaa!' = 'come!'
• 'juokaa!' = 'drink!'
• 'mitatkaa!' = 'measure!' (from 'mitata' = 'to measure', type IV)

To make this negative, 'älkää' (which is the active imperative present plural 2nd person of the negation verb)is placed before the positive form and the suffix '-ko' or '-kö' is added to the verb stem:

• 'älkää sanoko!' = 'don't say!'
• 'älkää menkö!' = 'don't go!'
• 'älkää tarjotko!' = 'don't offer!'

Note that 2nd person plural imperatives can also be used as polite imperatives when referring to one person.

The Finnish language has no simple equivalent to the English "please". The Finnish equivalent is to use either 'ole hyvä' or 'olkaa hyvä' = 'be good', but it is generally omitted. Politeness is normally conveyed by tone of voice, facial expression, and use of conditional verbs and partitive nouns.

Passive, 2nd person imperatives

3rd person imperatives

• 'olkoon' = 'let it (him, her) be'
• 'tehkööt' = 'let them do'
• 'älköön unohtako' = 'let him not forget', 'he better not forget'
• 'älkööt unohtako' = 'let them not forget'

1st person plural imperatives

• 'menkäämme' = 'let us go'
• 'älkäämme tehkö' = 'let us not do', 'we better not do'

The 1st person imperative sounds archaic, and a form resembling the passive indicative is often used instead: 'mennään!' = 'let's go!'

Adverbs

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Comparative formation

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Superlative formation

! MORE HERE

Irregular forms

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Numbers

Cardinal numbers

Numbers in Finnish are highly systematic. Here are 1 to 10:

'yksi' = 'one'

'kaksi' = 'two'

'kolme' = 'three'

'neljä' = 'four'

'viisi' = 'five'

'kuusi' = 'six'

'seitsemän' = 'seven'

'kahdeksan' = 'eight'

'yhdeksän' = 'nine'

'kymmenen' = 'ten'

To get 'teen's, 'toista' is added to the base number: yksitoista, kaksitoista ... yhdeksäntoista

Twenty is simply 'kaksikymmentä' = 'two tens' (with kymmenen appearing in the partitive after a number as is normal for nouns). Then the decades are kolmekymmentä, neljäkymmentä ... yhdeksänkymmentä.

100 is 'sata', 200 is 'kaksisataa' and so on.

1000 is 'tuhat', 2000 is 'kaksituhatta' and so on.

So, 3721 = 'kolme-tuhatta-seitsemän-sataa-kaksi-kymmentä-yksi' (actually written as one long word with no dashes in between).

Numbers can be inflected in cases; all parts of the number except 'toista' are inflected. For example:

'kahtena päivänä' = 'on/during two days'

'kahdessatoista maassa' = 'in twelve countries'

'kolmellekymmenelleviidelle hengelle' = 'for thirty-five persons'

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are formed by adding an '-s' ending (with some irregularities):

'ensimmäinen' = first

'toinen' = second

'kolmas' = third

'neljäs' = fourth

'viides' = fifth

'kuudes' = sixth

'seitsemäs' = seventh

'kahdeksas' = eighth

'yhdeksäs' = ninth

'kymmenes' = tenth

For teens, you change the first part of the word; however note how 'first' and 'second' lose their irregularity in 'eleven' and 'twelve':

'yhdestoista' = eleventh

'kahdestoista' = twelfth

'kolmastoista' = thirteenth

etc.

For twenty through ninety-nine, all parts of the number get the '-s' ending. Note that 'first' and 'second' take the irregular form only at the end of a word. (For 'second', the regular form is also possible.)

'kahdeskymmenes' = twentieth

'kahdeskymmenesensimmäinen' = twenty-first

'kahdeskymmenestoinen' = twenty-second (also 'kahdeskymmeneskahdes')

'kahdeskymmeneskolmas' = twenty-third

100th is 'sadas', 1000th is 'tuhannes', 3721th is 'kolmas-tuhannes-seitsemäs-sadas-kahdes-kymmenes-ensimmäinen'. (Again, dashes only included here for clarity; the word is properly spelled without them.)

Like cardinals, ordinal numbers can also be inflected:

'kolmatta viikkoa' = 'for (already) the third week'

'viidennessätoista kerroksessa' = 'in the fifteenth floor'

'tuhannennelle asiakkaalle' = 'to the thousandth customer'

Also note that the 'toista' in the 'teens' is actually the partitive of 'toinen', which is why 'toista' gets no further inflection endings. (Literally 'yksitoista' = 'one-of-the-second'.)

Names of numbers

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Sentence structure

Since Finnish is an inflected language, word order within sentences can be comparatively free - the function of a word being indicated by its ending.

The most usual neutral order, however, is is subject-verb-object:

'koira puri miestä' = 'the dog bit the man'

but this can be varied for emphasis:

'miestä puri koira' = 'the man was bitten by a dog'

and:

'miestä koira puri' = 'it was the man that the dog bit' (and not, say, his wife)

'koira miestä puri' = 'it was a dog that bit the man' (and not, say, a wolf)

'puri koira miestä' = 'the dog did bite the man' (if there was doubt whether any biting happened)

The last three are not quite as natural, and would normally be expressed using a longer sentence (or several sentences). 'Puri miestä koira' is also possible but sounds rather poetical.

Besides the word-order implications of turning a sentence into a question, there are some other circumstances where word-order is important:

Existential sentences

These are sentences which introduce a new subject - they often begin 'there is' or 'there are' in English.

'huoneessa on sänky' = 'there is a bed in the room'

The location of the thing whose existence is being stated comes first, followed by its stative verb, followed by the thing itself. Note how this is unlike the normal English equivalent, though English can also use the same order:

'siellä seisoi mies' = '(in/out) there stood a man'

See also

• Wikibook Finnish