Appendix:Finnic telic and atelic verbs

The (such as Finnish and Estonian) distinguish between  and  verbs. Understanding this distinction is necessary in order to speak and write in a grammatically correct way, because the Finnic languages indicate telicity by means of the object's case.

The accusative case is only used for total objects of telic verbs, while atelic and partial objects are expressed in the partitive case. Thus, for atelic verbs, the object is always in the partitive case, while for telic verbs it may be in the accusative case. Negative sentences always use the partitive case for the object.

As an example, in Finnish, the verb is often atelic. Thus, to say "I love you", the partitive is used for the object:
 * fi

Rakastan sinua.

love-1.SG.PRES PN-2.SG.PTV

not
 * fi

Rakastan *sinut.

love-1.SG.PRES PN-2.SG.ACC

However, the verb may also be used with an accusative, if there is a 'target' or 'goal':
 * fi

Hän rakastaa minut kuoliaaksi.

PN-3.SG.NOM love-3.SG.PRES PN-1.SG.ACC dead-ADV.TRANSL

She's going to love me to death. [She loves me so much that it will end up killing me.]

Some of the verbs that are usually atelic on their own can be used in telic contexts relatively often:

Some verbs can be both telic or atelic, often depending on whether the action is completed or not:

There are even some verbs which are practically always telic:

In English, telicity for simple past verb phrases is distinguished by whether the duration is expressed with or.

The telicity of a verb and its equivalent is usually the same in English and the Finnic languages, but there are also differences.