The past participles occur primarily in the compound tenses, i.e. the perfect and
pluperfect, for example on sano/nut ‘has said’, on sano/ttu ‘one has said’; oli
sano/nut ‘had said’, oli sano/ttu ‘one had said’. For the formation of these
participles see §61, §71. By way of recapitulation, here are a few examples of
this usage:
Past participle (perfect tense active)
(minä) olen anta/nut I have given
(sinä) olet anta/nut you have given (sing.)
Pekka on anta/nut Pekka has given
(me) olemme anta/neet we have given
(te) olette anta/neet you have given (pl.)
he ovat anta/neet they have given
on anne/ttu one has given
Participles 199
The corresponding pluperfect forms are (minä) olin anta/nut ‘I had given’, he
olivat anta/neet ‘they had given’, oli anne/ttu ‘one had given’, etc.
The past participles indicate completed action (anta/nut, anne/ttu), wheras
the present participles indicate incomplete action (cf. §79, §80).
The past participles also occur as adjectivals, particularly as premodifiers, e.g.
lahjan anta/nut mies ‘the man who gave the present’ and anne/ttu lahja ‘a present
that has been/was given’. If a participle has its own objects or adverbials these are
placed before the participle (cf. §79).
Examples follow, first of the use of the active participle (-nut ~ -nyt). The
inflectional stem is -nee-.
paljon matkusta/nut ihminen
a much travelled person
koke/nut lääkäri
an experienced doctor
Tunnen koke/nee/n lääkärin.
I know an experienced doctor.
En tunne koke/nut/ta lääkäriä.
I don’t know an experienced doctor.
pois juos/sut koira
a dog that has run away
Vietnamissa ol/lee/t ihmiset sanovat, että…
People who have been in Vietnam say that…
Eilen saapu/nee/t matkustajat ovat jo lähteneet.
The travellers who arrived yesterday have already left.
Viime syksynä ilmesty/nee/t kirjat ovat hyviä.
The books which were published last autumn are good.
Pommin löytä/nyt koira kuoli.
The dog which (had) found the bomb died.
Pommin löytä/nee/lle koiralle annettiin mitali.
The dog which (had) found the bomb was given a medal.
Näin pala/nee/n talon.
I saw a burnt/burned-down house.
Pala/nee/ssa talossa oli ollut ihmisiä.
There had been people in the burned-down house.
Oletteko väsy/ne/i/tä?
Are you tired?
He ovat hyvin koke/ne/i/ta.
They are very experienced.
200 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
In the same way, the past participle passive -(t)tu ~ -(t)ty indicates a completed
action performed by an unspecified agent.
kaupasta oste/ttu kirja
a book bought in a shop
syksyllä rakenne/ttu talo
a house built in the autumn
He asuvat syksyllä rakenne/tu/ssa talossaan.
They live in their house which was built in the autumn.
hyväksy/tty ehdotus
an accepted proposal
Hyväksy/ty/t opiskelijat voivat jatkaa.
Students accepted may continue.
syö/ty piirakka
a pie that has been/was eaten
Eilen syö/dy/t piirakat olivat hyviä.
The pies that were eaten yesterday were good.
anne/ttu lahja
a present that has been/was given
Anne/ttu/j/a lahjoja ei voi ottaa takaisin.
Presents that have been given cannot be taken back.
pelaste/ttu merimies
a rescued sailor
Pelaste/tu/t merimiehet olivat hyvässä kunnossa.
The rescued sailors were in good shape.
maalat/tu seinä
a painted wall
Seinät eivät ole maala/tu/t.
The walls are not painted.
