Course grammar - Kurssin kielioppi

1. Nouns

1.1. Personal pronouns

BASIC FORM

minä      I

sinä       you (singular)
hän        he, she                            
se          it

me         we
te           you (plural and formal)
he          they                                 
ne          they (inanimate objects)

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

In everyday spoken Finnish the basic forms of the personal pronouns are:

mä
sä
hän (se)
me
te
he (ne)

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 suffix.

(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.
mun kirja              my book

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

1.3. Partitive

The partitive case has no direct equivalent in many languages, so it is better just to learn the Finnish way of using it.
The partitive singular endings are -a/-ä, -ta/-tä, -tta/-ttä.

• 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 partitive form of some old Finnish words ending with i is exceptional: vesi - vettä, vuosi - vuotta, kuukausi - kuukautta, uusi - uutta, lapsi - lasta, lohi - lohta

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 all the numbers except for 1, also with 0, puoli, pari 

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 university - 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

2. Verbs

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

The infinitive forms in verb type 2 verbs always end in da or dä which is the infinitive ending.
When conjugating these verbs first drop the infinitive ending and then add a personal ending.
Notice that the 3rd person form (hän/se) does not have an ending in verb type 2.

Example:
SYÖ-DÄ to eat          JUO-DA to drink
minä syön                  minä juon
sinä syöt                    sinä juot
hän/se syö                 hän/se juo
me syömme              me juomme
te syötte                    te juotte
he syövät                  he juovat

Note: The verbs tehdä and nähdä are irregular.

2.4. Verb type 3

In verb type 3 there are 4 possible infinitive endings: la/lä, na/nä, ra/rä and sta/stä.

When conjugating these verbs, first drop the last two letters of the infinitive 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

The basic form in verb type 4 ends in a vowel and letters ta or tä. For example: haluta to want, herätä to wake up, pelata to play.
When conjugating verb type 4 verbs first drop the ‘t’ (the second last letter of the infinitive form) and then add a personal ending.
Notice that the 3rd person singular always ends in aa or ää.

Examples:
HALU-TA to want        HERÄ-TÄ to wake up      
stem: halua-                stem: herää-
minä haluan                minä herään
sinä haluat                  sinä heräät
hän haluaa                  hän/se herää
me haluamme             me heräämme
te haluatte                  te heräätte
he haluavat                 he heräävät

2.6. Verb type 5

The infinitive form of the verb type 5 ends in ita or itä.

When conjugating verb type 5 verbs first drop a or ä, then add se and the personal ending.

Notice that the 3rd person singular always ends in ee.

Examples:

2.7. Making verbs negative

To make negative forms of a verb you need the first person singular form of the verb and the negation verb ei which gets conjugated like verbs do: 

minä en
sinä et 
hän ei 
me emme 
te ette
he eivät

You should take a suitable form of the negation verb, drop the personal ending -n from the first person singular form of the main verb and add it to the sentence.

Examples:

puhua to speak

minä puhun I speak

Minä en puhu I don´t speak
Sinä et puhu You (singular) don´t speak
Hän ei puhu He/She doesn´t speak
Me emme puhu We don´t speak
Te ette puhu You (plural) don´t speak
He eivät puhu They don´t speak

ymmärtää to understand

minä ymmärrän I understand

Minä en ymmärrä I don´t understand
Sinä et ymmärrä You (singular) don´t understand
Hän ei ymmärrä He/She doesn´t understand
Me emme ymmärrä We don´t understand
Te ette ymmärrä You (plural) don´t understand
He eivät ymmärrä They don´t understand

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 consonant 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        

Here are the main consonant change variations: