Finnish language grammar

min� = I

sin� = you

h�n = she or he

te = you

he = they

t�m� = this

tuo = that

se = it

n�m� = these

nuo = those

ne = they

Interrogative Pronouns

kuka = who, which (of many)

ken = who, which (of many)

mik� = what, which (of many)

kumpi = which (of two)

kumpainen = which (of two)

Relative Pronouns

joka (refers to preceding word)

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

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

• "se on ainoa asia, mink� 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 teet�" = "(I) made myself some tea"

Indefinite Pronouns

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

kenk��n = anyone

kukaan = anyone -> ei kukaan = no-one

kumpikaan = either one -> ei kumpikaan = neither one

mik��n = anything -> ei mik��n = nothing

ainoa = only

er�s = 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

Internal Locatives

External Locatives

Marginal Cases

Others

Plurals

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

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

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

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

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

'min�' (nominative) = 'I'

'minun' (genitive) = 'my, mine' - 't�m� talo on minun ' = 'this house is mine '

- 't�m� on minun taloni ' = 'this is my house'

'minut' (accusative) = 'h�n tuntee minut' = 's/he knows me'

'minua' (partitive) - 'h�n rakastaa minua' = 'she loves me'

'minussa' (inessive) - 't�m� her�tt�� minussa vihaa' = 'this provokes (lit. awakens) anger in me'

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

'minuun' (illative) = 'h�n 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) - 'h�n 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) = 'h�nt� luullaan usein minuksi' = 's/he is often mistaken for me'

Noun/adjective stem types

Vowel stems

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'

'k�t�nen' (from k�si) = 'a small hand' (affectionate)

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

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

'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', 'J�rvinen', 'Nieminen'... = 'the family from by the stream (virta), river (joki), lake (j�rvi), 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?]

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

'p�yd�n alla' = 'under the table'

'joulun j�lkeen' = 'after Christmas'

'lasten t�hden' = 'for the sake of the children'

'jonkun puolesta'= 'on behalf of somebody'

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

Prepositions

'ennen joulua' = 'before Christmas

'ilman sinua' = 'without you'

'kyl�n keskell� ' = ' keskell� kyl��' = ' in the middle of the village'

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 'n�hd�' = 'to see', 'tehd�' = '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 h�nt�' = 'the dog has a tail' - literally 'on the dog is a tail'.

• 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

"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 ett�..." = "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 ..." ("menn��n!" = "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.

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

"ymm�rt�isin 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:

'tied�n' = 'I know', 'tiet�isin' = '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.

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.

• 'sano|a' = 'to say'

'tiet�|�' = 'to know'

'teh|d�' = 'to do'

'luke|a' = 'to read'

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

'tiet�|�|kse|mme' = (idiomatic use:) 'as far as we know'

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

The second infinitive is formed by replacing the final 'a'/'�' of the first infinitive with 'e' then adding the appropriate inflectional ending. If the vowel before the 'a'/'�' 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|ss�' = 'doing'

'sano|e|ssa' = 'saying'

• 'teh|de|ss�|�n' = 'reading'

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

• 'sano|tta|e|ssa' = 'when saying'

'teh|t�|e|ss�' = 'when doing'

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

• 'teh|de|n' = 'doing'

'sano|e|n' = 'saying'

'luki|e|n' = 'reading

Third infinitive

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'

'h�n on lukemassa kirjastossa' = 's/he's reading in the library'

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.

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

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

Verb Conjugation

min� tied�n = I know

sin� tied�t = you (singular) know

h�n/se tiet�� = (s)he/it knows

me tied�mme = we know

te tied�tte = you (plural/formal) know

he tiet�v�t = they know

'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.

'tied�n' = 'I know', 'tiesin' = 'I knew'

puhua -> puhu- -> puhutaan

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

tiet�� -> tied�- -> tiede -> tiedet��n

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'.

Note the presence of the 'isi' conditional marker.

Note the presence of the 'ne' potential marker.

Type II verbs

Present passive

menn� -> menn��n

menn� -> menn��n -> mentiin, ment�isiin

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

'Olla' ('to be')

'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

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.

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.

sy�d� -> sy�d��n, sy�tiin, sy�t�isiin

juoda -> juodaan, juotiin, juotaisiin

Type IV verbs

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

haluta -> halut-

tavata -> tapat-

tarjota -> tarjot-

haluan, haluat, haluaa, haluamme, haluatte, haluavat

tapaan, tapaat, tapaa etc.

tarjoan, tarjoat, tarjoaa etc.

Imperfect indicative

haluta -> halutaan, haluttiin, haluttaisiin

tavata -> tavataan, tavattiin, tavattaisiin

Type V verbs

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

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'

'kylmet�' = 'to get cold', 'kylmenen' = 'I get cold'

Imperfect indicative

teen, teet, tekee, teemme, teette, tekev�t

n�en, n�et, n�kee, n�emme, n�ette, n�kev�t

juoksen, juokset, juoksee, juoksemme, juoksette, juoksevat

Participle

'nukku|va koira' = 'sleeping dog'

'h�ik�ise|v� valo' = 'blinding light'

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

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

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:

'menn�' -> ('men-') -> 'mennyt'

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

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

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

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

Past particple, passive

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

'tyt�n lukema kirja' = the book read by the girl

'tyt�n lukemaa kirjaa' = (partitive) the book read by the girl

'tyt�n lukemassa kirjassa' = in the book read by the girl

etc.

Negation

Present indicative

'tied�n' = 'I know' -> 'en tied�' = 'I don't know'

'tied�t' = 'you know' -> 'et tied�' = 'you don't know'

'tiet��' = '(s)he knows' -> 'ei tied�' = '(s)he doesn't know'

'tied�mme' = 'we know' -> 'emme tied�' = 'we don't know'

'tied�tte' = 'you know' -> 'ette tied�' = 'you don't know'

'tiet�v�t' = 'they know' -> 'eiv�t tied�' = 'they don't know'

'ei puhuta' = 'it is not spoken'

'ei tiedet�' = 'it is not known'

Imperfect indicative

'en puhunut' = 'I did not speak'

'et puhunut' = 'you did not speak'

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

'emme puhuneet' = 'we did not speak'

'ette puhuneet' = 'you did not speak'

'eiv�t puhuneet' = 'they did not speak'

'ei puhuttu' = 'it was not spoken'

'ei tiedetty' = 'it was not known'

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

Active, 2nd person imperatives

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!'
• 'sy�!' = 'eat!'
• 'huomaa!' = 'note!'

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

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

• '�lk�� sanoko!' = 'don't say!'
• '�lk�� menk�!' = 'don't go!'
• '�lk�� tarjotko!' = 'don't offer!'

The Finnish language has no simple equivalent to the English "please". The Finnish equivalent is to use either 'ole hyv�' or 'olkaa hyv�' = '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.

• 'olkoon' = 'let it (him, her) be'
• 'tehk��t' = 'let them do'
• '�lk��n unohtako' = 'let him not forget', 'he better not forget'
• '�lk��t unohtako' = 'let them not forget'

1st person plural imperatives

• 'menk��mme' = 'let us go'
• '�lk��mme tehk�' = 'let us not do', 'we better not do'

Cardinal numbers

'yksi' = 'one'

'kaksi' = 'two'

'kolme' = 'three'

'nelj�' = 'four'

'viisi' = 'five'

'kuusi' = 'six'

'seitsem�n' = 'seven'

'kahdeksan' = 'eight'

'yhdeks�n' = 'nine'

'kymmenen' = 'ten'

Twenty is simply 'kaksikymment�' = 'two tens' (with kymmenen appearing in the partitive after a number as is normal for nouns). Then the decades are kolmekymment�, nelj�kymment� ... yhdeks�nkymment�.

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

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

So, 3721 = 'kolme-tuhatta-seitsem�n-sataa-kaksi-kymment�-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 p�iv�n�' = 'on/during two days'

'kahdessatoista maassa' = 'in twelve countries'

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

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

'koira puri miest�' = 'the dog bit the man'

'miest� puri koira' = 'the man was bitten by a dog'

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

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

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

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

'huoneessa on s�nky' = '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:

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