【芬兰语语法】§15.4 APPLYING THE RULES TO VERBS

 In verbs the personal ending generally determines whether or not consonant

gradation occurs (A(d)). In addition to the basic rule verbs are also governed

by rule B: the rules of consonant gradation are always applied before the

passive ending, and also in the second person singular imperative and the

present indicative negative.

Let us take the verb kerto- ‘(to) tell’ as an example: rt alternates with rr

(alternation type (12)). On the right of the table (page 35) there is an

indication of whether or not consonant gradation has occurred, and a brief

explanation.

Note condition A(e): there may be the past tense ending -i- between an

alternating p, t or k and the personal ending. But the rules of consonant

gradation cannot be applied if this mid-position contains the conditional -isi

or the potential -ne ending. We therefore have kerro/i/n ‘I told’ but kerto/isi/

n ‘I would tell’ and kerto/ne/n ‘I may tell’ (this potential mood form is very

rare).

As with nominals, consonant gradation does not occur before long

vowels in verbs either (A(c)). In the following important class of verbs,

known as contracted verbs (§23.2), there is thus no consonant gradation in

the present tense, nor in the past tense although the vowel is shortened (§60).

Present Past

hyppää/n I jump hyppä/si/n I jumped

hyppää/t you (sing.) jump hyppä/si/t you (sing.)

jumped

(hän) hyppää he/she jumps (hän) hyppä/si he/she jumped

hyppää/mme we jump hyppä/si/mme we jumped

hyppää/tte you (pl.) jump hyppä/si/tte you (pl.) jumped

(he) hyppää/vät they jump (he) hyppä/si/vät they jumped .

In addition, contracted verbs are not affected by consonant gradation in the

second person singular imperative, nor in the present indicative negative:

hyppää! ‘jump’ ~ en hyppää ‘I do not jump’. But these verbs do have a few

inflected forms wher the otherwise long stem vowel is shortened, the second

vowel being replaced by a linking consonant t comparable to the case and

personal endings that do cause consonant gradation (A(a)), e.g. hyppää/n ‘I

jump’: hypät/ä ‘(to) jump’. The following forms are based on a stem

containing the linking consonant, and consonant gradation therefore applies.

First infinitive hypät/ä (to) jump

Second infinitive hypät/e/n jumping

Passive hypät/t/i/in one jumped

Imperative hypät/kää jump! (plural; not second person sing.)

Past participle hypän/nyt jumped (note: t has changed to n)

How consonant gradation is triggered in certain types of finite verb forms

36 Finnish: An Essential Grammar

Almost all types of consonant gradation may occur with contracted verbs:

Alternation sLong vowel Basic form Meaning

stem

(1) pp ~ p sieppaa- siepat/a snatch

(2) tt ~ t konttaa- kontat/a crawl

(3) kk ~ k hakkaa- hakat/a hew

(4) p ~ v kelpaa- kelvat/a be good enough

(5) Vt ~ Vd hautaa- haudat/a bury

(6) ht ~ hd rahtaa- rahdat/a freight

(7) k ~ Ø makaa- maat/a lie

(8) mp ~ mm kampaa- kammat/a comb

(9) nt ~ nn ryntää- rynnät/ä rush

(10) nk ~ ng hankaa- hangat/a rub

(11) lt ~ ll valtaa- vallat/a conquer

(12) rt ~ rr virtaa- virrat/a flow