Finnish conjugation: Difference between revisions

Verbs in the Finnish language 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.

Please refer to the Finnish language grammar article for more about verbs and other aspects of Finnish grammar.

The following table shows the basic changes and marks for conjugating each of the types of Finnish 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.

In the simple case (which applies to most type I verbs), the imperfect indicative is formed by inserting the characteristic '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.

Present indefinite

The present indefinite 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

Past indefinite

This is formed in the same way as the present indefinite, 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 past indefinite as in the imperfect indicative. Note also the presence of the extra 't'.

Conditional indefinite

This is formed in the same way as the present indefinite, 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 indefinite

This is formed in the same way as the present indefinite, 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.

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

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.

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.

Present indefinite

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

mennä -> mennään

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

mennä -> mennään -> mentiin, mentäisiin

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

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.

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.

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

syödä -> syödään, syötiin, syötäisiin

juoda -> juodaan, juotiin, juotaisiin

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 -> tavat-

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.

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.

Indefinites in this group are formed in the same way as for type II verbs, except that since the present indefinites 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

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.

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

The indefinite forms of these verbs are built just like those of type IV, since both types end in -ta:

valita -> valitaan, valittiin, valittaisiin

merkitä -> merkitään, merkitty, merkittäisiin

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 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'

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008)

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

Standard Finnish has comparatively very few irregular verbs in addition to 'olla' discussed above. However, because the infinitive is an inflected form of the root, the consonant gradation may obscure the root. The root of the word 'juosta' = 'to run' is juoks-; when generating the infinitive, the pattern ks → s is applied: juoks+ta → juosta. Epenthetic 'e' is added for personal forms, e.g. juoksen.

There is a rare pattern where a stem with -k- is rendered as -hdä in the infinitive, but disappears in gradation, e.g.:

'tehdä' = 'to do, make': tee-; teen, teet, tekee, teemme, teette, tekevät, etc.

'nähdä' = 'to see': näe-; näen, näet, näkee, näemme, näette, näkevät, etc.

That is, teke- and näke- forms are rendered as tehdä and nähdä in the infinitive but are subject to gradation of 'k' in personal forms like teen. In some colloquial forms, the 'e' is rendered as a chroneme instead: nään instead of näen etc.

Spoken language adds some more irregular verbs by assimilative deletion, e.g.:

tulla - tule - tuu

mennä - mene - mee

panna - pane - paa

"Tuuli" available in http://www.wakkanet.fi/%7Epahio/esitteet.html

http://www.romania-sanakirja.net/online/verbs/conjugate_verb.php