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Finnish |
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| Finno-Ugric | Baltic-Finnic |  Finland  European Union Minority In:  Sweden |
Extended Latin | |
In Finnish, verbs are conjugated a number of different ways. The changes that occur in the stem, and even the infinitive form of the verb are subject to consonant gradation.
Type 1: Long Vowel or Diphthong Stem
If a verb ends in a long vowel (doubled vowel) or a diphthong, it falls into this category of verbs. The 1st person form is made by adding an n to a particular ending and the 3rd person is made typically by repeating the vowel. This group is subject to consonant gradation.
| double vowel stem | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | 2s | 3s | 1p | 2p | 3p | |
| alka/a - to begin | ala/n | ala/t | alka/a | ala/mme | ala/tte | alka/vat |
| unohta/a - to forget | unohda/n | unohda/t | unohta/a | unohda/mme | unohda/tte | unohta/vat |
| ymmärtä/ä - to understand | ymmärrä/n | ymmärrä/t | ymmärtä/ä | ymmärrä/mme | ymmärrä/tte | ymmärtä/vät |
Type 2: Short Vowel Stem
If a verb ends in a short vowel, then the main infinitive of this form is made by simply adding an a to the end of the base stem. Most of these verbs retain the same form throughout. Some of these forms have a stem that ends in h which changes to ke in one of the conjugations, and e in another.
| short vowel stem | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | 2s | 3s | 1p | 2p | 3p | |
| saa/da - to get, to obtain | saa/n | saa/t | saa | saa/mme | saa/tte | saa/vat |
| teh/dä - to do | tee/n | tee/t | teke/e | tee/mme | tee/tte | teke/vät |
| näh/dä - to see | näe/n | näe/t | näke/e | näe/mme | näe/tte | näke/vät |
Type 3: Stems ending in LL, NN, RR, or ST
This set of verbs is formed by dropping the second letter of the double-consonant stem and adding an e. This group is also subject to consonant gradation.
Verb Stems Ending in s/ta
There is a group of verbs that has an infinitive that ends in s/ta. This group generally forms conjugations by removing the t and adding an e.
| Vowel stem ending in s/ta | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | 2s | 3s | 1p | 2p | 3p | |
| pääs/tä - to get to, arrive | pääse/n | pääse/t | pääse/e | pääse/mme | pääse/tte | pääse/vät |
| pes/tä - to wash | pese/n | pese/t | pese/e | pese/mme | pese/tte | pese/vät |
| nous/ta - to rise | nouse/n | nouse/t | nouse/e | nouse/mme | nouse/tte | nouse/vat |
Verb Stems ending in N, R, or L
Verbs ending in N, L, or R generally remove the second consonant and add an e.
| Verb stem ending in n, r, or l | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | 2s | 3s | 1p | 2p | 3p | |
| ajatel/la - to think | ajattele/n | ajattele/t | ajattele/e | ajattele/mme | ajattele/tte | ajattele/vat |
| tul/la - to come | tule/n | tule/t | tule/e | tule/mme | tule/tte | tule/vat |
| men/nä - to go | mene/n | mene/t | mene/e | mene/mme | mene/tte | mene/vät |
Type 4: ATA, OTA, UTA or ÄTÄ, ÖTÄ, YTÄ endings
For verbs in this class, the t is usually replaced with an a and extended for the 1st person form if the preceding vowel was also an a, it's just dropped entirely for the 3rd person form if the preceding vowel was an a. This form is subject to consonant gradation.
| Vowel stems not ending in it/a or et/a | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | 2s | 3s | 1p | 2p | 3p | |
| halut/a - to want | halua/n | halua/t | halua/a | halua/mme | halua/tte | halua/vat |
| osat/a - to know how | osaa/n | osaa/t | osaa | osaa/mme | osaa/tte | osaa/vat |
| pelät/ä - to fear | pelkää/n | pelkää/t | pelkää | pelkää/mme | pelkää/tte | pelkää/vät |
Type 5: ITA or ITÄ endings
These endings usually convert the t into a tse.
| Verb forms ending in it/a | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | 2s | 3s | 1p | 2p | 3p | |
| harkit/a - to consider | harkitse/n | harkitse/t | harkitse/e | harkitse/mme | harkitse/tte | harkitse/vat |
| tarvit/a - to need | tarvitse/n | tarvitse/t | tarvitse/e | tarvitse/mme | tarvitse/tte | tarvitse/vat |
| häirit/ä - to disturb | häiritse/n | häiritse/t | häiritse/e | häiritse/mme | häiritse/tte | häiritse/vät |
Type 6: ETA or ETÄ endings
These endings usually convert the t into an ne. These endings mean to change state and become something, otherwise they're conjugated like type 4 verbs. These verbs are subject to consonant gradation.
| Vowel stem ending in et/a | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | 2s | 3s | 1p | 2p | 3p | |
| lämmet/ä - to get warm | lämpene/n | lämpene/t | lämpene/e | lämpene/mme | lämpene/tte | lämpene/vät |
| kalvet/a - to grow pale | kalpene/n | kalpene/t | kalpene/e | kalpene/mme | kalpene/tte | kalpene/vat |
| vanhet/a - to grow old | vanhene/n | vanhene/t | vanhene/e | vanhene/mme | vanhene/tte | vanhene/vat |
"to have"
There is no true verb "to have" in Finnish. In order to say you are in possession of something, you form a construction where you use the possessor in the adessive case followed by a conjugation of the verb olla and the object being possessed, typically in the partitive case.
Examples:
- Minulla on kirjaa. I have a book.
"to like"
To say that you like something is also a special construction in Finnish. In this case, you would use the verb pitää or tykätä along with the noun that is liked in the elative case. If you are referring to a verb, you must use the 4th infinitive to convert the verb into a noun so that it can be used in this case.
Examples:
- Pidän kaapista. I like the coffee.
Pidän laulamisesta. I like singing.
"to want"
To say that you want something, or that you want to do something, you can simply use the verb haluta and the object or the verb in the 1st infinitive.
Examples:
- Haluan omenaa. I want an apple.
Haluan syödä omenan. I want to eat that apple.
Active
To form the positive and negative Active Indicative form of verbs, they conjugate similarly to the verb olla, except that the 3rd person forms are irregular. This gives you an example of both the positive and negative forms of verbs in their most basic form, but for more detail about the negative verb, please visit the negative verb page.
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Passive
To form the passive construction there are two forms, one for type 1 verbs and one for every other type of verb. If it's a type 1 verb and it does not end in -aa then you would take the weak stem of the verb (the one found by taking the 1st person conjugation and removing the n) and add taan or tään following vowel harmony. If it's a type 1 verb and it does end in -aa, then the weak stem's a ending changes to e before the taan/tään is added. Otherwise, for all other verbs, merely affix an or än onto the end of it.
This can be used in the following situations:
- Polite questions, wishes, announcements, and advice
- In spoken language, the 1st person plural form of a verb is replaced by the passive form
- Used by itself at the beginning of a sentence it indicates a suggestion not unlike the let's construction in English.
Examples:
- Mennään minun kotiin! Let's go to my house.
Imperfect
The imperfect tense is for a past tense that's not perfect (i.e. it does not indicated a completed action, just something that happened). There are a number of different things to take into consideration when forming the imperfect form of verbs.
Vowel changes
There are 4 vowel changes (or lack thereof) to take into consideration before any other ending is applied:
- If the final part ends in o, ö, u, or y, the i is placed directly after the letter
- If the final part ends in i, e, a, or ä, replace the letter by the i itself
- If a word is only two syllables and the second one has only the vowel a, this changes to o and becomes oi when the i is added
- Type 2 verbs with only two syllables that have a two vowels in the first syllable drop the first vowel before adding the i
All verb types Except 4
To form the imperfect for any verb type except type 4 (and a few other specific cases that will be covered later) you merely take the conjugated stem of the verb and add an i before the personal ending. This means that for type 1 verbs the 3rd person forms will be different.
Type 4 verbs and verbs ending in rtaa/rtää, ltaa/ltää, ntaa/ntää, or VVtaa/VVtää
Each of these cases is a special form and requires special treatment. An infix si is added before the personal ending. This si is placed in the position the t would be at in the typical ending.
Participles
Participles are verbs that are turned into adjectives and as such they can be used to describe nouns and agree in case with the nouns they modify. You can shift the position of the information in a sentence with a relative clause by using the appropriate participle.
Present Active Particple
This particple is formed by simply taking the 3rd person plural ending and replacing the vat/vät by va/vä.
Present Passive Participle
This participle is formed in different ways depending on the type of verb. If it's any type except type 2 or type 3, take the passive stem and add ttava/ttävä. If it's type 2 or type 3, add tava/tävä to the passive stem.
The present passive participle is used for a number of different things:
- An action is being done to something
- Something is possible
- Something is necessary
- As a replacement for constructions like minun täytyy
- When used with the partitive it can be used to say things like something to eat
Past Active Participle
The past active participle indicates an action that has been done and is used in perfect tense constructions. It can be used alone to indicate something that has been completed as an adjective alone to describe a noun and can be used to imply that something that started in the past is still relevant. It is formed in one of three ways depending on the verb type. If it's type 1 or 2 simply find the infinitive stem and add nut/nyt. If it's type 3, find the infinitive stem and apply the applicable doubled consonant and ut/yt. If it's type 4, 5, or 6, find the infinitive stem and add nnut/nnyt.
Past Passive Participle
Agent Participle
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