【芬兰语语法】§65 CONDITIONAL

 The conditional -isi- mostly indicates an action that is presented as

hypothetical, and occurs most commonly in conditional clauses after jos ‘if’

and in the accompanying main clause.

Moods 163

The conditional ending is -isi-, which is added to the inflectional

stem (§23).

The conditional ending does not cause consonant gradation in the stem

preceding it (§15.2), but many vowel change rules apply when -isi- follows

the inflectional stem (§16). The conditional ending is followed by a personal

ending, after which there may also be an enclitic particle.

The verbs sano/a ‘say’, puhu/a ‘speak’ and anta/a ‘give’ have the

following conditional forms in the three singular persons.

First p. sing. (minä) sano/isi/n I would say

puhu/isi/n I would speak

anta/isi/n I would give

Second p. sing. (sinä) sano/isi/t you would say

puhu/isi/t you would speak

anta/isi/t you would give

Third p. sing. hän sano/isi he/she would say

Kalle puhu/isi Kalle would speak

äiti anta/isi mother would give

Below are examples of the effect of vowel changes before the conditional

ending. The table shows first the basic form of the verb, then the third person

singular present indicative as an example of the inflectional stem, with the

section number (§) explaining the change in the final vowel of the

inflectional stem, and finally the first person singular of the conditional (the

other persons only differ in the personal ending).

Infinitive Third p. sing. Cf. § First p. sing.

present conditional

indicative

kerto/a tell kerto/o 16(1) kerto/isi/n

asu/a live asu/u “ asu/isi/n

pysy/ä stay pysy/y “ pysy/isi/n

luke/a read luke/e 16(5) luk/isi/n

tunte/a know, feel tunte/e “ tunt/isi/n

oppi/a learn oppi/i 16(6) opp/isi/n

salli/a allow salli/i “ sall/isi/n

näyttä/ä show näyttä/ä 16(7) näyttä/isi/n

vetä/ä pull vetä/ä “ vetä/isi/n

jaka/a divide jaka/a 16(8) jaka/isi/n

otta/a take otta/a “ otta/isi/n

rakasta/a love rakasta/a “ rakasta/isi/n

164 Finnish: An Essential Grammar

Infinitive Third p. sing. Cf. § First p. sing.

present conditional

indicative

huomat/a notice huomaa 16(2) huoma/isi/n

hypät/ä jump hyppää “ hyppä/isi/n

pelät/ä fear pelkää “ pelkä/isi/n

tavat/a meet tapaa “ tapa/isi/n

saa/da get saa 16(2) sa/isi/n

tuo/da bring tuo 16(3) to/isi/n

vie/dä take vie “ ve/isi/n

syö/dä eat syö “ sö/isi/n

voi/da be able voi 16(4) vo/isi/n

pysäköi/dä park pysaköi “ pysäkö/isi/n

nous/ta rise nouse/e 16(5) nous/isi/n

tul/la come tule/e “ tul/isi/n

men/nä go mene/e “ men/isi/n

ajatel/la think ajattele/e “ ajattel/isi/n

hymyil/lä smile hymyile/e “ hymyil/isi/n

tarvit/a need tarvitse/e “ tarvits/isi/n

vanhet/a grow old vanhene/e “ vanhen/isi/n

Below are some examples of the use of the conditional.

Ol/isi/n iloinen, jos tul/isi/t.

I would be pleased if you came.

Jo/isi/n mielelläni kahvia.

I would love some coffee (‘I would drink with pleasure’).

Jos vesi ol/isi lämmintä, sa/isi/t uida.

If the water were warm you could swim.

Väittä/isi/n, että…

I would claim that…

Muutta/isi/t/ko pois Suomesta?

Would you move away from Finland?

Tul/isi/vat/ko he jos pyytä/isi/mme?

Would they come if we asked (them)?

Kyllä Kantanen voitta/isi jos halua/isi.

Kantanen would certainly win if he wanted to.

The conditional is often used to show politeness.

Kaata/isi/t/ko lisää teetä? Would you pour some more tea?

Kysy/isi/n, onko teillä… May I ask whether you have…

Moods 165

Läht/isi/mme/kö jo kotiin? Shall we go home now?

Ruoka ol/isi nyt valmista. The meal is ready now (in the

sense ‘dinner is served’).

As was mentioned above (§61), the conditional also occurs in the perfect.

These structures consist of the forms ol/isi/n ~ ol/isi/t, etc. followed by the

past participle of the main verb.

Ol/isi/n ol/lut iloinen, jos…

I would have been pleased if…

Ol/isi/n mielelläni lähte/nyt Ruotsiin, jos ol/isi/n voi/nut.

I would have gone to Sweden with pleasure if I had been able to.

Ol/isi/t/ko tul/lut meille?

Would you have come to us?

Ol/isi/vat/ko he suostu/neet tähän?

Would they have agreed to this?

Ol/isi/n sairastu/nut, ellei Martti ol/isi autta/nut minua.

I would have fallen ill if Martti had not helped me.

The negative forms of the conditional are constructed from the negation verb

en ~ et, etc. and the main verb with the ending -isi- but without a personal

ending.

Affirmative Negative

ol/isi/n I would be en ol/isi I would not be

tul/isi/t you would come et tul/isi

he anta/isi/vat they would give he eivät anta/isi

kerto/isi/mme we would tell emme kerto/isi

halua/isi/n I would like en halua/isi

sata/isi it would rain ei sata/isi

sö/isi/n I would eat en sö/isi

luk/isi/mme we would read emme luk/isi

he vetä/isi/vät they would pull he eivät vetä/isi

ol/isi/n otta/nut I would have taken en ol/isi otta/nut

ol/isi/tte syö/neet you would have eaten ette ol/isi syö/neet

he ol/isi/vat lähte/neet they would have left he eivät ol/isi lähte/neet