Finnish grammar

This article details the grammar of the Finnish language. There are separate articles covering the sound patterns of Finnish, and the ways in which spoken Finnish differs from the formal grammar of the written language. It is probably best to read the introduction to Finnish and Finnish language phonetics articles to make best use of this article.

Pronouns

The pronouns are inflected in the Finnish language much in the same way than their referent nouns are.

Personal pronouns

Unlike in English, the personal pronouns are used to refer to human beings only. The personal pronouns in Finnish in the nominative case are:

Singular

minä = I

sinä = you

hän = she or he

Plural

me = we

te = you

he = they

Polite

Te = you

Since Finnish verbs are inflected for person, personal pronouns are not required for sense and are usually omitted in written Finnish except where used for emphasis. In spoken Finnish, however, the pronouns are generally used.

In common with some other languages, the second person plural can be used as a polite form when addressing one person. This usage is diminishing in Finnish society.

Demonstrative Pronouns

The demonstratives are used of non-human animate entities and inanimate objects. However, se and ne are often used to refer to humans in colloquial Finnish. Furthermore, the demonstratives are used to refer to group nouns and the number of the pronoun must correlate with the number of its referent.

Singular

tämä = this

tuo = that

se = it

Plural

nämä = these

nuo = those

ne = they

Interrogative pronouns

kuka = who, which (of many)

ken = who, which (of many)

mikä = what, which (of many)

kumpi = which (of two)

kumpainen = which (of two)

Relative pronouns

joka (refers to preceding word)

• "hän on ainoa, jonka muistan" = "s/he was the only one who (I) remember"

mikä (refers to preceding clause/ sentence or to a pronoun or a superlative that refers to a thing)

• "se on ainoa asia, minkä muistan" = "it was the only thing that (I) remember"

Reciprocal pronouns

toinen

• "he rakastavat toisiaan" = "they love each other" (plural)
• "he rakastavat toinen toistaan" = "they love one another" (double singular)

Reflexive pronouns

itse

plus corresponding possessive suffix

• "keitin itselleni teetä" = "(I) made myself some tea"

Indefinite pronouns

A large group that entails all of the pronouns that do not fall into any of the categories above.

joka (uninflected) = every, each

jokainen = every, everyone

joku = some, someone

jompikumpi = either one

jokin = some, something

kukin = each one

kumpainenkin = both

kumpikin = both

mikin = each thing

kenkään = anyone

kukaan = anyone -> ei kukaan = no-one

kumpikaan = either one -> ei kumpikaan = neither one

mikään = anything -> ei mikään = nothing

Some indefinite adjectives are often perceived as indefinite pronouns. These include:

ainoa = only

eräs = some, certain, one

harva = few

itse (non-reflexive) = self-forms

kaikki = all, everyone, everything

molemmat = both

moni = many

muu = other

muutama = some, a few

sama = same

toinen (non-reciprocal, non-numeral use) = another

Noun forms

The Finnish language does not distinguish gender in nouns or even in personal pronouns: 'hän' = 'he' or 'she' depending on the referent. This causes some unaccustomed Finnish speakers to muddle "he" and "she" when speaking languages such as English or Swedish, which can be a source of confusion.

Cases

Finnish has fifteen noun cases: four grammatical cases, six locative cases and five marginal cases. Please see the article Finnish language noun cases for details.

Plurals

There are three different 'plurals' in Finnish:

Nominative plural

This is the 'general' form of the plural

• "koirat olivat huoneessa" = "the dogs were in the room"
• "huoneet olivat suuria" = "the rooms were large"

Following numbers

After numbers greater than one, the noun is put in the partitive singular.

• "huoneessa oli kaksi koiraa" = "there were two dogs in the room"
• "talossa oli kolme huonetta" = "the house had three rooms"

Inflected plural

this uses the stem of the partitive plural inflected with the same set of endings as for singular nouns.

• 'huone' -> 'huoneita' = 'rooms' -> 'huoneissa' = 'in rooms'

As a combined example of plurals 'lintu on puussa' = 'the bird is in the tree' -> 'linnut ovat puissa' = 'the birds are in the trees'

Inflection of pronouns

The personal pronouns are inflected in the same way as nouns, and can be found in most of the same cases as nouns. For example:

'minä' (nominative) = 'I'

'minun' (genitive) = 'my, mine' - 'tämä talo on minun ' = 'this house is mine '

- 'tämä on minun taloni ' = 'this is my house'

'minut' (accusative) = 'hän tuntee minut' = 's/he knows me'

'minua' (partitive) - 'hän rakastaa minua' = 's/he loves me'

'minussa' (inessive) - 'tämä herättää minussa vihaa' = 'this provokes (lit. awakens) anger in me'

'minusta' (elative) - 'hän puhui minusta' = 's/he was talking about/ of me'. Also used idiomatically to mean 'in my opinion'.

'minuun' (illative) = 'hän uskoi minuun' = 's/he believed in me'

'minulla' (adessive) - 'minulla on rahaa' = 'I've got some money' (lit. 'on me is some money')

'minulta' (ablative) - 'hän otti minulta rahaa' = 'he took some money from/ off me'.

'minulle' (allative) - 'anna minulle rahaa' = 'give me some money'

'sinuna' (essive) = 'If I were you' (lit. 'as you')

'minuksi' (translative) = 'häntä luullaan usein minuksi' = 's/he is often mistaken for me'

Noun/adjective stem types

Vowel stems

! MORE HERE

Consonant stems

! MORE HERE

-nen nouns

This is a very large class of words which includes common nouns (for example 'nainen' = 'woman'), many names, and many common adjectives. Adding -nen to a noun is a very productive mechanism for making adjectives ('muovi' = 'plastic' -> 'muovinen' = 'made of plastic'). It can also function as a diminutive ending.

The stem for these words removes the '-nen' and adds '-s(e)' after which the inflectional ending is added:

'muovisessa pussissa' = 'in the plastic bag'

'kaksi muovista lelua' = 'two plastic toys'

'muoviseen laatikkoon' = 'into the plastic box'

Here are a few of the rare diminutive forms that are still in use:

'kätönen' (from käsi) = 'a small hand' (affectionate)

'lintunen' (from lintu) = 'birdie', 'a small bird'

'veikkonen' (from veikka) = 'my friend' (used in some sayings, like the english form)

The diminutive form mostly lives in surnames which are usually very old words to which most finns have forgotten the meaning. Some of the most common:

'Rautiainen': rautio = blacksmith (of a blacksmith's family)

'Korhonen': korho = 'deaf' (of a deaf man's family)

'Leinonen': leino = 'sorrowful, melancholic'

'Virtanen', 'Jokinen', 'Järvinen', 'Nieminen'... = 'the family from by the stream (virta), river (joki), lake (järvi), peninsula (niemi)'

'Mikkonen' = [A family name assimilated from the name of the farmhouse, after the householder's name 'Mikko']

'Karppinen' = [Suggestion: "karppi" could have a connection to scandinavian languages; Old Norse, Icel. karpa: to boast]

'Martikainen' = [What is a martikka?]

Occasionally such nouns become placenames. For example, there is a peninsula called "Neuvosenniemi" in one lake. "Neuvonen" means "a bit of advice/direction"; at this peninsula people rowing tar barrels across the lake would stop to ask whether the weather conditions would make it unsafe to continue to the other side.

-e nouns

These nouns look as though they should behave like vowel stem nouns, but in fact behave like consonant stem nouns due to the historical loss of a final consonant. There are some common nouns in this class, for example 'huone' = 'room', 'kirje' = 'letter'

The result is that the partitive singular adds a 't' followed by the partitive ending appropriate to a consonant stem 'ta'. Other case forms add an 'e' followed by the case ending:

'kaksi huonetta' = 'two rooms'

'huoneessa' = 'in the room'

'huoneeseen' = 'into the room'

Adjectives

Adjectives in Finnish are inflected in exactly the same way as nouns, and an adjective must agree in number and case with the noun it is modifying.

For example, here are some adjectives:

'iso' = 'big'

'pieni' = 'small'

'punainen' = 'red'

And here are some examples of adjectives inflected to agree with nouns:

'iso|n talo|n esessa' = 'in front of the big house'

'kaksi pientä taloa' = 'two small houses'

'punaise|ssa talo|ssa' = 'in the red house'

Notice that adjective undergo the same sorts of stem changes when they are inflected as nouns do.

Comparative formation

The comparative of the adjective is formed by adding '-mpi' to the inflecting stem. For example:

'iso' = 'big', 'iso|mpi' = 'bigger'

'pieni' = 'small', 'piene|mpi' = 'smaller'

'punainen' = 'red', 'punaise|mpi' = 'redder'

Since the comparative adjective is still an adjective, it must be inflected to agree with the noun it modifies. To make the inflecting stem of the comparative, the '-mpi' ending loses its final 'i'. If the syllable context calls for a weak consonant, the '-mp-' becomes '-mm-'. Then '-a-' is added before the actual case ending. This should become clear with a few examples !

'iso|mman talo|n esessa' = 'in front of the bigger house'

'kaksi pienempää taloa' = 'two smaller houses'

'punaise|mmassa talo|ssa' = 'in the redder house'

Superlative formation

The superlative of the adjective is formed by adding '-in' to the inflecting stem. For example:

'iso' = 'big', 'iso|in' = 'biggest'

'punainen' = 'red', 'punais|in' = 'reddest'

Note that because the superlative marker vowel is an 'i', the same kind of changes can occur with vowel stems as happen in verb imperfects, and noun inflecting plurals:

'pieni' = 'small', 'pienin' = 'smallest' (not *'pienein')

Since the superlative adjective is still an adjective, it must be inflected to agree with the noun it modifies. !TO COMPLETE

Irregular forms

The most important irregular form is: 'hyvää, parempi, paras' = 'good, better, best' (though I know from personal error that Finns understand 'hyvempi' :-)

There are a small number of other irregular comparative and superlative forms, such as:

'uusi' = 'new' - the inflecting form is 'uude-' but the superlative is 'uusin' = 'newest'.

Postpositions and prepositions

Postpositions are more common in Finnish than prepositions. Both postpositions and prepositions can be combined with either a noun or a possessive suffix to form a P-positional phrase.

Postpositions

Postpositions indicate place, time, cause, consequence or relation. In postpositional phrases the noun is usually in genitive:

'pöydän alla' = 'under the table'

'joulun jälkeen' = 'after Christmas'

'lasten tähden' = 'for the sake of the children'

'jonkun puolesta'= 'on behalf of somebody'

The noun (or pronoun) can be omitted when there is a possessive suffix:

'olen _ vierellä|si' = '(I) am next to (you) ' or '(I) am by (your) side '

Prepositions

There are few important prepositions in Finnish. In prepositional phrases the noun is always in partitive:

'ennen joulua' = 'before Christmas

'ilman sinua' = 'without you'

Some postpositions can also be used as prepositions:

'kylän keskellä ' = ' keskellä kylää' = ' in the middle of the village'

Verb forms

Finnish verbs 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.

There are very few irregular verbs in Finnish. In fact, only 'olla' = 'to be' has irregular endings (and then only in the present tense for the 3rd-person forms). A handful of verbs, including 'nähdä' = 'to see', 'tehdä' = 'to do/make', and 'juosta' = 'to run' have mildly irregular stems.

As a final oddity, Finnish does not have a verb corresponding to 'to have' - possession is indicated in other ways. For animate possessors, the adessive case is used with 'olla', for example 'koiralla on häntä' = 'the dog has a tail' - literally 'on the dog is a tail'.

Tenses

Finnish verbs have present, imperfect, perfect and pluperfect tenses.

• Present: corresponds to English present and future tenses. For the latter, a time qualifier may need to be used to avoid ambiguity.
• Imperfect: corresponds to English past continuous and past simple, indicating a past action which is complete but might have been a point event, a temporally extended event, or a repeated event.
• Perfect: corresponds to the English present perfect ("I have eaten") in most of its usages, but can carry more sense than in English of a past action with present effects.
• Pluperfect: corresponds to the English past perfect ("I had visited") in its usage.

Voices

Finnish has two possible verb voices: active and passive. The active voice corresponds with that of English, but the passive voice has some important differences.

Passive voice

In fact, the Finnish passive would be better described as a "vaguely personal" form since there is no way of connecting the action performed with a particular agent and hence there is only one form of the passive. This should become clear through an example:

"talo maalataan" = "the house is being painted"

The time when the house is being painted could be added: "talo maalataan marraskuussa" = "the house will be painted in November"

The colour and method could be added: "talo maalataan punaiseksi harjalla" = the house is being painted red with a brush"

But, nothing more can be said about the person doing the painting ! There is no mechanism for saying "the house is being painted by Jim".

Hence the form "maalataan" is the only one which is needed. Notice also that the subject of the verb (i.e. the object of the action) is in the nominative case. Verbs which govern the partitive case continue to do so in the passive, and where the subject is a personal pronoun, that goes into its special accusative form: "minut unohdettiin" = "I was forgotten"

It can also be said that in the Finnish passive the agent is always human and never mentioned. A sentence such as "the tree was blown down" would translate poorly into Finnish because of a mental image of a group of people huffing ang puffing and trying to blow the tree down...

Because of its vagueness about who is performing the action, the passive can also translate the English "one does {something}", "{something} is generally done": "sanotaan että..." = "they say that..."

In modern spoken Finnish, the passive form of the verb is used after "me" to mean "we do {something}" ("me tullaan" = "we are coming") and on its own at the beginning of a sentence to mean "let's ..." ("mennään!" = "let's go!"). In the first of these cases, the "me" cannot be omitted without risk to comprehension, unlike with the 'standard' form "tulemme".

Formation of the passive will be dealt with under the verb types below.

Moods

Indicative

The indicative is the form of the verb used for making statements or asking simple questions. In the verb morphology sections, the mood referred to will be the indicative unless otherwise stated.

Conditional

The conditional mood expresses the idea that the action or state expressed by the verb may or may not actually happen. As in English, the Finnish conditional is used in conditional sentences (e.g. "I would tell you if I knew") and in polite requests (e.g. "I would like some coffee").

In the former case, and unlike in English, the conditional must be used in both halves of the Finnish sentence:

"ymmärtäisin jos puhuisit hitaammin" = *"I would understand if you would speak more slowly"

The characteristic morphology of the Finnish conditional is 'isi' inserted between the verb stem and the personal ending. This can result in a 'closed' syllable becoming 'open' and so trigger consonant gradation:

'tiedän' = 'I know', 'tietäisin' = 'I would know'

cf. 'haluan' = 'I want', 'haluaisin' = 'I would like'

Conditional forms exists for both active and passive voices, and for present, perfect and pluperfect tenses.

Imperative

The imperative mood is used to express commands.

Potential

The potential mood is used to express that the action or state expressed by the verb is likely but not certain, and is rare in modern Finnish, especially in speech. The potential has no counterpart in English.

The characteristic morphology of the Finnish conditional is 'ne' inserted between the verb stem and the personal ending.

Potential forms exists for both active and passive voices, and for present, perfect and pluperfect tenses.

Infinitives

Finnish verbs are described as having four, sometimes five infinitives:

First infinitive

The first infinitive short form of a verb is the "dictionary entry" form. All first infinitive short forms end in a/ ä. This corresponds to the English 'to' form, for example:

• 'sano|a' = 'to say'
• 'tietä|ä' = 'to know'
• 'teh|dä' = 'to do'
• 'luke|a' = 'to read'

The first infinitive long form is the translative plus a possessive suffix.

• '...soitti sano|a|kse|en...' = '...(s/he) phoned in order to say...'
• 'tietä|ä|kse|mme' = (idiomatic use:) 'as far as we know'
• 'voi|da|kse|ni lukea' = ' in order for me to be able to read'

The first infinitive only has active form.

Second infinitive

This corresponds to the English verbal noun (-ing form), and behaves as a noun in Finnish in that it can be inflected, but only in the inessive and the instructive. In the inessive it has both active and passive forms. The instructive has only active form. A possessive suffix can be added to the active inessive. The second infinitive is relatively rare, especially in the spoken language, except in certain set phrases (for example 'toisin sanoen' = 'in other words').

The second infinitive is formed by replacing the final 'a'/'ä' of the first infinitive with 'e' then adding the appropriate inflectional ending. If the vowel before the 'a'/'ä' is already an 'e', this becomes 'i' (see example from 'lukea' = 'to read').

The cases in which the second infinitive can appear are:

Active Inessive (while someone is in the act of)

• 'teh|de|ssä' = 'doing'
• 'sano|e|ssa' = 'saying'

Active Inessive + Possessive Suffix (while themselves in the act of)

• 'teh|de|ssä|än' = 'reading'
• 'sano|e|ssa|si' = 'saying'

Passive Inessive (when or while in the act of something being done)

• 'sano|tta|e|ssa' = 'when saying'
• 'teh|tä|e|ssä' = 'when doing'
• 'lue|tta|e|ssa' = 'when reading'

Active Instructive (by means of/ while in the act of)

• 'teh|de|n' = 'doing'
• 'sano|e|n' = 'saying'
• 'luki|e|n' = 'reading

Third infinitive

This corresponds to the English verbal noun (-ing form), and behaves as a noun in Finnish in that it can be inflected, but only in a limited number of cases. It is used to refer to a particular act or occasion of the verb's action.

The third infinitive is formed by taking the verb stem with its consonant in the strong form, then adding 'ma' followed by the case inflection.

The cases in which the third infinitive can appear are:

inessive

'lukemassa' = '(in the act of) reading'

'hän on lukemassa kirjastossa' = 's/he's reading in the library'

elative

'lukemasta' = '(from just having been) reading'

illative

'lukemaan' = '(about to be / with the intention of) reading'

adessive

'lukemalla' = '(by) reading'

abessive

'lukematta' = '(without) reading'

A rare and archaic form of the third infinitive which occurs with the verb pitää:

instructive

'sinun ei pidä lukeman' = 'you must not read'

The third infinitive instructive is usually replaced with the first infinitive short form in modern Finnish.

Note that the '-ma' form without a case ending is called the 'agent participle' (see 'participles' below). The agent participle can also be inflected in all cases, producing forms which look similar to the third infinitive.

Fourth infinitive

This corresponds to the English verbal noun (-ing form), and behaves as a noun in Finnish in that it can be inflected. It is used to refer to the action of the verb in general.

The third infinitive is formed by taking the verb stem with its consonant in the strong form, then adding 'minen'. It then inflects like all other nouns ending with '-nen'.

'lukeminen on hauskaa' = 'reading is fun'

'vihaan lukemista' = 'I hate reading'

'nautin lukemisesta' = 'I enjoy reading'

Fifth infinitive

This is a fairly rare form which has the meaning 'on the point of ...ing / just about to ...'

'olin lukemaisillani' = 'I was just about to read'

Verb Conjugation

For full details of how verbs are conjugated in Finnish, please refer to the Finnish verb conjugation article.

Participles

Finnish verbs have present and past participles, both with active and passive forms, and an 'agent' participle. Participles can be used in different ways than ordinary adjectives and they can have an object.

Present participle, active

'nukku|va koira' = 'sleeping dog'

'häikäise|vä valo' = 'blinding light'

'olin luke|v|i|na|ni' = 'I pretended to be reading' [act. I participle pl. essive + poss. suff.]

! MORE HERE

Present participle, passive

'minun on nuku|tta|va' = 'I must sleep' [pass. I participle sg. nom.]

! MORE HERE

Past participle, active

Basically this is formed by removing the infinitive ending and adding '-nut/nyt' (depending on vowel harmony). For example 'puhua' -> 'puhunut', 'syödä' -> 'syönyt'

However, depending on the verb's stem type, assimilation can occur with the 'n' of the ending.

In type II verbs, the 'n' is assimilated to the consonant at the end of the stem:

'mennä' -> ('men-') -> 'mennyt'

'harjoitella' -> ('harjoitel-') -> 'harjoitellut'

In verbs of types IV-VI, the 't' at the end of the stem is assimilated to the 'n':

'haluta' -> ('halut-') -> 'halunnut'

'tarvita' -> ('tarvit-') -> 'tarvinnut'

'rohjeta' -> ('rohjet-') -> 'rohjennut'

Past particple, passive

'lähde|tty|ä|si kotiin' = 'after you went home' [pass. II participle sg. ess.+ poss.suff.]

! MORE HERE

Agent participle

The agent participle is formed in a similar way as the third infinitive (see above), adding -ma or -mä to the verb stem. It indicates something done by someone and can be inflected in all cases. The party performing the action is indicated by the use of genitive. For example:

'tytön lukema kirja' = the book read by the girl

'tytön lukemaa kirjaa' = (partitive) the book read by the girl

'tytön lukemassa kirjassa' = in the book read by the girl

etc.

Negation of verbs

Present indicative

Verbs are negated by using a 'negative verb' in front of the stem from the present tense (in its 'weak' consonant form):

Singular

'tiedän' = 'I know' -> 'en tiedä' = 'I don't know'

'tiedät' = 'you know' -> 'et tiedä' = 'you don't know'

'tietää' = '(s)he knows' -> 'ei tiedä' = '(s)he doesn't know'

Plural

'tiedämme' = 'we know' -> 'emme tiedä' = 'we don't know'

'tiedätte' = 'you know' -> 'ette tiedä' = 'you don't know'

'tietävät' = 'they know' -> 'eivät tiedä' = 'they don't know'

Note that the inflection is on the negative verb, not on the main verb, and that the endings are regular apart from the 3rd person forms

Present passive

The negative is formed from the third-person singular "negative verb" - 'ei' - and the present passive with the final '-an' removed:

'ei puhuta' = 'it is not spoken'

'ei tiedetä' = 'it is not known'

Imperfect indicative

The negative is formed from the appropriate part of the negative verb followed by the nominative form (either singular or plural depending on the number of the verb's subject) of the active past participle. So for 'puhua' the pattern is:

Singular

'en puhunut' = 'I did not speak'

'et puhunut' = 'you did not speak'

'ei puhunut' = '(s/he) did not speak'

Plural

'emme puhuneet' = 'we did not speak'

'ette puhuneet' = 'you did not speak'

'eivät puhuneet' = 'they did not speak'

Note one exception: when the 'te' 2nd person plural form is used in an honorific way to address one person, the singular form of the participle is used: 'te ette puhunut' = 'you (s, polite) did not speak'

Imperfect passive

The negative is formed from the third-person singular negative verb - 'ei' - and the nominative singular form of the passive present participle (compare this with the negative of the imperfect indicative):

'ei puhuttu' = 'it was not spoken'

'ei tiedetty' = 'it was not known'

Note that in the spoken language, this form is used for the first person plural. In this case, the personal pronoun is obligatory: 'me ei menty' = 'we did not go'

Interrogatives (questions)

There are two main ways of forming a question - either using a specific question word, or by adding a '-ko/kö' suffix to one of the words in a sentence. A question word is placed first in the sentence, and a word with the interrogative suffix is also moved to this position:

'mikä tämä on?' = 'what is this?'

'tämä on kirja' = 'this is a book'

'onko tämä kirja?' = 'is this a book?'

'tämäkö on kirja?' = 'is this a book?'

'kirjako tämä on?' = 'is this a book?'

'eikö tämä ole kirja?' = 'is this not a book?' (note the '-kö' goes on the negative verb)

Imperatives

Imperatives are the forms of the verb used for giving commands. In Finnish, there is only one tense form (the present-future). The possible variants of Finnish imperatives are:

• 1st, 2nd or 3rd person
• singular or plural (only plural for 1st person)
• active or passive
• positive or negative

Active, 2nd person imperatives

These are the most common forms of the imperative: "Do this", "Don't do that".

The singular imperative is simply the verb's present tense without any personal ending (that is, chop the '-n' off the first person singular form):

• 'tule!' = 'come!'
• 'syö!' = 'eat!'
• 'huomaa!' = 'note!'

To make this negative, 'älä' (which is the active imperative singular 2nd person of the negative verb) is placed before the positive form:

• 'älä sano!' = 'don't say!'
• 'älä mene!' = 'don't go!'
• 'älä valehtele!' = 'don't lie!' (from 'valehdella' = 'to lie', type II)

To form the plural, add '-kaa' or '-kää' to the verb's stem:

• 'tulkaa!' = 'come!'
• 'juokaa!' = 'drink!'
• 'mitatkaa!' = 'measure!' (from 'mitata' = 'to measure', type IV)

To make this negative, 'älkää' (which is the active imperative present plural 2nd person of the negation verb)is placed before the positive form and the suffix '-ko' or '-kö' is added to the verb stem:

• 'älkää sanoko!' = 'don't say!'
• 'älkää menkö!' = 'don't go!'
• 'älkää tarjotko!' = 'don't offer!'

Note that 2nd person plural imperatives can also be used as polite imperatives when referring to one person.

The Finnish language has no simple equivalent to the English "please". The Finnish equivalent is to use either 'ole hyvä' or 'olkaa hyvä' = 'be good', but it is generally omitted. Politeness is normally conveyed by tone of voice, facial expression, and use of conditional verbs and partitive nouns.

3rd person imperatives

• 'olkoon' = 'let it (him, her) be'
• 'tehkööt' = 'let them do'
• 'älköön unohtako' = 'let him not forget', 'he better not forget'
• 'älkööt unohtako' = 'let them not forget'

1st person plural imperatives

• 'menkäämme' = 'let us go'
• 'älkäämme tehkö' = 'let us not do', 'we better not do'

The 1st person imperative sounds archaic, and a form resembling the passive indicative is often used instead: 'mennään!' = 'let's go!'

Adverbs

! MORE HERE

Comparative formation

! MORE HERE

Superlative formation

! MORE HERE

Irregular forms

! MORE HERE

Numbers

Please refer to the separate numbers article for details of how numbers work in Finnish.

Sentence structure

Since Finnish is an inflected language, word order within sentences can be comparatively free - the function of a word being indicated by its ending.

The most usual neutral order, however, is subject-verb-object:

'koira puri miestä' = 'the dog bit the man'

but this can be varied for emphasis:

'miestä puri koira' = 'the man was bitten by a dog'

and:

'miestä koira puri' = 'it was the man that the dog bit' (and not, say, his wife)

'koira miestä puri' = 'it was a dog that bit the man' (and not, say, a wolf)

'puri koira miestä' = 'the dog did bite the man' (if there was doubt whether any biting happened)

The last three are not quite as natural, and would normally be expressed using a longer sentence (or several sentences). 'Puri miestä koira' is also possible but sounds rather poetical.

Besides the word-order implications of turning a sentence into a question, there are some other circumstances where word-order is important:

Existential sentences

These are sentences which introduce a new subject - they often begin 'there is' or 'there are' in English.

'huoneessa on sänky' = 'there is a bed in the room'

The location of the thing whose existence is being stated comes first, followed by its stative verb, followed by the thing itself. Note how this is unlike the normal English equivalent, though English can also use the same order:

'siellä seisoi mies' = '(in/out) there stood a man'

See also

• Wikibook Finnish