【芬兰语语法】§14 NON-FINITE VERB FORMS AND THEIR ENDINGS

 Non-finite verb forms are those which, unlike finite verbs, do not contain

personal endings. There are two kinds of non-finite forms: infinitives and

participles. As regards the way they are used, infinitives can be compared to

nouns and participles to adjectives.

Characteristic of non-finite verb forms is a function ending which does

not usually carry any real meaning but simply indicates that ‘this is a non-

finite form’. Some non-finite forms are inflected in the passive like finite

verbs (participles, and the inessive case of the second infinitive). Unlike finite

verbs, but like nouns, non-finite forms often take a case ending and a

possessive suffix. Participles are also inflected for number. Enclitic particles

can be attached to all non-finite forms.

Finnish has three important infinitives. The main one is the first

infinitive, which is the dictionary form of a verb. Each infinitive has its own

function ending indicating which infinitive it is. Case inflection in the

A survey of word structure 25

infinitives is very defective. The first infinitive occurs in only two cases

(nominative and translative), the second also in only two (inessive and

instructive), and the third in six (inessive, elative, illative, adessive, abessive

and instructive). Infinitives do not appear in the plural. With some cases

infinitives may also take a possessive suffix.

Infinitives

Function ending Example Meaning

First -a ~ -ä sano/a (to) say

-da ~ -dä syö/dä (to) eat

-ta ~ -tä juos/ta (to) run

Second -e- sano/e/ssa/ni while I say

-de- syö/de/ssä/mme while we eat

-te- juos/te/n running

Third -ma- ~ -mä- syö/mä/llä by eating

sano/ma/tta without saying

sano/ma/an (in order) to say

Finnish has two participles, the present and the past, which have almost the

same function as ordinary adjectives; they also occur in the compound

forms of verbs. Participles also have passive forms. Being similar to

adjectives, participles take all cases and are also inflected for number. They

can sometimes take possessive suffixes. The active participles are given

below.

Active participles

Function ending Example Meaning

Present -va ~ -vä juo/va drinking

syö/vä eating

Past -nut ~ -nyt juo/nut drunk

syö/nyt eaten

The following table shows the structure of the non-finite verb forms, and the

order in which the endings occur.