Finnish has three grammatical persons, each occurring in the singular and the
plural. They correspond to the following pronouns.
minä I me we
sinä you (sing.) te you (pl.)
hän; se he, she; it he, ne they
The third person singular covers all singular nominals except the pronouns
minä and sinä, and the third person plural covers all plural nominals except
the pronouns me and te. Finite verb forms (§13) show concord of person with
the grammatical subject. The persons have their own endings, which are
added to the verb stem (the third person singular often has no ending).
Singular Plural
First person -n -mme
Second person -t -tte
Third person (cf. below) -vat ~ -vät
These endings are attached to the inflectional stem (§23) after any tense and
mood endings (§13). In the third person singular of the present indicative the
final vowel of the stem is lengthened.
In the third person singular of the present indicative the short vowel
following the final consonant or syllable boundary of the inflectional stem is
lengthened.
62 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
Singular Plural
First person (minä) osta/n I buy (me) osta/mme we buy
(minä) sano/n I say (me) sano/mme we say
(minä) saa/n I buy (me) saa/mme we get
(minä) syö/n I eat (me) syö/mme we eat
(minä) tule/n I come (me) tule/mme we come
Second person (sinä) osta/t you buy (te) osta/tte you buy
(sinä) sano/t you say (te) sano/tte you say
(sinä) saa/t you get (te) saa/tte you get
(sinä) syö/t you eat (te) syö/tte you eat
(sinä) tule/t you come (te) tule/tte you come
Third person hän osta/a he/she buys he osta/vat they buy
Pekka sano/o Pekka says he sano/vat they say
tyttö saa the girl gets tytöt saa/vat the girls get
mies syö the man eats miehet syö/vät the men eat
auto tule/e the car comes autot tule/vat the cars come
A long vowel, and the second vowel of a diphthong, are not lengthened in
the third person singular, cf. Kalle saa ‘Kalle gets’; Kalle syö ‘Kalle eats’.
Note words such as halua/a ‘wants’, kohoa/a ‘rises’, wher vowel
lengthening occurs after a syllable boundary (cf. §9). The independent
subject words of the third person cannot usually be omitted, but subject
pronouns in the first and second persons often are, in which case the
personal ending of the verb is all that indicates the person (shown in
brackets above).
The second person plural ending -tte is also used as a polite form addressed
to a single person. The form osta/tte can thus mean ‘you (pl.) buy’ or ‘you
(sing., polite) buy’.
Consonant gradation applies in the first and second persons of many
verbs on condition that the ending is not preceded by a long vowel (§15.2,
§15.4). Examples follow of anta/a ‘give’, otta/a ‘take’ and vetä/ä ‘pull’.
Singular Plural
First person anna/n ota/n
vedä/n anna/mme
ota/mme vedä/mme
Second person anna/t anna/tte
First and second person subject pronouns (minä, sinä, me, te) are often
omitted.
Basic sentence structure 63
ota/t vedä/t
ota/tte vedä/tte
Third person anta/a otta/a
vetä/ä anta/vat
otta/vat vetä/vät
In these forms there is no consonant gradation in huomat/a verbs on account
of the long vowel, cf. hyppää/n ‘I jump’, hyppää/t ‘you jump’, hän hyppää
‘he/she jumps’. The following examples illustrate the personal endings of the
most important verb types (cf. §23).
etsi/ä look for luke/a read lentä/ä fly
etsi/n etsi/mme lue/n lue/mme lennä/n lennä/mme
etsi/t etsi/tte lue/t lue/tte lennä/t lennä/tte
etsi/i etsi/vät luke/e luke/vat lentä/ä lentä/vät
osat/a know how maat/a lie halut/a want
osaa/n osaa/mme makaa/n makaa/mme halua/n halua/mme
osaa/t osaa/tte makaa/t makaa/tte halua/t halua/tte
osaa osaa/vat makaa makaa/vat halua/a halua/vat
saa/da get juo/da drink myy/dä sell
saa/n saa/mme juo/n juo/mme myy/n myy/mme
saa/t saa/tte juo/t juo/tte myy/t myy/tte
saa saa/vat juo juo/vat myy myy/vät
nous/ta rise tul/la come men/nä go
nouse/n nouse/mme tule/n tule/mme mene/n mene/mme
nouse/t nouse/tte tule/t tule/tte mene/t mene/tte
nouse/e nouse/vat tule/e tule/vat mene/e mene/vät
tarvit/a need ansait/a earn häirit/ä disturb
tarvitse/n tarvitse/mme ansaitse/n ansaitse/mme häiritse/n häiritse/mme
tarvitse/t tarvitse/tte ansaitse/t ansaitse/tte häiritse/t häiritse/tte
tarvitse/e tarvitse/vat ansaitse/e ansaitse/vat häiritse/e häiritse/vät
