Basic tenses in the indicative mood

The present, imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect correspond fairly well to English: 'speaks', 'spoke', 'has spoken', and 'had spoken', respectively or in the passive voice, 'it is spoken', 'it was spoken', 'it has been spoken', and 'it had been spoken'. The auxiliary verb ei used for negation, usually with the naked stem of the main verb but with the past participle in the negative imperfect. Finnish lacks a true future tense, so normally the present tense is used for future time as well.

Conditional and potential mood

The conditional mood corresponds mostly to 'would' or 'should' or to the past subjunctive in English. (Finnish lacks a subjunctive mood.) The potential mood is rather rare, and corresponds to 'may' or 'might' in English. The perfect forms of these moods are easily understood as 'would have', 'should have', 'might have', etc.

Imperative mood and miscellaneous tenses

The first and third person imperative forms here correspond to English 'let us speak', 'let him not speak', 'let it not be spoken', etc. The perfect imperative is still valid, if somewhat awkward and contrived: as English 'let it (not) have been spoken'. The first person plural imperative puhukaamme sounds rather formal and archaic so in everyday speech, the passive present indicative, puhutaan, is used instead, but it may not quite be considered correct. There are many variations of the imperative forms: in old writings, one may also see the forms puhukaat or puhukaatte for the second person plural, puhukaan for the third person plural, or puhuttakaan for the passive. In the passive or third person, the imperative is sometimes used for the present or perfect subjunctive of other languages, a mood lacking in Finnish.

The present prospective and the imperfect prospective correspond best to 'I am to speak' and 'I was to speak' in English. It is not correct Finnish to use these tenses in the plural: the plural form of the present participle, puhuvat, would be confusing if used in this sense, as it resembles too closely the third person plural present indicative. Despite the apparently equivalent use of the present participle, the grammatical aspect of these tenses is prospective rather than continuous or progressive as in English.

Verbs of obligation in the agent construction

Verbs of obligation such as täytyä, tarvita, pitää, and tulla, with the meanings 'must', 'need to', 'ought to', 'shall', respectively are often used in the agent form of construction in which the verb is not conjugated for person but is in the impersonal third person singular. Here

• the person or persons bearing the obligation are regarded as the 'agent' (not the subject) and in the genitive case
• the verb of obligation is in the impersonal third person singular regardless of the plurality and person of the agent.
• This is followed by another verb or verb phrase in which the verb is in the short from first infinitive (the dictionary form) and which is then regarded as the sentence's subject.^[1]

Heidän täytyy puhua minun kanssani = They must speak with me;

Minun täytyy puhua heidän kanssansa = I must speak with them;

Sinun ei tarvitse tehdä tuota = you don't need to do that;

Ei sinun pidä tappaman = thou shalt not kill. (Note the archaic use of the instructive case of the third infinitive. A common error, even for native Finns, is to confuse this with the illative case, tappamaan, which would be incorrect. Now, the first infinitive is used with pitää.)

Sinun pitäisi tulla huomenna = you should come tomorrow.

There is no equivalent of this type of construction in English.

The verb täytyä can be used only in this construction and therefore has no other personal forms. The other verbs can carry personal endings in other forms of construction with the normal subject, verb, and object in which the obligation is less strong or in which the verb takes on a different meaning altogether.

• (Minä) tarvitsen apua I need help, expressing need without obligation
• (Minä) pidän hänestä I like him/her, verb has a different meaning

Infinitive I

First infinitive is the dictionary form of the verb: puhu-a = 'to speak' (stem puhu), and it corresponds in meaning and function to the English infinitive introduced by the particle 'to'. The suffix of the first infinitive depends on the type of the verb stem. With so-called "vowel" stems, (see verbs of Type I, below), the first infinitive suffix is -a/-ä, whereas with "consonantal" stems, (types IV-VI), the suffix is most often -ta/-tä. With vowel stems that consist of a single open syllable ending in a long vowel or a diphthong or longer stems that end in such syllables, (Type II), the infinitive suffix is -da/-dä: saa-da = 'to get', syö-dä = 'to eat', reagoi-da = 'to react'. The first infinitive of consonantal stems always has the weak consonant grade in the stem, e.g., karata = 'to flee' < stem karkaa-.

It can be used in a sentence similarly to the English infinitive and stand for a subject or a direct object, without any additional inflection. It is also governed by modal verbs like saattaa 'might' or voida 'be able to': saattaa mennä = 'might go' or voi hakea = 'can fetch'.

It has a so-called "long form", with the ending of the nominal translative case and an obligatory possessive suffix. The long form is usually associated with the literary register. It connotes either extent or intent:

muista-a = 'to remember'; muista-a-kse-ni = 'as far as I can remember' (extent), or 'in order that I might remember' (intent), lit. 'for my remembering'.

näh-dä = 'to see'; näh-dä-kse-en = 'as far as he/she/it/they can see' (extent), 'so that they could see' (intent).

In spoken Finnish, intent is often expressed with the short form infinitive if the subject is implicit or understood by context or more explicitly with a subordinate clause containing a conditional verb: että minä muistaisin. Nevertheless, the long form is still used to signify extent; another example: tietä-ä = 'to know', tietä-ä-kse-ni = 'as far as I know'.

The first infinitive generally takes on no inflected forms. It appears only in the short (dictionary) form and in the long form, and the long form is not used without a possessive suffix.

Infinitive II

The second infinitive may be formed from the first infinitive by replacing the final 'a/ä' with an 'e'. It occurs in the instructive and inessive cases. If the second infinitive has a subject, the subject is put in the genitive case; in the inessive case, the second infinitive also accepts a possessive suffix if it is appropriate.

The instructive form conveys manner of action corresponding approximately with '-ing' or '-ingly' in English, less commonly with '-ande/ende' in Swedish and very commonly with '-ant' in French. It is parallel in function and meaning to the Russian adverbial participle (as opposed to the adjectival participle):

tietäen = 'knowingly' (instructive);

tietäen, että hänen täytyisi puhua = 'knowing that he would have to speak' = sachant qu'il aurait besoin de parler in French = зная, что ему следовало бы говорить in Russian

'näin puhuen' = 'thus speaking' (instructive);

The inessive form conveys coterminal action, something happening at the same time as something else. More properly, it is seen as some action whose accomplishment simultaneously brings about the accomplishment of something else. It corresponds approximately in English to the use of 'when', 'while', or the somewhat archaic or British 'whilst'; strict co-terminality is still expressed in English with 'in' or 'by', the present participle '-ing' and any subject in the possessive case in a manner analogous to the Finnish, like in French with 'en' and the present participle '-ant':

kuollessa = 'in dying' or 'while dying' = en mourant in French (inessive) = умирая in Russian

Varas iski uhrin syödessä aamupalaa = 'The thief struck whilst the victim was eating breakfast'

The inessive of this infinitive also has a passive form:

tiedettäessä = 'in being known', said of some fact.

Infinitive III

The third infinitive is formed by adding the ending -ma/mä to the hard grade of the present stem. It is a noun in its own right, denoting "the act" of a verb. It is fully declineable as a noun, but some of the cases have special or commonly understood meanings. The illative of the third infinitive is a common inchoative, governed by such verbs as ruveta and joutua:

hän rupesi saarnaamaan = 'he began to preach'

häntä ei mennä neuvomaan = 'You don't go and advise him'

The elative is used in the sense of forbidding or discouraging an action.

poikia kiellettiin polttamasta = 'the boys were forbidden from smoking'

The adessive is used to tell how the action is done.

jätteet hävitettiin polttamalla = 'the waste was destroyed by burning'

Also with a possessive suffix.

polttamallani sormella en voinut kirjoittaa = 'I couldn't type with the finger I burned'

kun toimimme neuvomallasi tavalla kaikki onnistui = 'when we did the way you advised all went well'

Infinitive IV

The fourth infinitive is formed just like the third but with the ending -minen, which is declined like all other Finnish nouns in -nen. It is also a noun but its meaning is more 'the process' rather than the very act of a verb. This often corresponds to '-ation' words in English:

käyminen = '(the process of) going', which can mean 'fermentation' among other things.

The use of this form as a proper infinitive rather than an "action noun" is generally restricted to forms such as the following in which it implies a sort of obligation:

minun on tekeminen jotakin = 'it is up to me to do something'

on tekeminen jotakin = 'something ought to be done'

heidän ei ole kysymistä ... = 'theirs is not to ask ...'

tästä ei ole puhumista = 'this is not to be spoken of';

or this construction, where the finite verb is repeated in the partitive with a possessive suffix:

hän puhui puhumistaan = 'he talked and talked'.

Infinitive V

The rarely used fifth infinitive is a "diminutive" of the third infinitive. It is apparently used only in the adessive plural with a possessive suffix. It indicates that at some point, the action of the verb is "but little" accomplished:

olin puhumaisillani = 'I was just starting to speak'.

Present participles

Past participles

Past tense

In the simple case (which applies to most type I verbs), the imperfect indicative is formed by inserting the characteristic marker 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 third 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 ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ puhu- ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ puhutaan

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

tietää ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ tiedä- ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ tiede ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ tiedetään

Past passive

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

Note the presence of the same i marker in the past passive as in the imperfect indicative and the presence of the extra t.

Conditional passive

It is formed in the same way as the present passive except that the ending is -ttaisiin, hence puhuttaisiin = 'it would be spoken', tiedettäisiin = 'it would be known'.

Note the presence of the isi conditional marker.

Potential passive

It is formed in the same way as the present passive except that the ending is -ttaneen, hence puhuttaneen = 'it may be spoken', tiedettäneen = 'it may be known'.

Note the presence of the ne potential marker.

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'.

There is an exception to the rule if the stem already ends in an i (voida or the -oida verbs mentioned earlier). Then, 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 are formed in the same way:

syödä ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ syödään, syötiin, syötäisiin

juoda ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ juodaan, juotiin, juotaisiin

Present indicative

The stem is formed by removing the a and its preceding consonant, and e followed is added, 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, and the personal endings are added: pestä = 'to clean', pesen = 'I clean', pesin = 'I cleaned' etc.

Passive

Present passive

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 ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ mennään

Other forms

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 have only one. Also, the double consonant before the ending becomes single.

mennä ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ mennään ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ mentiin, mentäisiin

olla ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ ollaan ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ 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 and to all person forms in the active potential mood – everything else is regular.

Indicative present:

olen = I am

olet = you are

on = he/she/it is (irregular)

olemme ='we are

olette = you are

ovat = they are (irregular)

Potential:

• lienen = I might be
• lienet = you might be
• lienee (or lie) = he/she/it might be
• lienemme = we might be
• lienette = you might be
• lienevät = they might be

Imperfect indicative

The imperfect stem can be obtained from the infinitive by changing the final t to s followed by the usual imperfect marker i; the stem consonant appears in the strong grade: halusi-n = 'I wanted', tapasi-t = 'you met', vastasi, 'he answered', etc.

Passive

Passives in this type are formed in the same fashion as for type I verbs; as in type I, the stem consonant appears in the weak grade:

haluta ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ halutaan, haluttiin, haluttaisiin

tavata ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ tavataan, tavattiin, tavattaisiin

vastata ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ vastataan, vastattu, vastattiin, etc.

Imperfect indicative

-si takes the place of -se, but in the third-person singular, there is only one vowel: tarvitsin, tarvitsit, tarvitsi, tarvitsimme, tarvitsitte, tarvitsivat.

Passive

The passive forms of these verbs are built just like those of type IV; both types end in -ta.

valita ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ valitaan, valittiin, valittaisiin

merkitä ${\displaystyle \rightarrow }$ merkitään, merkittiin, merkittäisiin

Imperfect indicative

The imperfect indicative is formed by replacing the final "e" of the "ne" stem with the imperfect marker "i":

rohkenin = 'I dared'

rohkenit = 'you dared'

rohkeni = 'he/she/it dared' etc.

Passive

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