Finnish verb conjugation

Verbs in the Finnish language are usually divided into six main groups when teaching the language to non-native speakers 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.

Tables of conjugation

Tables of conjugation are given here for the regular verb (of type I,) 'puhua', to speak.

Basic tenses in the indicative mood

			indicative mood
active voice			present tense		imperfect		perfect		pluperfect
per.	no.	pron.	affirmative	negative	affirmative	negative	affirmative	negative	affirmative	negative
1st	sg.	minä	puhun	en puhu	puhuin	en puhunut	olen puhunut	en ole puhunut	olin puhunut	en ollut puhunut
2nd		sinä	puhut	et puhu	puhuit	et puhunut	olet puhunut	et ole puhunut	olit puhunut	et ollut puhunut
3rd		hän	puhuu	ei puhu	puhui	ei puhunut	on puhunut	ei ole puhunut	oli puhunut	ei ollut puhunut
1st	pl.	me	puhumme	emme puhu	puhuimme	emme puhuneet	olemme puhuneet	emme ole puhuneet	olimme puhuneet	emme olleet puhuneet
2nd		te	puhutte	ette puhu	puhuitte	ette puhuneet	olette puhuneet	ette ole puhuneet	olitte puhuneet	ette olleet puhuneet
3rd		he	puhuvat	eivät puhu	puhuivat	eivät puhuneet	ovat puhuneet	eivät ole puhuneet	olivat puhuneet	eivät olleet puhuneet
passive voice			puhutaan	ei puhuta	puhuttiin	ei puhuttu	on puhuttu	ei ole puhuttu	oli puhuttu	ei oltu puhuttu — ei ollut puhuttu

The present, imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect correspond fairly well to English: "speaks", "spoke", "has spoken", and "had spoken", resp., or in the passive voice, "it is spoken", "it was spoken", "it has been spoken", and "it had been spoken". Note the helping 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 must suffice for future time as well.

Conditional and potential mood

			conditional mood				potential mood
active voice			present tense		perfect		present tense		perfect
per.	no.	pron.	affirmative	negative	affirmative	negative	affirmative	negative	affirmative	negative
1st	sg.	minä	puhuisin	en puhuisi	olisin puhunut	en olisi puhunut	puhunen	en puhune	lienen puhunut	en liene puhunut
2nd		sinä	puhuisit	et puhuisi	olisit puhunut	et olisi puhunut	puhunet	et puhune	lienet puhunut	et liene puhunut
3rd		hän	puhuisi	ei puhuisi	olisi puhunut	ei olisi puhunut	puhunee	ei puhune	lienee puhunut	ei liene puhunut
1st	pl.	me	puhuisimme	emme puhuisi	olisimme puhuneet	emme olisi puhuneet	puhunemme	emme puhune	lienemme puhuneet	emme liene puhuneet
2nd		te	puhuisitte	ette puhuisi	olisitte puhuneet	ette olisi puhuneet	puhunette	ette puhune	lienette puhuneet	ette liene puhuneet
3rd		he	puhuisivat	eivät puhuisi	olisivat puhuneet	eivät olisi puhuneet	puhunevat	eivät puhune	lienevät puhuneet	eivät liene puhuneet
passive voice			puhuttaisiin	ei puhuttaisi	olisi puhuttu	ei olisi puhuttu	puhuttaneen	ei puhuttane	lienee puhuttu	ei liene puhuttu

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've", "should've", "might've", etc.

Imperative mood and miscellaneous tenses

			imperative mood				indicative mood
active voice			present tense		perfect		present prospective		imperfect prospective
per.	no.	pron.	affirmative	negative	affirmative	negative	affirmative	negative	affirmative	negative
1st	sg.	minä	—	—	—	—	olen puhuva	en ole puhuva	olin puhuva	en ollut puhuva
2nd		sinä	puhu	älä puhu	ole puhunut	älä ole puhunut	olet puhuva	et ole puhuva	olit puhuva	et ollut puhuva
3rd		hän	puhukoon	älköön puhuko	olkoon puhunut	älköön olko puhunut	on puhuva	ei ole puhuva	oli puhuva	ei ollut puhuva
1st	pl.	me	puhukaamme	älkäämme puhuko	olkaamme puhuneet	älkäämme olko puhuneet	—	—	—	—
2nd		te	puhukaa	älkää puhuko	olkaa puhuneet	älkää olko puhuneet	—	—	—	—
3rd		he	puhukoot	älkööt puhuko	olkoot puhuneet	älkööt olko puhuneet	—	—	—	—
passive voice			puhuttakoon	ei puhuttako — älköön puhuttako	olkoon puhuttu	älköön olko puhuttu	on puhuttava	ei ole puhuttava	oli puhuttava	ei ollut puhuttava

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, e.g. as in 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, although this 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 which is 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. In this construction

• the person(s) bearing the obligation is regarded as the 'agent' (not the subject) and is in the genitive case
• the verb of obligation is in the passive 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 (i.e. the dictionary form) and which is then regarded as the sentence's subject.

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.

sinun pitäisi tulla huomenna = you should come tomorrow.

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

The verb 'täytyä' can only be used in this construction and therefore has no other personal forms. The other verbs can carry personal endings in other forms of construction with 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

Infinitives and participles

In Finnish there are five infinitives, and past and present participles for both active and passive voices.

Infinitive I

This is the dictionary form of the verb, e.g. 'puhua', and it fully carries the meaning of the English particle "to" that often precedes infinitives. Its suffix is most often -ta/-tä, although -da/-dä is found, and consonant gradation is applied (e.g. karata "to run away" < karkaa-). It can be used in a sentence similarly to the English infinitive, standing for a subject or a direct object, without any additional inflection. It is also governed by verbs like saattaa "might" or voida "be able to", e.g. saattaa mennä "might go" or voi hakea "can be fetched".

Infinitive I also has a so-called "long form", having the ending of the translative case plus an obligatory possessive suffix. The long form is rather archaic, and connotes either extent or intent. Examples:

'muistaa' = "to remember"; 'muistaakseni' = "as far as I can remember" (extent), or "for my remembering", or "in order that I might remember" (intent)

'nähdä' = "to see"; 'nähdäkseen' = "as far as he/she/it/they can see" (extent), "so that they could see" (intent)

In modern Finnish, intent is usually expressed with the short form of this infinitive if the subject is implicit or understood by context, or more explicitly with the conditional, e.g. 'että minä muistaisin'. Nevertheless, the long form is still used to signify extent, for another example, 'tietääkseni', "as far as I know".

The first infinitive does not generally take on any inflected forms except for the short (dictionary) form and the long form, nor can the long form exist without a possessive suffix.

Infinitive II

This infinitive is usually 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, then the subject is put in the genitive case; in the inessive case the second infinitive also accepts a possessive suffix if 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: Examples:

'tietäen' = "knowingly" (instructive);

'tietäen, että hänen täytyisi puhua' = "knowing that he would have to speak" = "sachant qu'il aurait besoin de parler" in French

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

The inessive form conveys co-terminal action; i.e. something happening at the same time as something else; more properly 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 exactly analogous to the Finnish, and similarly in French with "en" and the present participle "-ant". Examples

'kuollessa' = "in dying" or "while dying" or "en mourant" in French (inessive).

'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;

but this is ambiguous and could be taken for the active inessive infinitive II of the causative 'tiedettää', "to make (someone) know"

'tiedettäessä' = "in making (someone) know" or "in making (some fact) known".

Infinitive III

The third infinitive is formed by adding the ending '-ma/mä' to the hard grade of the present stem, (described below.) It is a noun in its own right, denoting "the act" of a verb, and thus 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".

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

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

The adessive (often with a possessive suffix) is used in the sense of being "just about to" do something, equivalent to the French expression "sur le point de (faire quelque chose)".

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, where 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, indicating that at some point in time the action of the verb is "but little" accomplished:

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

Present participles

Active

The active present participle is formed by adding '-va/vä' to the hard grade of the present indicative stem of the verb.

'tulevat päivät ovat tuulisia' = "the coming days are (going to be) windy"

(In the nominative plural this form nearly always coincides with the third person plural present indicative.)

Passive

There is also a passive present participle formed by adding the same ending to the passive stem.

'puhuttava' = "to be spoken of"

This form is also ambiguous: it could equally well be the active present participle of the causative 'puhuttaa', "to cause (someone) to speak", thus:

'puhuttava' = (active) "making (someone) speak"

'puhutettava' = (passive) "being made to speak"

Past participles

Active

The active past participle is usually formed by adding '-nut/nyt' to the short stem, omitting any epenthetic vowel. Verbs of type III (ending in '-lla/llä', '-rra/rrä', and '-sta/stä') assimilate the 'n' of this ending, thus:

'tullut' = "(one that has) come";

'purrut' = "(one that has) bitten";

'pessyt' = "(one that has) washed".

The stem of the active past participle, for all other cases but the nominative singular, ends in '-nee-', which may be likewise assimilated. See tables of conjugation.

Passive

The passive past participle has the ending '-tu/ty' or '-ttu/tty' to the soft grade of the stem. For a verb of type I, a final '-a/ä-' of the stem is replaced by '-e-' for the passive past participle.

'antaa' = "to give"; 'annettu' = "(that has been) given".

The passive past participle is subject to consonant gradation:

$tt\rightarrow t\rightarrow d;$

and for verbs of type III:

$lt\rightarrow ll,\quad nt\rightarrow nn,\quad rt\rightarrow rr,\quad st\rightarrow st.$

'annettu' = (that has been) given; 'annetut' = "(that have been) given", (pl.);

'purtu' "(one that has been) bitten", graded as 'purru-', e.g. 'purrun' "of that which has been bitten".

'pesty' = "(that has been) washed", unchanged in soft grade, e.g. 'pestyt hiukset' = "hair that has been washed" (pl. of 'hius', "a single hair").

Derived passive forms

Without exception, all other passive forms of the verb may be derived from the passive past participle in a regular manner, by replacing the final '-u/y' with the following endings:

• in the hard grade:
  • '-iin': passive imperfect; annettiin "was given"
  • '-ava':: passive present participle; annettava "that which is (to be) given"
  • '-aisiin/äisiin': passive conditional; annettaisiin "would be given"
  • '-aisi/äisi': passive conditional connegative with negative verb ei; ei annettaisi "would not be given"
  • '-aneen/äneen': passive potential; annettaneen "might be given"
  • '-ane/äne': passive potential connegative; ei annettane "might not be given"
  • '-akoon/äköön', '-akaan/äkään': passive imperative; annettakoon "shall be given"
  • '-ako/äkö': passive imperative connegative; ei annettako "shall not be given"
• in the soft grade:
  • '-aan/ään': passive present indicative; annetaan "is given"
  • '-a/ä': passive present indicative connegative with negative verb ei; ei anneta "is not given".

Overview of main verb types

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

Type	Example	1. Pers. Pres.	3. Pers. Imp.	Participle	Passive	Passive Imp.	Infinitive ends in	Translation
1a	puhua	puhun	puhui	puhunut	puhutaan	puhuttiin	-oa, -ua/yä	to speak
1b	oppia	opin	oppi	oppinut	opitaan	opittiin	-ea/eä, -ia/iä	to learn
1c	antaa	annan	antoi	antanut	annetaan	annettiin	-aa, 1. vowel a/e/i	to give
1d	johtaa	johdan	johti	johtanut	johdetaan	johdettiin	-aa, 1. vowel o/u	to lead
1e	kieltää	kiellän	kielsi	kieltänyt	kielletään	kiellettiin	-ää	to forbid
2a	saada	saan	sai	saanut	saadaan	saatiin	(long vowel)+da/dä	to get
2b	syödä	syön	söi	syönyt	syödään	syötiin	(diphthong)+da/dä	to eat
3	tulla	tulen	tuli	tullut	tullaan	tultiin	-lla/llä, -nna/nnä, -rra/rrä, -sta/stä	to come
4	haluta	haluan	halusi	halunnut	halutaan	haluttiin	-uta/ytä	to want
5	tarvita	tarvitsen	tarvitsi	tarvinnut	tarvitaan	tarvittiin	-ita/itä	to need
6	paeta	pakenen	pakeni	paennut	paetaan	paettiin	-eta/etä	to flee
7	pilkata	pilkkaan	pilkkasi	pilkannut	pilkataan	pilkattiin	-ata/ätä	to mock

Type I 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/ne 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.

Past Tense

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.

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 -> 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 passive

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

Conditional passive

This 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

This 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.

Type II verbs

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

Present indicative

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.

Imperfect indicative

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.

Passive

Present passive

In this group, 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 -> mennään

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

mennä -> mennään -> mentiin, mentäisiin

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

Type III verbs

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.

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' 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.

Passive

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

syödä -> syödään, syötiin, syötäisiin

juoda -> juodaan, juotiin, juotaisiin

Type IV verbs

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.

Imperfect indicative

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.

Passive

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

Type V verbs

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.

Imperfect indicative

-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.

Passive

The passive 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

Type VI verbs

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'

Imperfect indicative

The imperfect indicative of this type of verb is formed by replacing the final 'e' of the 'ne' stem with 'i'. Thus

'rohkenin' = 'I dared'

'rohkenit' = 'you dared'

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

Passive

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

Type VII verbs

Verbs of this category have infinitives ending in 'ata' or 'ätä'. The stem is formed by replacing this ending with 'aa' or 'ää', and hardening the grade of the final consonant, if applicable. Thus:

'vastata' = to answer

'vastaan' = I answer

'vastaat' = you answer

'vastaa' = he/she/it answers, etc.

Imperfect indicative

The imperfect infinitive is formed by shortening the final 'aa' or 'ää' on the stem, leaving it in the hard grade, and adding 'si'.

Passive

The passive is almost identical to the infinitive:

'vastataan' = 'it is answered'

'on vastattu' = 'it has been answered', etc.

Non-derivable and irregular stems

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

olla - ole - oo

Computer program for inflexion and syntax of the Finnish verb

• "Tuuli" available in http://www.wakkanet.fi/%7Epahio/esitteet.html
• Verbix: conjugation of Finnish verbs

Online Finnish Verb Conjugators

http://www.romania-sanakirja.net/online/verbs/conjugate_verb.php http://www.verbix.com/languages/finnish.shtml