The conditional -isi- mostly indicates an action that is presented as
hypothetical, and occurs most commonly in conditional clauses after jos ‘if’
and in the accompanying main clause.
Moods 163
The conditional ending is -isi-, which is added to the inflectional
stem (§23).
The conditional ending does not cause consonant gradation in the stem
preceding it (§15.2), but many vowel change rules apply when -isi- follows
the inflectional stem (§16). The conditional ending is followed by a personal
ending, after which there may also be an enclitic particle.
The verbs sano/a ‘say’, puhu/a ‘speak’ and anta/a ‘give’ have the
following conditional forms in the three singular persons.
First p. sing. (minä) sano/isi/n I would say
puhu/isi/n I would speak
anta/isi/n I would give
Second p. sing. (sinä) sano/isi/t you would say
puhu/isi/t you would speak
anta/isi/t you would give
Third p. sing. hän sano/isi he/she would say
Kalle puhu/isi Kalle would speak
äiti anta/isi mother would give
Below are examples of the effect of vowel changes before the conditional
ending. The table shows first the basic form of the verb, then the third person
singular present indicative as an example of the inflectional stem, with the
section number (§) explaining the change in the final vowel of the
inflectional stem, and finally the first person singular of the conditional (the
other persons only differ in the personal ending).
Infinitive Third p. sing. Cf. § First p. sing.
present conditional
indicative
kerto/a tell kerto/o 16(1) kerto/isi/n
asu/a live asu/u “ asu/isi/n
pysy/ä stay pysy/y “ pysy/isi/n
luke/a read luke/e 16(5) luk/isi/n
tunte/a know, feel tunte/e “ tunt/isi/n
oppi/a learn oppi/i 16(6) opp/isi/n
salli/a allow salli/i “ sall/isi/n
näyttä/ä show näyttä/ä 16(7) näyttä/isi/n
vetä/ä pull vetä/ä “ vetä/isi/n
jaka/a divide jaka/a 16(8) jaka/isi/n
otta/a take otta/a “ otta/isi/n
rakasta/a love rakasta/a “ rakasta/isi/n
164 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
Infinitive Third p. sing. Cf. § First p. sing.
present conditional
indicative
huomat/a notice huomaa 16(2) huoma/isi/n
hypät/ä jump hyppää “ hyppä/isi/n
pelät/ä fear pelkää “ pelkä/isi/n
tavat/a meet tapaa “ tapa/isi/n
saa/da get saa 16(2) sa/isi/n
tuo/da bring tuo 16(3) to/isi/n
vie/dä take vie “ ve/isi/n
syö/dä eat syö “ sö/isi/n
voi/da be able voi 16(4) vo/isi/n
pysäköi/dä park pysaköi “ pysäkö/isi/n
nous/ta rise nouse/e 16(5) nous/isi/n
tul/la come tule/e “ tul/isi/n
men/nä go mene/e “ men/isi/n
ajatel/la think ajattele/e “ ajattel/isi/n
hymyil/lä smile hymyile/e “ hymyil/isi/n
tarvit/a need tarvitse/e “ tarvits/isi/n
vanhet/a grow old vanhene/e “ vanhen/isi/n
Below are some examples of the use of the conditional.
Ol/isi/n iloinen, jos tul/isi/t.
I would be pleased if you came.
Jo/isi/n mielelläni kahvia.
I would love some coffee (‘I would drink with pleasure’).
Jos vesi ol/isi lämmintä, sa/isi/t uida.
If the water were warm you could swim.
Väittä/isi/n, että…
I would claim that…
Muutta/isi/t/ko pois Suomesta?
Would you move away from Finland?
Tul/isi/vat/ko he jos pyytä/isi/mme?
Would they come if we asked (them)?
Kyllä Kantanen voitta/isi jos halua/isi.
Kantanen would certainly win if he wanted to.
The conditional is often used to show politeness.
Kaata/isi/t/ko lisää teetä? Would you pour some more tea?
Kysy/isi/n, onko teillä… May I ask whether you have…
Moods 165
Läht/isi/mme/kö jo kotiin? Shall we go home now?
Ruoka ol/isi nyt valmista. The meal is ready now (in the
sense ‘dinner is served’).
As was mentioned above (§61), the conditional also occurs in the perfect.
These structures consist of the forms ol/isi/n ~ ol/isi/t, etc. followed by the
past participle of the main verb.
Ol/isi/n ol/lut iloinen, jos…
I would have been pleased if…
Ol/isi/n mielelläni lähte/nyt Ruotsiin, jos ol/isi/n voi/nut.
I would have gone to Sweden with pleasure if I had been able to.
Ol/isi/t/ko tul/lut meille?
Would you have come to us?
Ol/isi/vat/ko he suostu/neet tähän?
Would they have agreed to this?
Ol/isi/n sairastu/nut, ellei Martti ol/isi autta/nut minua.
I would have fallen ill if Martti had not helped me.
The negative forms of the conditional are constructed from the negation verb
en ~ et, etc. and the main verb with the ending -isi- but without a personal
ending.
Affirmative Negative
ol/isi/n I would be en ol/isi I would not be
tul/isi/t you would come et tul/isi
he anta/isi/vat they would give he eivät anta/isi
kerto/isi/mme we would tell emme kerto/isi
halua/isi/n I would like en halua/isi
sata/isi it would rain ei sata/isi
sö/isi/n I would eat en sö/isi
luk/isi/mme we would read emme luk/isi
he vetä/isi/vät they would pull he eivät vetä/isi
ol/isi/n otta/nut I would have taken en ol/isi otta/nut
ol/isi/tte syö/neet you would have eaten ette ol/isi syö/neet
he ol/isi/vat lähte/neet they would have left he eivät ol/isi lähte/neet
