The first infinitive has four endings, (1) -a ~ -ä, (2) -da ~ -dä, (3) -ta ~ -tä,
and (4) -la ~ -lä, -ra ~ -rä, -na ~ -nä. The most common one is -a ~ -ä. All
the infinitive endings are preceded by the infinitive stem.
anta/a give kysy/ä ask
alka/a begin lähte/ä leave
katso/a look pitä/ä hold
puhu/a talk tietä/ä know
huomat/a notice herät/ä awake
halut/a want hypät/ä jump
korjat/a repair määrät/ä order
vastat/a answer kerät/ä collect
saa/da get jää/dä remain
tuo/da bring vie/dä take
voi/da be able syö/dä eat
luennoi/da lecture pysäköi/dä park
The ending -a ~ -ä occurs when the infinitive stem ends in a short
vowel.
The ending -a ~ -ä also occurs when the infinitive stem ends in a short
vowel followed by t (usually -at/a, -ät/ä).
The ending -da ~ -dä occurs when the infinitive stem ends in a long
vowel or a diphthong.
The ending -ta ~ -tä occurs when the infinitive stem ends in -s.
The conjugation of verbs 57
nous/ta rise pääs/tä be allowed
juos/ta run tönäis/tä shove
mumis/ta mumble pes/tä wash
valais/ta light vilis/tä swarm
tul/la come vietel/lä entice
ol/la be niel/lä swallow
ajatel/la think hymyil/lä smile
pan/na put men/nä go
pur/ra bite
The most important types are those exemplified by anta/a and huomat/a.
Saa/da verbs are also important. There are not many verbs with infinitives
ending in -na ~ -nä and -ra ~ -rä.
In anta/a and saa/da verbs all inflected forms are based on the infinitive
stem. But also in the other verb groups at least some forms are based on this
stem. The following rule states which inflected forms of all verbs are made
from the infinitive stem.
With all verbs the infinitive stem is used to form:
1 the past participle (§61)
2 most imperative forms (§66)
3 potential forms (§67)
4 passive forms (§69–72)
5 the second infinitive (§76)
