There is no invariable negation word in Finnish negative sentences. Negation
is expressed by an inflected verb, which shows concord of grammatical
person with the subject of the sentence like any other finite verb.
Singular Plural
First person en emme
Second person et ette
Third person ei eivät
Possessor + -lla ~ -llä + on + person or thing possessed.
70 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
The negative forms of the present indicative are based on this negation
verb, which is followed by the inflectional stem (§23) of the main verb,
without any personal ending and in the weak grade (§15) except before a
long vowel.
The changes caused by consonant gradation are important: cf. anta/a ‘(to)
give’ : hän anta/a ‘he/she gives’, anna/n ‘I give’, anna/tte ‘you (pl.) give’.
Further examples follow of the present indicative negative. The form of the
main verb can always be derived by detaching the first or second person
ending from the present affirmative.
Affirmative Negative
tulet you come et tule you do not come
luemme we read emme lue we do not read
he lukevat they read he eivät lue they do not read
hän lukee he/she reads hän ei lue he/she does not read
hyppään I jump en hyppää I do not jump
hyppäätte you (pl.) jump ette hyppää you (pl.) do not jump
se vetää it pulls se ei vedä it does not pull
vedän I pull en vedä I do not pull
he vetävät they pull he eivät vedä they do not pull
vedämme we pull emme vedä we do not pull
hän tarvitsee he/she needs hän ei tarvitse he/she does not need
The negative forms of olla all contain the stem ole-.
en ole I am not emme ole we are not
et ole you are not ette ole you are not
ei ole (he/she) is not eivät ole (they) are not
The negative forms of other tenses will be presented later together with the
tenses themselves (§63). The following rule concerning negative sentences is
an important one.
Negation verb + Inflectional stem of main verb
+ personal aending in weak grade (unless before long vowel)
In negative sentences the following constituents are in the partitive:
(1) the object
(2) that which is possessed
(3) that which does not exist
Basic sentence structure 71
(1) Emme juo olut/ta. We do not drink beer.
Ettekö näe auto/a? Don’t you see the car?
En tunne hän/tä. I don’t know him/her.
He eivät omista vene/ttä. They do not own a boat.
(2) Minulla ei ole auto/a. I don’t have a car.
Meillä ei ole punaviini/ä. We don’t have any red wine.
Eikö teillä ole lämmin/tä ruoka/a? Don’t you have any warm food?
Maassa ei ole hallitus/ta. The country has no government.
(3) Kadulla ei ole auto/a. There is no car in the street.
Kotona ei ole isä/ä. There is no father at home.
Jääkaapissa ei ole maito/a. There is no milk in the fridge.
Komerossa ei ole vaatte/i/ta. There are no clothes in the
cupboard.
