The past tense of the passive is formed from one of the endings -tta- ~ -ttä-
or -ta- ~ -tä-, with the final vowel then being dropped before the past tense -
i- (§16). After the passive ending come the past tense -i- and the personal
176 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
ending -Vn. To make the description simpler these combinations of endings
will henceforth be given as -ttiin and -tiin. The passive past can be derived
from the passive present by the following rule:
The passive past is formed by using
(a) -ttiin in place of the passive present -taan ~ -tään when occurring
after a vowel;
(b) -tiin in place of all other instances of passive present endings.
Examples:
Infinitive First p. Passive Passive Meaning
sing. present past
sano/a sano/n sano/taan sano/ttiin one said
osta/a osta/n oste/taan oste/ttiin one bought
vaati/a vaadi/n vaadi/taan vaadi/ttiin one demanded
anta/a anna/n anne/taan anne/ttiin one gave
pyytä/ä pyydä/n pyyde/tään pyyde/ttiin one requested
rakasta/a rakasta/n rakaste/taan rakaste/ttiin one loved
huomat/a huomaa/n huomat/aan huomat/tiin one noticed
osat/a osaa/n osat/aan osat/tiin one knew how
palat/a palaa/n palat/aan palat/tiin one returned
pelät/ä pelkää/n pelät/ään pelät/tiin one feared
saa/da saa/n saa/daan saa/tiin one got
vie/dä vie/n vie/dään vie/tiin one took
syö/dä syö/n syö/dään syö/tiin one ate
tuo/da tuo/n tuo/daan tuo/tiin one brought
nous/ta nouse/n nous/taan nous/tiin one rose
tul/la tule/n tul/laan tul/tiin one came
men/nä mene/n men/nään men/tiin one went
ajatetel/la ajattele/n ajatel/laan ajatel/tiin one thought
ol/la ole/n ol/laan ol/tiin one was
tarvit/a tarvitse/n tarvit/aan tarvit/tiin one needed
paet/a pakene/n paet/aan paet/tiin one fled
ansait/a ansaitse/n ansait/aan ansait/tiin one earned
harkit/a harkitse/n harkit/aan harkit/tiin one considered
The negative forms of the passive past have the following structure: ei+past
participle passive (§71). The examples below illustrate the use of the passive
past in the affirmative.
The passive 177
Viime vuonna Suomeen tuo/tiin enemmän kuin Suomesta vie/tiin.
Last year more was imported to Finland than was exported from
Finland.
Ol/tiin sitä mieltä, että…
One was of the opinion that…
Pian havait/tiin, että Eero oli lähtenyt.
One/we soon noticed that Eero had left. (Or: It was soon noticed…)
Meille anne/ttiin monta hyvää neuvoa.
We were given much good advice.
Tul/tiin Helsinkiin aamulla.
We came to Helsinki in the morning.
Maahan valit/tiin uusi presidentti.
The country elected a new president.
(‘A new president was elected to the country.’)
Tukholmasta lenne/ttiin Osloon.
From Stockholm we flew to Oslo.
Nuku/ttiin eri huoneissa.
One/we slept in different rooms.
It will be evident from these examples that the passive often has the meaning
‘we’, especially in the spoken language.
