The perfect tense is used for past actions whose influence is in some way still
valid at the moment of utterance: the perfect is the tense of ‘present
relevance’. It is formed with the present tense of the auxiliary verb ol/la ‘be’
inflected for person, followed by the past participle in the singular or plural
form according to the number of the subject. The participle ending is -nut ~ -
nyt; e.g. (minä) ole/n sanonut ‘I have said’, (sinä) ole/t luke/nut ‘you have
read’, hän on syö/nyt ‘he/she has eaten’.
The past participle is formed by adding the ending -nut ~ -nyt to the
infinitive stem (§23).
If the infinitive stem ends in a consonant
(a) which is l, r or s, the n of the participle changes to a second l, r
or s;
(b) which is t, this t changes to n.
Infinitive Past Cf. third p.
participle sing. present
osta/a buy osta/nut osta/a
itke/ä cry itke/nyt itke/e
seiso/a stand seiso/nut seiso/o
tanssi/a dance tanssi/nut tanssi/i
löytä/ä find löytä/nyt löytä/ä
anta/a give anta/nut anta/a
näyttä/ä show näyttä/nyt näyttä/ä
synty/ä be born synty/nyt synty/y
saa/da get saa/nut saa
myy/dä sell myy/nyt myy
juo/da drink juo/nut juo
soi/da ring soi/nut soi
vartioi/da guard vartioi/nut vartioi
nous/ta rise nous/sut nouse/e
Tenses 157
pes/tä wash pes/syt pese/e
tul/la come tul/lut tule/e
ol/la be ol/lut on
ajatel/la think ajatel/lut ajattele/e
pur/ra bite pur/rut pure/e
väitel/lä dispute väitel/lyt väittele/e
huomat/a notice huoman/nut huomaa
osat/a know how osan/nut osaa
halut/a want halun/nut halua/a
veikat/a bet veikan/nut veikkaa
pelät/ä fear pelän/nyt pelkää
hypät/ä jump hypän/nyt hyppää
kelvat/a be good enough kelvan/nut kelpaa
tarvit/a need tarvin/nut tarvitse/e
paet/a flee paen/nut pakene/e
lämmet/ä become warm lämmen/nyt lämpene/e
havait/a observe havain/nut havaitse/e
The inflectional stem of the past participle is formed by changing -ut ~ -yt to
-ee-, e.g. sano/nut : sano/nee-, and any endings are added to this stem. The
different persons of the perfect tense are thus as follows.
First p. sing. (minä) ole/n sano/nut I have said
ole/n ol/lut I have been
ole/n huoman/nut I have noticed
Second p. sing. (sinä) ole/t sano/nut you have said
ole/t ol/lut you have been
ole/t huoman/nut you have noticed
Third p. sing. hän on sano/nut he/she has said
hän on ol/lut he/she has been
hän on huoman/nut he/she has noticed
First p. pl. (me) ole/mme sano/neet we have said
ole/mme ol/leet we have been
ole/mme huoman/neet we have noticed
Second p. pl. (te) ole/tte sano/neet you have said
ole/tte ol/leet you have been
ole/tte huoman/neet you have noticed
Third p. pl. he ovat sano/neet they have said
he ovat ol/leet they have been
he ovat huoman/neet they have noticed
Below are some examples of the use of the perfect.
Keinänen on matkusta/nut Espanjaan.
Keinänen has travelled to Spain.
158 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
On/ko johtaja men/nyt lounaalle?
Has the manager gone to lunch?
Ole/tte/ko ennen ol/leet Suomessa?
Have you been in Finland before?
Kari ja Pertti ovat lähte/neet pois.
Kari and Pertti have gone away.
Ole/t/ko jo syö/nyt?
Have you already eaten?
Ole/n maan/nut sängyssä koko päivän.
I have lain in bed all day.
Ole/tte/ko luke/neet Salaman uusimman kirjan?
Have you read Salama’s latest book?
The perfect can also occur in the conditional mood, when the ending -isi-
is added to the auxiliary olla, and in the potential mood, which is formed
from an exceptional stem of the verb olla, liene-, followed by a personal
ending. After these forms of the auxiliary the past participle follows (see
Chapter 15).
Ol/isi/n ol/lut iloinen, jos ol/isi/t tul/lut.
I would have been pleased if you had (‘would have’) come.
Ol/isi/mme lähte/neet Espanjaan, jos meillä ol/isi ol/lut rahaa.
We would have gone to Spain if we had (‘would have’) had money.
Ahtisaari liene/e käy/nyt Marokossa.
Ahtisaari has probably been to Morocco.
He liene/vät hankki/neet auton.
They (have) probably obtained a car.
