Appendix:Finnish verb forms

Persons
There are seven persons for finite verb forms in Finnish: first-person singular/plural, second-person singular/plural, third-person singular/plural and impersonal (sometimes called "passive"). A second-person polite form exists as well, although it mostly uses second-person plural forms.

In colloquial language, the impersonal form has almost completely replaced the first-person plural form ( → ) and quite often the third-person singular form is used in place of third-person plural as well ( → ).

Impersonal or monopersonal verbs are only used in the third person and only often in the singular number (i.e. third-person singular). Some verbs are only impersonal with certain senses, e.g. is impersonal when it is used to mean "have to, must".

Tenses
There are two simple tenses: present (or rather nonpast, as it can also be used for future actions) and past ("imperfect", even though it can also function as a preterite). Two further compound tenses exist: perfect and pluperfect (past perfect), formed using the past participles and the present and past forms respectively of as an auxiliary. Only the indicative mood has past and pluperfect forms. The present, past, perfect and pluperfect largely correspond to their English equivalents.

There are also two more tenses, which can be described as the present or past prospective. These use present participles instead of past participles, like the corresponding perfect and pluperfect forms (in the plural, the singular form of the participle is usually used instead, though). However, these forms are quite rare in modern Finnish and mostly restricted to formal or literary contexts, so they are not shown in the inflection tables. A short example for in the first person and indicative mood are,.

Negative forms
The verb is used to express negation. It inflects in person, number and mood (indicative or imperative); all forms are listed on its entry. The indicative forms begin with and express denial (you are not), while the imperative forms begin with  and express prohibition (don't be!). The indicative forms of are used in the other moods (conditional and potential). does not have infinitive forms. It is also used to change the meaning of some pronouns, such as and  and adverbs, such as, ,.

Moods
There are four verb moods in Finnish.

The English translations provided in the tables below are only approximate.

Indicative
The most common and basic verb mood, used e.g. for statements of fact.


 * {| class="wikitable vsSwitcher" data-toggle-category="conjugation"

! class="nowrap vsToggleElement" colspan=5 | Inflection of, indicative present and perfect tenses ! rowspan=2 | !! colspan=2 | present !! colspan=2 | perfect ! affirmative !! negative !! affirmative !! negative
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 1st sing. || "I drive" ||  "I do not drive" ||  "I have driven" ||  "I have not driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 2nd sing. || "you drive" ||  "you do not drive" ||  "you have driven" ||  "you have not driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 3rd sing. || "drives" ||  "does not drive" ||  "has driven" ||  "has not driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 1st plur. || "we drive" ||  "we do not drive" ||  "we have driven" ||  "we have not driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 2nd plur. || "you drive" ||  "you do not drive" ||  "you have driven" ||  "you have not driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 3rd plur. || "they drive" ||  "they do not drive" ||  "they have driven" ||  "they have not driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * pass./impr. || "is (being) driven" ||  "is not (being) driven" ||  "has been driven" || 1) "has not been driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * colspan=5 | 1) The non-standard "double passive" (passive voice  + passive past participle ) is common in colloquial speech.
 * }


 * {| class="wikitable vsSwitcher" data-toggle-category="conjugation"

! class="nowrap vsToggleElement" colspan=5 | Inflection of, indicative past and pluperfect tenses ! rowspan=2 | !! colspan=2 | past !! colspan=2 | pluperfect ! affirmative !! negative !! affirmative !! negative
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 1st sing. || "I drove" ||  "I did not drive" ||  "I had driven" ||  "I had not driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 2nd sing. || "you drove" ||  "you did not drive" ||  "you had driven" ||  "you had not driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 3rd sing. || "(he/she/it) drove" ||  "(he/she/it) did not drive" ||  "(he/she/it) had driven" ||  "(he/she/it) had not driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 1st plur. || "we drove" ||  "we did not drive" ||  "we had driven" ||  "we had not driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 2nd plur. || "you drove" ||  "you did not drive" ||  "you had driven" ||  "you had not driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 3rd plur. || "they drove" ||  "they did not drive" ||  "they had driven" ||  "they had not driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * pass./impr. || "was (being) driven" ||  "was not (being) driven" ||  "had been driven" || 1) "had not been driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * colspan=5 | 1) The non-standard "double passive" (passive voice  + passive past participle ) is common in colloquial speech.
 * }

Conditional
Used for actions that are conditional, i.e. that hinge on a condition or prerequirement. Often corresponds to :.

The second-person forms, when combined with the interrogative clitic, can be used to form polite requests (similar to English "could you do ...?").


 * {| class="wikitable vsSwitcher" data-toggle-category="conjugation"

! class="nowrap vsToggleElement" colspan=5 | Inflection of, conditional present and perfect tenses ! rowspan=2 | !! colspan=2 | present !! colspan=2 | perfect ! affirmative !! negative !! affirmative !! negative
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 1st sing. || "I would drive" ||  "I would not drive" ||  "I would have driven" ||  "I would not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 2nd sing. || "you would drive" ||  "you would not drive" ||  "you would have driven" ||  "you would not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 3rd sing. || "(he/she/it) would drive" ||  "(he/she/it) would not drive" ||  "(he/she/it) would have driven" ||  "(he/she/it) would not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 1st plur. || "we would drive" ||  "we would not drive" ||  "we would have driven" ||  "we would not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 2nd plur. || "you would drive" ||  "you would not drive" ||  "you would have driven" ||  "you would not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 3rd plur. || "they would drive" ||  "they would not drive" ||  "they would have driven" ||  "they would not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * pass./impr. || "would be driven" ||  "would not be driven" ||  "would have been driven" ||  "would not have been driven"
 * }

Imperative
Used to express commands. In the third person and with the passive/impersonal forms, the meaning is rather optative ("let them do X").

In modern Finnish, the third-person and passive/impersonal forms are most often used to express either acquiescence or resignation (e.g. ), or disregard or indifference for what is or isn't done (e.g. ).

The first-person plural imperative is used as a hortative ("let's do ..."), but, outside of literary Finnish, is usually replaced with the present passive/impersonal form ( &rarr; ).

The imperative connegative forms ending in, should not be confused with the (interrogative) clitic.

The imperative perfect forms are only used in a jussive sense.


 * {| class="wikitable vsSwitcher" data-toggle-category="conjugation"

! class="nowrap vsToggleElement" colspan=5 | Inflection of, imperative present and perfect tenses ! rowspan=2 | !! colspan=2 | present !! colspan=2 | perfect ! affirmative !! negative !! affirmative !! negative
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 2nd sing. || "drive!" ||  "do not drive!" || &mdash; || &mdash;
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 3rd sing. || "let him/her/it drive" ||  "let him/her/it not drive" ||  "let (he/she/it) have driven" ||  "let (he/she/it) not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 1st plur. || "let us drive" ||  "let us not drive" || &mdash; || &mdash;
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 2nd plur. || "drive!" ||  "do not drive!" || &mdash; || &mdash;
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 3rd plur. || "let them drive" ||  "let them not drive" ||  "let them have driven" ||  "let them not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * pass./impr. || "let it be driven" ||  "let it not be driven" ||  "let it have been driven" ||  "let it not have been driven"
 * }

Potential
Used for verbs that are not entirely certain, but which are probable. Corresponds to English, , etc.

Mostly confined to literary Finnish. Adverbs like, , etc. are often used instead:  &rarr;.


 * {| class="wikitable vsSwitcher" data-toggle-category="conjugation"

! class="nowrap vsToggleElement" colspan=5 | Inflection of, potential present and perfect tenses ! rowspan=2 | !! colspan=2 | present !! colspan=2 | perfect ! affirmative !! negative !! affirmative !! negative
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 1st sing. || "I might drive" ||  "I might not drive" ||  "I might have driven" ||  "I might not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 2nd sing. || "you might drive" ||  "you might not drive" ||  "you might have driven" ||  "you might not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 3rd sing. || "(he/she/it) might drive" ||  "(he/she/it) might not drive" ||  "he/she/it might have driven" ||  "he/she/it might not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 1st plur. || "we might drive" ||  "we might not drive" ||  "we might have driven" ||  "we might not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 2nd plur. || "you might drive" ||  "you might not drive" ||  "you might have driven" ||  "you might not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 3rd plur. || "they might drive" ||  "they might not drive" ||  "they might have driven" ||  "they might not have driven"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * pass./impr. || "might be driven" ||  "might not be driven" ||  "might have been driven" ||  "might not have been driven"
 * }

Rare moods
These moods are not part of standard language.

Optative
Poetic and archaic. Similar to imperative, but less forceful. Only a few personal forms are used; third-person forms coincide with those of the imperative mood.


 * {| class="wikitable vsSwitcher" data-toggle-category="conjugation"

! class="nowrap vsToggleElement" colspan=3 | Inflection of, optative present tense ! !! affirmative !! negative
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 2nd sing. || "drive!" ||  "do not drive!"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 3rd sing. || "let him/her/it drive" ||  "let him/her/it not drive"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 2nd plur. || "drive!" ||  "do not drive!"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * 3rd plur. || "let them drive" ||  "let them not drive"
 * }

Eventive
Rare and poetic; used in the Finnish national epic Kalevala. Combination of conditional and potential: →. Sporadically found in general usage as well, but with a literary nuance and not accepted as part of the standard language.

Infinitives
There are anywhere from three to five groups of infinitives: first infinitive (I, with an additional long form), second infinitive (II) and third infinitive (III). Some definitions also include a fourth infinitive (IV) and fifth infinitive (V). There also exists a set of alternative names for all five: A infinitive, E infinitive, MA infinitive, MINEN infinitive and MAINEN infinitive respectively, after their endings.

Table

 * 1 Always used with a personal/possessive suffix.
 * 2 Also used with a possessive suffix with a modal sense ("as one X"), although this use is now quite formal.
 * 3 The 'fourth infinitive' is a term for certain special uses of the verbal noun in specific contexts; see the section below.
 * 3 The 'fourth infinitive' is a term for certain special uses of the verbal noun in specific contexts; see the section below.

First infinitive
The most common form for complement verbs (those used with an auxiliary), corresponding roughly to English "to do". It is also the dictionary form. It triggers.

The "long" first infinitive, or more properly the translative form of the first infinitive, has the translative suffix ending followed by a possessive suffix, which is required. It generally means "in order to do X", as part of the so called "final construct".

Second infinitive
The second infinitive has three forms. The inessive case has both active and passive forms, while the instructive only has the active form. The active inessive form regularly receives possessive suffixes, but the instructive form only does so rarely, while the passive form cannot.

The active inessive form means "as/while X is/was doing Y":

The passive inessive form means "as/while X is/was being done":

Technically speaking the active form should replace an active form of a verb and the passive form a passive form of a verb, but the active form is occasionally, especially in less formal situations, indiscriminately used in place of the passive form.

The active instructive form means "by/while doing X":

Third infinitive
The third infinitive has six case forms: inessive, elative, illative, adessive, abessive and instructive. Only the instructive has both active and passive forms, while the other five cases only have active forms. Forms of the third infinitive are fairly common when chaining verbs.

The inessive form refers to an ongoing action as a state of being:

Sometimes it is used alone, although this kind of usage is characteristic of newspaper headlines:

The elative form mostly refers to leaving the state in which one is doing something:

but has some special uses too:

The illative form refers to entering the state in which one is doing something:

The adessive form refers to an action as a means of doing something, "by doing X":

The abessive form means "without doing X" (when used with, it literally means "to be without doing X", but is better translated as "to (intentionally, consciously) not do X", "to avoid doing X"):

The instructive forms are used in commands or prohibitions. They are restricted to archaic language:

Forms of the third infinitive coincide with those of the agent participle and of the noun, if they exist for the verb in question.

Fourth infinitive
The term "fourth infinitive" is used in many (particular older) grammars for certain uses of the verbal noun formed with (see below).

The first use is with the verb (using the nominative singular in the affirmative and the partitive singular in the negative) to mean "one must do X" or "one must not do X". This use is largely restricted to formal language and is rare in modern and colloquial Finnish:

The second use is with the verb itself to mark an action that is being done continuously/for a long time:

Fifth infinitive
Used in the literary language, rare in colloquial Finnish. Always in the adessive case, and always takes a possessive suffix aligning with the person.

Most often used with as a predicative adverbial to mean "as X was about to Y", which in the past sense usually implies an interruption that prevents X from doing Y.

It can also be used with in the present tense, in which case it has a more general sense of "to be about to X":

Less often but still at times encountered is use with other verbs. In those cases, it can generally be translated either as "as if X were about to Y" or sometimes even "as X is about to Y":

The term "fifth infinitive" remains common, although more recent views do not treat it as an infinitive, but as a kind of adverb. Other names for this form include propinquative and proximative. Arguably it could also be called a "long third infinitive", given that it is etymologically closely related to it.

Infinitive constructs
These are kinds of absolute constructs, alongside participle constructs:


 * inessive of the second infinitive (+ possible possessive suffix): as X is/was doing... (present "temporal construct")
 * instructive of the active second infinitive: by/while doing... ("modal construct")
 * long first infinitive + possessive suffix: in order to do ("final construct")
 * instructive of the active second infinitive: by/while doing... ("modal construct")
 * long first infinitive + possessive suffix: in order to do ("final construct")
 * long first infinitive + possessive suffix: in order to do ("final construct")
 * long first infinitive + possessive suffix: in order to do ("final construct")
 * long first infinitive + possessive suffix: in order to do ("final construct")

Participles
All participles can be inflected and used like adjectives. Many participles are in fact used as independent adjectives:, etc.

Appendix:Finnish participles contains additional information on the usage of these participles and constructs using them. This page will only give a short description and example inflections.

Present active participle
"that does X", e.g.


 * {| class="wikitable vsSwitcher" data-toggle-category="declension"

! class="nowrap vsToggleElement" colspan=3 | Inflection of (present active participle of ) ! case || singular || plural
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * nominative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * rowspan="2" | genitive || rowspan="2" | ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * partitive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * rowspan="2" | accusative || || rowspan="2" |
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * inessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * elative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * illative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * adessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * ablative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * allative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * essive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * translative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * abessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * instructive || &mdash; ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * comitative || &mdash; ||
 * }
 * comitative || &mdash; ||
 * }

Present passive participle
"that has X done to it" or "that can have X done to it", e.g.


 * {| class="wikitable vsSwitcher" data-toggle-category="declension"

! class="nowrap vsToggleElement" colspan=3 | Inflection of (present passive participle of ) ! case || singular || plural
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * nominative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * rowspan="2" | genitive || rowspan="2" | ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * partitive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * rowspan="2" | accusative || || rowspan="2" |
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * inessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * elative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * illative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * adessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * ablative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * allative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * essive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * translative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * abessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * instructive || &mdash; ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * comitative || &mdash; ||
 * }
 * comitative || &mdash; ||
 * }

Past active participle
"that did X" or "that has done X", e.g..


 * {| class="wikitable vsSwitcher" data-toggle-category="declension"

! class="nowrap vsToggleElement" colspan=3 | Inflection of (past active participle of ) ! case || singular || plural
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * nominative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * rowspan="2" | genitive || rowspan="2" | ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * partitive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * rowspan="2" | accusative || || rowspan="2" |
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * inessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * elative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * rowspan="2" | illative || rowspan="2" | ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * adessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * ablative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * allative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * essive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * translative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * abessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * instructive || &mdash; ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * comitative || &mdash; ||
 * }
 * - class="vsHide"
 * comitative || &mdash; ||
 * }

Past passive participle
"that had X done to it" or "that has had X done to it", e.g.


 * {| class="wikitable vsSwitcher" data-toggle-category="declension"

! class="nowrap vsToggleElement" colspan=3 | Inflection of (past passive participle of ) ! case || singular || plural
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * nominative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * genitive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * partitive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * rowspan="2" | accusative || || rowspan="2" |
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * inessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * elative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * illative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * adessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * ablative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * allative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * essive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * translative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * abessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * instructive || &mdash; ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * comitative || &mdash; ||
 * }
 * }

Agent participle
"done X by Y", e.g. . Not used with all verbs.


 * {| class="wikitable vsSwitcher" data-toggle-category="declension"

! class="nowrap vsToggleElement" colspan=3 | Inflection of (agent participle of ) ! case || singular || plural
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * nominative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * rowspan="2" | genitive || rowspan="2" | ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * partitive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * rowspan="2" | accusative || || rowspan="2" |
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * inessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * elative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * illative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * adessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * ablative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * allative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * essive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * translative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * abessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * instructive || &mdash; ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * comitative || &mdash; ||
 * }
 * comitative || &mdash; ||
 * }

Negative participle
Negation of the other participles.


 * {| class="wikitable vsSwitcher" data-toggle-category="declension"

! class="nowrap vsToggleElement" colspan=3 | Inflection of (negative participle of ) ! case || singular || plural
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * nominative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * rowspan="2" | genitive || rowspan="2" | ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * partitive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * rowspan="2" | accusative || || rowspan="2" |
 * - class="vsHide"
 * - class="vsHide"
 * inessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * elative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * illative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * adessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * ablative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * allative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * essive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * translative || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * abessive || ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * instructive || &mdash; ||
 * - class="vsHide"
 * comitative || &mdash; ||
 * }
 * comitative || &mdash; ||
 * }

Verbal nouns
The suffix can be used to create a verbal noun or action noun out of any verb. Other verbal noun suffixes also exist, but can only be used with specific conjugation classes, and often have a more lexicalized meaning (such as to refer to the result of an action, rather than the action itself).

For example, the verb has the regular action noun, as well as  (with the suffix ). They are used somewhat differently (see the corresponding entries).