Course Grammar - Kurssin Kielioppi

1. Nouns

This chapter introduces the main forms of personal pronouns as well as the most important case endings of Finnish language: genitive, partitive and local cases.

1.1. Personal pronouns

BASIC FORM
minä      I
sinä       you
hän        he, she
se          it
me         we
te           you (plural and formal)
he          they

It is very common in Finland to address people informally, using sinä-form especially between young people, even when they have not met before.

GENITIVE FORM
minun     my, mine
sinun      your, yours
hänen     her, hers, his
meidän   our, ours
teidän     your, yours
heidän    their, theirs
 
Note
There are no possessive pronouns in Finnish, so e.g. minun means both my and mine.

Possessive suffixes
In the standard written Finnish possessive suffixes are used with or without the genitive form of the personal pronouns.
Each person has its own personal suffix except for the 3rd person singular and plural which have the same suffixe.

(minun) kirjani          my book
(sinun) kirjasi           your book
hänen kirjansa         her/his book
(meidän) kirjamme   our book
(teidän) kirjanne      your book
heidän kirjansa       their book

In everyday spoken Finnish possessive suffixes are dropped.
minun kirja              my book

PARTITIVE FORM
basic form     partitive form
minä              minua
sinä               sinua
hän               häntä
me                meitä
te                  teitä  
he                 heitä    

Note
The partitive case has no direct equivalent in English language. Check the partitive section to find out when to use the partitive forms of the personal pronouns.

1.2. Genitive

The use of the genitive form

The genitive form is used in Finnish to express e.g. ownership and possession.

The genitive is used as an attribute

        Italian pääkaupunki
        the capital city of Italy
        Helsingin yliopisto
        University of Helsinki
Notice, that a genitive attribute is always in genitive form regardless the main word's form:
Minä opiskelen Helsingin yliopistossa. I study at the University of Helsinki.
Minä asun Helsingin keskustassa, I live in the center of Helsinki.

Special use of the genitive case occures with täytyy must.

The subject is marked with the -n and the verb täytyy is in the same form regardless of the person.

The genitive form is used together with postpositions

1.3. Partitive

• If a word ends with -nen it gets shorten in -sta/-stä
  hampurilainen - hampurilaista hamburger
  

• Adjectives agree with the nouns.

  hyvää salaattia good salad
  

The use of the partitive form

1. The partitive form is used in greetings and wishes.

2. The partitive form expresses an indefinite quantity of food or drink.

3. The partitive form is used with numbers 2, 3, 4, 5....

4. The partitive form is used with some verbs e.g.

    puhua to speak, rakastaa to love,
    juoda to drink, syödä to eat, opiskella to study

1.4. Locative cases

To express location and direction in Finnish language, you need local cases. Altogether, there are six local cases in Finnish language.
When choosing a local case ending you need to consider two aspects.

• Firstly, you need to figure out the direction of the movement:
  is it static being in somewhere, movement from somewhere or movement to somewhere?
• Secondly, you need to look at the location in question: is it inside of a place or on top of a place? Is it a closed or open space?
  Are we inside the place or close by it?

Depending on the movement the endings come in the series of three. According to the place in question the local cases are divided into two groups.

The correct choice of the ending Minne/Mihin? Where to? depends on how the word ends.
1. vowel+-n after one vowel:
kauppa - kauppaan shop to the shop
yliopisto - yliopistoon univeristy - to the university
koulu - kouluun school to the school
2. -hVn after two vowels (in short words):
maa - maahan country to the country (cross the country border)
suu - suuhun mouth - (in)to the mouth
töihin to work. 
Note that there is the same vowel before and after h.
3. -seen after two same vowels (in longer words) :
Espoo - Espooseen Espoo to Espoo (cross the city limits)
Lontoo - Lontooseen London to London

2. Verbs

This chapter introduces the main points of verb conjugation in present form.

2.1. Verb conjugation

There are 5 main verb conjugation types in Finnish language. The verbs are divided into types according to the infinitive ending (the ending of the verb in its basic form) and the way personal endings are attached to the verb. The personal endings with the exception of the 3rd person form (hän/se) are the same for all the verb types. When conjugating a verb, first move the infinitive ending and then add a personal ending.

Examples:
Infinitive       asu-a to live          syö-dä to eat
Stem            asu-                      syö-
Conjugated  asun I live             syön I eat
form

Note
Finnish present verb forms are also used in present continuous and in future tense.
For example the verb form asun can be translated into English as I live, I am living, or I will live depending on context.

2.2. Verb type 1

Verb type 1 is the most common verb type in Finnish language. All verb type 1 verbs end in two vowels and the last letter (the infinitive ending) is either an a or ä.
When conjugating these verbs first drop the infinitive ending and then add a personal ending. Notice that the 3rd person form (hän/se) ends in a double vowel.

Example:              
PUHU-A to speak        KYSY-Ä to ask
minä puhun                  minä kysyn
sinä puhut                    sinä kysyt
hän/se puhuu               hän/se kysyy
me puhumme               me kysymme
te puhutte                     te kysytte
he puhuvat                   he kysyvät

2.3. Verb type 2

Note: The verbs tehdä and nähdä belong to verb type 2 but are irregular in present tense.

2.4. Verb type 3

In verb type 3 there are 4 possible infinitive endings, here are two of them: la/lä and na/nä.
When conjugating these verbs, first drop the infinitive ending and then add letter e and a personal ending.
Notice that the 3rd person singular (hän/se) ends in ee.

Example:
TUL-LA to come           MEN-NÄ to go       
stem: tule-                    stem: mene-
minä tulen                    minä menen
sinä tulet                      sinä menet
hän/se tulee                 hän/se menee
me tulemme                me menemme
te tulette                      te menette
he tulevat                    he menevät

Note:
The verb olla belongs to verb type 3 but the 3rd person singular and plural forms are irregular.
OL-LA to be
minä olen       I am
sinä olet         you are
hän on           s/he is
me olemme    we are
te olette          you are
he ovat           they are

2.5. Verb type 4

2.6. Verbix - a verb conjugator

3. Other

This chapter presents two other important aspects of Finnish grammar: asking questions and consonant changes.

3.1. Questions

In Finnish language a question sentence normally starts with a question word.
The word order is usually the same in an assertion and question.

Notice that the intonation falls off also in a question sentence and does not rise.

An assertion:                                                        A question:
Sinä olet Maija. You are Maija                               Kuka sinä olet? Who are you?
Sinä asut Helsingissä. You live in Helsinki            Missä sinä asut? Where do you live?

QUESTION WORDS (interrogatives)
Kuka?                                                                     Who?
Kuka sinä olet?                                                       Who are you?
Mikä?                                                                      What?
Mikä sinun nimi on?                                                What is your name?
Mitä?                                                                       What?
Mitä kieltä sinä puhut?                                            What language do you speak?
Note:
The basic rule is that mikä is used with the verb olla and mitä with other verbs.
Mikä sinun nimi on?
Mitä kieltä sinä puhut?

Minkämaalainen                                                      What nationality?
Minkämaalainen hän on?                                         What nationality is he/she?
Missä?                                                                     Where in?
Missä sinä asut?                                                      Where (in) do you live?
Mistä?                                                                      Where from?
Mistä te tulette?                                                        Where are you coming (from)?
Mihin?/Minne?                                                         Where to?
Mihin sinä menet?                                                    Where are you going (to)?

KO/KÖ-QUESTIONS
It is also possible to form questions with the question ending -ko/-kö. When using the question ending you should first conjugate the verb in the correct person then add the the question ending to the verb and finally add the rest of the sentence. Note that the question sentence should always start with the verb and the question ending.

Examples:
Sinä puhut suomea. You speak Finnish.
Puhutko sinä suomea? Do you speak Finnish?

Sinä olet kiinalainen. You are Chinese.
Oletko sinä kiinalainen? Are you Chinese?   

3.2. Consonant changes

A consonanat change often happens when certain endings are attached to a noun or a verb. Letters k, p and t can shorten, change quality or drop.
The change happens between a strong grade and weak grade. For example a double consonant (strong grade) becomes a single consonant (weak grade)
or a single consonant becomes its weak counterpart or disappears.

Examples:   
Strong grade       Afrikka Africa              katu a street                         Hollanti Holland
Weak grade        Afrikassa in Africa       kadulla on the street            Hollannissa in Holland

A weak grade is used when the case or personal ending is attached to the word and it is
1. a single consonant: -n or -t (tyttö - tytön girl - girl's, tyttö - tytöt girl girls, ottaa - otan to take - I take)
2. a combination of two consonants and a vowel: -ssa, -sta, -lla, -lta, -lle, -mme, -tte 
   (kauppa - kaupassa shop - in a shop, ottaa - otamme to take - we take).

A strong grade is used when the case or personal ending is attached to the word and it is
1. a vowel: (salaatti - salaattia salad - some salad, nukkua - nukkuu to sleep - she sleeps)
2. a vowel+consonant: (kauppa - kauppaan shop - to the shop, pankki - pankkiin bank - to the bank)
3. a consonant+vowel+consonant: nukkuvat they sleep, ottavat they take)

Here are the main consonant change variations: