【芬兰语语法】§70 PASSIVE PAST

 The past tense of the passive is formed from one of the endings -tta- ~ -ttä-

or -ta- ~ -tä-, with the final vowel then being dropped before the past tense -

i- (§16). After the passive ending come the past tense -i- and the personal

176 Finnish: An Essential Grammar

ending -Vn. To make the description simpler these combinations of endings

will henceforth be given as -ttiin and -tiin. The passive past can be derived

from the passive present by the following rule:

The passive past is formed by using

(a) -ttiin in place of the passive present -taan ~ -tään when occurring

after a vowel;

(b) -tiin in place of all other instances of passive present endings.

Examples:

Infinitive First p. Passive Passive Meaning

sing. present past

sano/a sano/n sano/taan sano/ttiin one said

osta/a osta/n oste/taan oste/ttiin one bought

vaati/a vaadi/n vaadi/taan vaadi/ttiin one demanded

anta/a anna/n anne/taan anne/ttiin one gave

pyytä/ä pyydä/n pyyde/tään pyyde/ttiin one requested

rakasta/a rakasta/n rakaste/taan rakaste/ttiin one loved

huomat/a huomaa/n huomat/aan huomat/tiin one noticed

osat/a osaa/n osat/aan osat/tiin one knew how

palat/a palaa/n palat/aan palat/tiin one returned

pelät/ä pelkää/n pelät/ään pelät/tiin one feared

saa/da saa/n saa/daan saa/tiin one got

vie/dä vie/n vie/dään vie/tiin one took

syö/dä syö/n syö/dään syö/tiin one ate

tuo/da tuo/n tuo/daan tuo/tiin one brought

nous/ta nouse/n nous/taan nous/tiin one rose

tul/la tule/n tul/laan tul/tiin one came

men/nä mene/n men/nään men/tiin one went

ajatetel/la ajattele/n ajatel/laan ajatel/tiin one thought

ol/la ole/n ol/laan ol/tiin one was

tarvit/a tarvitse/n tarvit/aan tarvit/tiin one needed

paet/a pakene/n paet/aan paet/tiin one fled

ansait/a ansaitse/n ansait/aan ansait/tiin one earned

harkit/a harkitse/n harkit/aan harkit/tiin one considered

The negative forms of the passive past have the following structure: ei+past

participle passive (§71). The examples below illustrate the use of the passive

past in the affirmative.

The passive 177

Viime vuonna Suomeen tuo/tiin enemmän kuin Suomesta vie/tiin.

Last year more was imported to Finland than was exported from

Finland.

Ol/tiin sitä mieltä, että…

One was of the opinion that…

Pian havait/tiin, että Eero oli lähtenyt.

One/we soon noticed that Eero had left. (Or: It was soon noticed…)

Meille anne/ttiin monta hyvää neuvoa.

We were given much good advice.

Tul/tiin Helsinkiin aamulla.

We came to Helsinki in the morning.

Maahan valit/tiin uusi presidentti.

The country elected a new president.

(‘A new president was elected to the country.’)

Tukholmasta lenne/ttiin Osloon.

From Stockholm we flew to Oslo.

Nuku/ttiin eri huoneissa.

One/we slept in different rooms.

It will be evident from these examples that the passive often has the meaning

‘we’, especially in the spoken language.