In verbs the personal ending generally determines whether or not consonant
gradation occurs (A(d)). In addition to the basic rule verbs are also governed
by rule B: the rules of consonant gradation are always applied before the
passive ending, and also in the second person singular imperative and the
present indicative negative.
Let us take the verb kerto- ‘(to) tell’ as an example: rt alternates with rr
(alternation type (12)). On the right of the table (page 35) there is an
indication of whether or not consonant gradation has occurred, and a brief
explanation.
Note condition A(e): there may be the past tense ending -i- between an
alternating p, t or k and the personal ending. But the rules of consonant
gradation cannot be applied if this mid-position contains the conditional -isi
or the potential -ne ending. We therefore have kerro/i/n ‘I told’ but kerto/isi/
n ‘I would tell’ and kerto/ne/n ‘I may tell’ (this potential mood form is very
rare).
As with nominals, consonant gradation does not occur before long
vowels in verbs either (A(c)). In the following important class of verbs,
known as contracted verbs (§23.2), there is thus no consonant gradation in
the present tense, nor in the past tense although the vowel is shortened (§60).
Present Past
hyppää/n I jump hyppä/si/n I jumped
hyppää/t you (sing.) jump hyppä/si/t you (sing.)
jumped
(hän) hyppää he/she jumps (hän) hyppä/si he/she jumped
hyppää/mme we jump hyppä/si/mme we jumped
hyppää/tte you (pl.) jump hyppä/si/tte you (pl.) jumped
(he) hyppää/vät they jump (he) hyppä/si/vät they jumped .
In addition, contracted verbs are not affected by consonant gradation in the
second person singular imperative, nor in the present indicative negative:
hyppää! ‘jump’ ~ en hyppää ‘I do not jump’. But these verbs do have a few
inflected forms wher the otherwise long stem vowel is shortened, the second
vowel being replaced by a linking consonant t comparable to the case and
personal endings that do cause consonant gradation (A(a)), e.g. hyppää/n ‘I
jump’: hypät/ä ‘(to) jump’. The following forms are based on a stem
containing the linking consonant, and consonant gradation therefore applies.
First infinitive hypät/ä (to) jump
Second infinitive hypät/e/n jumping
Passive hypät/t/i/in one jumped
Imperative hypät/kää jump! (plural; not second person sing.)
Past participle hypän/nyt jumped (note: t has changed to n)
How consonant gradation is triggered in certain types of finite verb forms
36 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
Almost all types of consonant gradation may occur with contracted verbs:
Alternation sLong vowel Basic form Meaning
stem
(1) pp ~ p sieppaa- siepat/a snatch
(2) tt ~ t konttaa- kontat/a crawl
(3) kk ~ k hakkaa- hakat/a hew
(4) p ~ v kelpaa- kelvat/a be good enough
(5) Vt ~ Vd hautaa- haudat/a bury
(6) ht ~ hd rahtaa- rahdat/a freight
(7) k ~ Ø makaa- maat/a lie
(8) mp ~ mm kampaa- kammat/a comb
(9) nt ~ nn ryntää- rynnät/ä rush
(10) nk ~ ng hankaa- hangat/a rub
(11) lt ~ ll valtaa- vallat/a conquer
(12) rt ~ rr virtaa- virrat/a flow
