Non-finite verb forms are those which, unlike finite verbs, do not contain
personal endings. There are two kinds of non-finite forms: infinitives and
participles. As regards the way they are used, infinitives can be compared to
nouns and participles to adjectives.
Characteristic of non-finite verb forms is a function ending which does
not usually carry any real meaning but simply indicates that ‘this is a non-
finite form’. Some non-finite forms are inflected in the passive like finite
verbs (participles, and the inessive case of the second infinitive). Unlike finite
verbs, but like nouns, non-finite forms often take a case ending and a
possessive suffix. Participles are also inflected for number. Enclitic particles
can be attached to all non-finite forms.
Finnish has three important infinitives. The main one is the first
infinitive, which is the dictionary form of a verb. Each infinitive has its own
function ending indicating which infinitive it is. Case inflection in the
A survey of word structure 25
infinitives is very defective. The first infinitive occurs in only two cases
(nominative and translative), the second also in only two (inessive and
instructive), and the third in six (inessive, elative, illative, adessive, abessive
and instructive). Infinitives do not appear in the plural. With some cases
infinitives may also take a possessive suffix.
Infinitives
Function ending Example Meaning
First -a ~ -ä sano/a (to) say
-da ~ -dä syö/dä (to) eat
-ta ~ -tä juos/ta (to) run
Second -e- sano/e/ssa/ni while I say
-de- syö/de/ssä/mme while we eat
-te- juos/te/n running
Third -ma- ~ -mä- syö/mä/llä by eating
sano/ma/tta without saying
sano/ma/an (in order) to say
Finnish has two participles, the present and the past, which have almost the
same function as ordinary adjectives; they also occur in the compound
forms of verbs. Participles also have passive forms. Being similar to
adjectives, participles take all cases and are also inflected for number. They
can sometimes take possessive suffixes. The active participles are given
below.
Active participles
Function ending Example Meaning
Present -va ~ -vä juo/va drinking
syö/vä eating
Past -nut ~ -nyt juo/nut drunk
syö/nyt eaten
The following table shows the structure of the non-finite verb forms, and the
order in which the endings occur.
