【芬兰语语法】§24 PRESENT TENSE PERSONAL ENDINGS

 Finnish has three grammatical persons, each occurring in the singular and the

plural. They correspond to the following pronouns.

minä I me we

sinä you (sing.) te you (pl.)

hän; se he, she; it he, ne they

The third person singular covers all singular nominals except the pronouns

minä and sinä, and the third person plural covers all plural nominals except

the pronouns me and te. Finite verb forms (§13) show concord of person with

the grammatical subject. The persons have their own endings, which are

added to the verb stem (the third person singular often has no ending).

Singular Plural

First person -n -mme

Second person -t -tte

Third person (cf. below) -vat ~ -vät

These endings are attached to the inflectional stem (§23) after any tense and

mood endings (§13). In the third person singular of the present indicative the

final vowel of the stem is lengthened.

In the third person singular of the present indicative the short vowel

following the final consonant or syllable boundary of the inflectional stem is

lengthened.

62 Finnish: An Essential Grammar

Singular Plural

First person (minä) osta/n I buy (me) osta/mme we buy

(minä) sano/n I say (me) sano/mme we say

(minä) saa/n I buy (me) saa/mme we get

(minä) syö/n I eat (me) syö/mme we eat

(minä) tule/n I come (me) tule/mme we come

Second person (sinä) osta/t you buy (te) osta/tte you buy

(sinä) sano/t you say (te) sano/tte you say

(sinä) saa/t you get (te) saa/tte you get

(sinä) syö/t you eat (te) syö/tte you eat

(sinä) tule/t you come (te) tule/tte you come

Third person hän osta/a he/she buys he osta/vat they buy

Pekka sano/o Pekka says he sano/vat they say

tyttö saa the girl gets tytöt saa/vat the girls get

mies syö the man eats miehet syö/vät the men eat

auto tule/e the car comes autot tule/vat the cars come

A long vowel, and the second vowel of a diphthong, are not lengthened in

the third person singular, cf. Kalle saa ‘Kalle gets’; Kalle syö ‘Kalle eats’.

Note words such as halua/a ‘wants’, kohoa/a ‘rises’, wher vowel

lengthening occurs after a syllable boundary (cf. §9). The independent

subject words of the third person cannot usually be omitted, but subject

pronouns in the first and second persons often are, in which case the

personal ending of the verb is all that indicates the person (shown in

brackets above).

The second person plural ending -tte is also used as a polite form addressed

to a single person. The form osta/tte can thus mean ‘you (pl.) buy’ or ‘you

(sing., polite) buy’.

Consonant gradation applies in the first and second persons of many

verbs on condition that the ending is not preceded by a long vowel (§15.2,

§15.4). Examples follow of anta/a ‘give’, otta/a ‘take’ and vetä/ä ‘pull’.

Singular Plural

First person anna/n ota/n

vedä/n anna/mme

ota/mme vedä/mme

Second person anna/t anna/tte

First and second person subject pronouns (minä, sinä, me, te) are often

omitted.

Basic sentence structure 63

ota/t vedä/t

ota/tte vedä/tte

Third person anta/a otta/a

vetä/ä anta/vat

otta/vat vetä/vät

In these forms there is no consonant gradation in huomat/a verbs on account

of the long vowel, cf. hyppää/n ‘I jump’, hyppää/t ‘you jump’, hän hyppää

‘he/she jumps’. The following examples illustrate the personal endings of the

most important verb types (cf. §23).

etsi/ä look for luke/a read lentä/ä fly

etsi/n etsi/mme lue/n lue/mme lennä/n lennä/mme

etsi/t etsi/tte lue/t lue/tte lennä/t lennä/tte

etsi/i etsi/vät luke/e luke/vat lentä/ä lentä/vät

osat/a know how maat/a lie halut/a want

osaa/n osaa/mme makaa/n makaa/mme halua/n halua/mme

osaa/t osaa/tte makaa/t makaa/tte halua/t halua/tte

osaa osaa/vat makaa makaa/vat halua/a halua/vat

saa/da get juo/da drink myy/dä sell

saa/n saa/mme juo/n juo/mme myy/n myy/mme

saa/t saa/tte juo/t juo/tte myy/t myy/tte

saa saa/vat juo juo/vat myy myy/vät

nous/ta rise tul/la come men/nä go

nouse/n nouse/mme tule/n tule/mme mene/n mene/mme

nouse/t nouse/tte tule/t tule/tte mene/t mene/tte

nouse/e nouse/vat tule/e tule/vat mene/e mene/vät

tarvit/a need ansait/a earn häirit/ä disturb

tarvitse/n tarvitse/mme ansaitse/n ansaitse/mme häiritse/n häiritse/mme

tarvitse/t tarvitse/tte ansaitse/t ansaitse/tte häiritse/t häiritse/tte

tarvitse/e tarvitse/vat ansaitse/e ansaitse/vat häiritse/e häiritse/vät