A Finnish Grammar

THE NUMERALS.

The following are the numerals, cardinal and ordinal, given in the nominative sing.

The numbers between the hundreds are formed simply by placing the required number after sata, e.g.

101 satayksi, satayhdes; 221 kaksi sataa yksikolmatta, and similarly 4872 will be neljätuhatta kahdeksan sataa kaksikahdeksatta.

The Finnish system of numbers, though apparently difficult to understand, is really very simple when the principle is once grasped. Starting with the ten simple numbers, all the numbers up to a hundred which are multiples of ten are expressed in the form two tens, three tens, etc., kaksikymmentä, kolmekymmentä. The word kymmenen is put in the partitive, because, as will be seen in the syntax, a number requires this case after it. The interval between 10 and 20 is regarded as a set of ten, and 11 is 1 of the second set of ten[8] (the first set being from 1 to 10), similarly from 20 to 30 is the third set of ten, and 27 is 7 of the third set of ten. Accordingly these intermediate numbers are expressed by a unit followed by the partitive case of an ordinal number, viisiyhdeksättä, five of the ninth (set of ten), that is, 85. An exactly similar way of calculating can be traced in the Russian method of computing time, e.g. ten minutes past six is represented by

Десять минуть седьмаго. Ten minutes of the seventh (hour).

The system of numeration just explained is at present giving way to another form borrowed from Russian and Swedish, where the numbers above twenty are formed exactly as in ordinary European languages. 21 is kaksikymmentä yksi, 37 kolmekymmentä seitsemän, 74 seitsemänkymmentä neljä, and so on with all the others. Though the older method is still employed in the interior of Finland, the other is almost universally employed where the Finns come much into contact with strangers, which is not wonderful, for such forms as yksikolmatta, though more primitive in Finnish than kaksikymmentä yksi, and agreeable to the genius of the language, are difficult for foreigners to understand, without a good deal of explanation.

The numbers up to ten are declined exactly like substantives.

Yksi has its root yhte. Partitive yhte, genitive yhden (31), inessive yhdessä, etc., essive yhtenä.

Kaksi, root kahte, partitive kahta, genitive kahden (31), inessive kahdessa, etc., essive kahtena.

Kolme, root and nominative (N.B.—Nominative is not kolmi) kolmea, genitive kolmen, kolmessa, etc.

Neljä, partitive neljää, genitive neljän, etc.

Viisi, root viite, partitive viittä, genitive viiden (31), inessive viidessä, etc., essive viitenä.

Kuusi, root kuute, partitive kuutta, genitive kuuden (31), etc.

Seitsemän, partitive seitsentä, seitsemää, genitive seitsemän, inessive seitsemässä.

Kahdeksan, partitive kahdeksaa, genitive kahdeksan, inessive kahdeksassa.

Yhdeksän, partitive yhdeksää, genitive yhdeksän, inessive yhdeksässä.

Kymmenän, kymmenen, partitive kymmenää, kymmentä; genitive kymmenän, kymmenen; inessive kymmenässä, kymmenessä.

The ordinals are also declined exactly as substantives.

Ensimäinen, root ensimäise, partitive ensimäistä, genitive ensimäisen, etc.

Toinen, root toise, partitive toista, genitive toisen, etc.

Kolmas, root kolmante, partitive kolmatta, genitive kolmannen (30).

Neljäs, neljänte, partitive neljättä, genitive neljännen.

Viides, viidente, partitive, viidettä, genitive viidennen.

Kuudes, root kuudente, partitive kuudetta, genitive kuudennen.

Seitsemäs, root seitsemänte, partitive seitsemättä, genitive seitsemännen.

Kahdeksan, root kahdeksante, partitive kahdeksatta, genitive kahdeksannen.

Yhdeksän, root yhdeksänte, partitive yhdeksättä, genitive yhdeksännen.

In the composite forms ensimäinen and toinen are replaced by yhdes and kahdes.

Sata is declined like any other noun in a; tuhat comes from the stem tuhante, and makes genitive sing. tuhannen, genitive plur. tuhansien, partitive sing. tuhatta, partitive plur. tuhansia.

In both ordinal and cardinal numbers expressing any multiple of ten, e.g. 70, 120, 2000, all the words forming the expression are declined quite regularly except the nominative of cardinals, where the partitive is employed in the second number, e.g. Viisi sataa 500 (here the word sataa is in the partitive), partitive viittä sataa, genitive viiden sadan, inessive viidessä sadassa, etc.

Kuudes-Tuhannes, 6000th. Partitive kuudetta tuhatta, genitive kuudennen tuhannenen.

But in words designating numbers between the tens, and consisting of a simple number and a number in the partitive case only, the first number is declined and the second remains in the partitive, e.g. yksitoista, makes yhdentoista, yhdellätoista, and similarly the others.

The fractional numbers (with the exception of puoli, a half) are formed by adding -kse to the corresponding ordinal; the noun is then declined like number.

½ puoli, ⅓ kolmannes, ¼ neljännes, ⅕ viidennes, ⅙ kuudennes, ⅐ seitsemännes, ⅛ kahdeksannes, ⅑ yhdeksännes, ⅒ kymmenennes, ⅟₂₁ kaksikymmentäyhdennes, ⅟₁₀₀ sadannes, etc. So also ⅔ kaksi kolmannesta, ³⁄₇ kolme seitsemännestä. These numbers can also be formed with the ordinals, and the word osa, a part. Neljäs osa, the fourth part, or ¼. Numbers like 1½, 2½, are expressed as a half of the second, a half of the third, etc., puoli-toista, puoli-kolmatta.

The distributive numbers are yksittäin, one by one; kaksittain, two by two; kolmittain, etc.

Yksinäinen, simple; kaksinainen, double; kolminainen, triple; nelinäinen, fourfold, etc.

PRONOUNS.

The personal pronouns are declined almost exactly like nouns.

First person minä; the singular is formed from the root minu, the plural from the root me.

The other cases are not used.

Second person, sinä, root in sing. sinu, in plur. te.

Third person hän, he, she, or it, there being no distinction of genders. Root in sing. häne, in plur. he.

There are also found accusatival forms ending in -t: minut, plur. meidät, sinut, plur. teidät, hänet, plur. heidät. The forms in -n are also used as accusatives.

In poetry and some dialects shortened forms are also found: first person nominative ma or mä, partitive mua, genitive mun, adessive mulla, ablative multa, allative mulle. Second person sa or sä, sun, sua, sulla, sulta, sulle. Third person hällä, hältä, hälle. For the part. minuta, sinuta are found in the Bible, and milma, silma in poetry.

Mie, sie, hä, are used in the Wiburg dialect.

Possessive Pronouns.

The possessive pronouns are usually expressed by suffixes added to nouns.

These suffixes are:—

(1) To form the nominative sing. of a noun with a possessive suffix the suffix is added to the root. Käsi, a hand, but käteni, my hand; kysymys, a question, kysymyksesi, thy question, because the roots are käte, kysymykse.

(2) In the other cases the suffix is added after the termination, but should a case end in a consonant, that consonant is rejected before the suffix. Veljeni, my brothers, because veljetni is euphonically disagreeable.

(3) The possessive suffix does not cause the consonants of the root to be weakened: e.g. pelto, genitive pellon, but with suffix peltomme, etc. Kirkko, church, kirkon, but kirkkonsa.

But d in the genitive plur. remains and does not become t: e.g. maidensa.

(4) The term of the translative before a pronoun-suffix is -kse not -ksi.

E.g. Tapa, with suffix -ni.

Here the genitive sing. tapani is for tavanni, the nominative sing. for tavatni, tapaani in the illative for tapaanni. The p is weakened to v only where the case inflexion requires it. The declension of the second person sing. is exactly analogous, only -si is affixed instead of -ni.

For the declension of the first person plur. -mme is suffixed to all the cases.

The second person is declined exactly like the above, only nne and not -mme is suffixed.

The third person of the sing. and plur. alike takes the suffix -nsa (-nsä), which in all the cases except the nominative, genitive, and partitive is optionally shortened to n, before which the preceding vowel is doubled.

Demonstrative Pronouns.

The demonstrative pronouns are tämä, this, tuo, that, and se, it or that. The corresponding plur. roots are nämä, nuo or noi, and ne.

Tämä:—

Tuo:—

In poetry are found such forms as tää for tämä, nää for nämä, tään or tän for tämän.

Se.—The nominative, genitive, and instructive sing. are formed from the root se, the remaining cases of the singular from si, except the inessive and elative which are irregular. The nominative plur. is ne. The remaining cases from the root nii.

Interrogative Pronouns.

The interrogative pronouns are kuka, ken, who, mikä, what, kumpi, which or what of two.

The root of kuka is ku, the syllable ka being added to the former which would otherwise be monosyllabic. The plural is not much used.

In poetry are found ku (nominative sing.), kut (nominative plur.), kun (genitive sing.).

The root of ken is kene, but in the partitive sing. and nominative plur. this is shortened to ke, and the same form is optionally used for the other cases. The root of the plural except in the nominative is kei.

Mikä is declined like kuka: the plur. root is mi.

In poetry are found mi (nominative) and min (accusative).

Kumpi is declined like a comparative.

Relative Pronouns.

The relative pronouns are joka, who or which, jompi, which of two.

Joka is declined on the same principle as kuka, jompi like a comparative.

Indefinite Pronouns.

The indefinite pronouns are joku, some one, jompi-kumpi, one of two; both the component parts are declined.

Nominative joku, jompikumpi, genitive jonkun, jomman-kumman, inessive jossakussa, jommassa-kummassa, etc.

Jokin, something, kukin, each, mikin, anyone or anything, kumpi-kin, one or other of two: decline only the first part.

Kukaan, mikään, kenkään, kumpikaan, kumpainenkaan, meaning anyone, anything, etc., are used only in negative sentences or in questions which are virtually negative; the suffix -kaan, -kään, is not declined.

Joka, any or every, is not declined. Joka mies, any man you like.

Reflexive Pronoun.

The reflexive pronoun is itse, self. It is declined. Genitive itsen, partitive itseä, etc. It always takes a pronominal suffix to define its meaning: itseäsi (partitive) thyself, itseksensä (translative) himself.

Among pronouns may also be reckoned the following:—

Muu, another (muuta, muun, etc., plur. muut).

Muutama or eräs, some one.

Molempi, plur. molemmat, both.

Kaikki, plur. kaikki, all. Koko, indeclinable, all.

Moni, many.

Sama, the same, or samainen.

Oma, one’s own.

THE VERB.

The verbs in Finnish, as in other languages, are transitive or intransitive, and have an active and passive voice. It is further to be noticed that the negative verb is conjugated quite differently to the affirmative.

The verb may be considered to have seven moods:—the indicative, the concessive, the conditional, the optative, the imperative, the verbal substantive, and the verbal adjective.

Before giving an example of the conjugation of a verb it will be well to examine the formation of these moods and their various tenses. At first only the simple tenses will be considered, that is to say those formed by the addition of suffixes to a verbal root. The compound tenses are formed by combining certain verbal forms with parts of the verb ‘to be.’

Formation of the Moods and Tenses of an Affirmative Verb.

All parts of the finite verb, except the optative and imperative, mark the person by the following terminations:—

In ordinary Finnish the third person singular receives no termination, but the final vowel of the root is lengthened in the present indicative, if not already a long vowel or diphthong. Thus, the roots anta, repi, tuo form the third person sing. present, antaa, repii, tuo. On the same principle the third person sing. of the concessive ends in -nee, the tense stem ending in -ne. In the imperfect and conditional the tense stem is used unaltered.

Monosyllabic verbs sometimes receive the termination -pi in the third person present, e.g. saapi, tuopi for saa, tuo. Another variety of this termination is in vi, used very frequently in the Kalevala and the Karelian dialect.

This termination pi or vi is obviously primitive and is akin to the plur. -vat which has the plur. suffix t. It is found in all the Baltic dialects in the form of b, p, or v, and sporadically in Cheremissian, but not apparently in the other languages of the Finno-Ugric group.

The indicative mood has two simple tenses, the present (also used as a future) and the imperfect.

The present indicative has no tense terminations, and is formed by adding the personal terminations to the root; the third sing. having no termination, is of course the simple root, and always ends in a double vowel or diphthong, except in the verb substantive on, he is. Thus, taking the root repi and adding to it the present terminations given above, we get for the present infinitive revi-n (by rule 35), revi-t, repii, revi-mme, revi-tte, repi-vät.

The stem of the imperfect indicative is formed by adding to the root the vowel i, before which the last vowel of the root is changed or lost according to rules 3-9, 14, 21. To the stem thus formed are added the personal terminations. Thus on adding to the root saa the termination i, we get sai, and this forms sain, sait, sai, saimme, saitte, saivat. Similarly the root tuo with the suffix i becomes toi, and the imperfect toin, toit, etc.; antaa forms antoi (annoin, 31, annoit, etc.).

The concessive mood is formed by adding to the root the syllable -ne, and then suffixing to this the personal terminations. It has only one tense. Sometimes the suffix -ne becomes assimilated to the preceding consonant. Root saa, conditional-stem saane; 1. saanen; 2. saanet; 3. saanee. 1. saanemme; 2. saa-nette; 3. saanevat. But nousne becomes nousse; noussen, nousset, noussee, etc., the shortened root of nouse being nous.

The conditional has also only one simple tense formed by placing the syllable -isi after the root and suffixing the personal terminations. The final vowel of the root is lost or altered before the termination -isi according to the rules given, but a and ä remain unchanged except in monosyllabic verbs. Root saa, stem of conditional saisi; 1. saisin; 2. saisit; 3. saisi. 1. saisimme; 2. saisitte; 3. saisivat.

This suffix -isi is perhaps akin to the formative suffix -kse (v. page 112).

The imperative is characterized by the addition of ka, kä to the stem, the only persons used being the second sing. and first and second plur. The first person sing. is altogether wanting, and the third person sing. and plur. are supplied by the optative.

The second person sing. is the root, but in a closed form. Thus the roots lyö, tako, otta, anta, pyrki, teke form the imperatives lyö, tao (28), ota (30), anna (31), pyri (27), tee (28). This person had no doubt once the syllable ka (kä) suffixed, which became reduced to -k, and thus closed the syllable. In dialects are found such forms as annak, otak, clearly showing the origin of the form.

The first and second persons plur. are formed by suffixing kaamme (or kämme), and kaatte (or kätte) to the root. In the second person the suffix tte is usually omitted, and the form ends simply in -kaa. Thus from the roots above cited we have lyökäämme, lyökää; takokaamme, takokaa; ottakaamme, ottakaa, antakaamme, antakaa; pyrkikäämme, pyrkikää; tehkäämme (this root undergoes special changes), tehkää.

The optative, which in some ways may be regarded as forming one complete tense with the imperative, is characterized by the addition of ko, kö to the root.

The second person sing. ends in os (e.g. lukeos, antaos), apparently ko with the affix of the second person; lukekos, which has perhaps lost a final vowel, becomes lukeos by rule 28.

The third person sing. ends in koon for kohon, and the third plur. in koot for kohot; antakoon, antakoot; pyrkiköön, pyrkikööt.

When owing to the loss of a vowel this k follows immediately after l, r, or n, it becomes assimilated to those letters, tullos for tulkos; purros for purkos; mennös for menkös.

The infinitive in Finnish is a real substantive, that is to say, just as from a verbal root can be derived, by the addition of suffixes, forms expressing person, time, and modality, so by the addition of other suffixes to the same root can be formed nouns, which can take the ordinary case terminations and also the pronominal suffixes.

These infinitives are five in number. Their signification and use, which constitute one of the great difficulties of the Finnish language, will be explained in the Syntax.

I. The termination of the first infinitive is -taʻ (-tä), e.g. saada (rule 32); root nous (for nouse), nousta; root tul (tulee), tulla. Between two simple vowels this t drops out and the termination is simply a (ä); sano-ta, sanoaʻ; repitä, repiä. N.B.—The syllable ta (tä) or a (ä) is closed with the aspiration.

This infinitive has only one case, the translative, which is used with the personal suffixes, e.g. juo, to drink, juo-da-kse-ni, for my drinking, lukeaksesi, for thy reading.

II. The stem of the second infinitive is formed by adding -teʻ to the root, the syllable being closed. This te becomes e between two simple vowels like the ta of the first infinitive. It has as a rule only two cases, the inessive and instructive (though some verbs have more), to which the personal suffixes can be added, e.g. saa, saade, saadessa, saadessani (in my receiving); instructive saaden. Tule, shortened root tul, infinitive II tulle, inessive tullessansa, instructive tullen; repi, infinitive repie, repiessä, repien.[10]

III. The third infinitive is formed by adding ma (mä) to the root. There is nothing irregular in its formation or declension. It is used in most of the cases of the sing., but only occasionally takes the personal suffixes, e.g. sano, infinitive III sanoma, genitive sanoman, sanomalla, sanomatta, etc., exactly like a noun.

IV. The fourth infinitive is formed by adding mise to the root. It has two cases, the nominative which ends in minen, and the partitive in mista. Sano, sanominen, sanomista; teke, tekeminen, tekemistä, tekemistänsä, etc.

V. The fifth infinitive, which is not much used except in poetry, and may be regarded as a diminutive derived from infinitive III, is formed by adding maise to the root. It is used only in the adessive plural, and always with a personal suffix. Nouse, to rise, nouse-mais-i-lla-nsa; tule, tulemaisillani.

There are two participles or verbal adjectives in Finnish. They are simply adjectives formed from a verbal root by the addition of a suffix.

I. The first verbal adjective is formed by adding va (vä) to the root. (Sometimes this suffix is found in the form of pa, pä.) The adjective so formed is declined in the ordinary way.

II. The stem of the second participle is formed by adding nehe (shortened nee) to the root. This termination (as explained p. 40) becomes nut or nyt in the nominative, e.g. oppi, to learn, oppinehe, nominative oppinut, genitive oppinehen (or neen), oppineella, etc., partitive, oppinutta, essive oppineena or oppinunna, illative oppineesen, plur. oppineet, genitive oppinutten, oppineiden, partitive oppineita, etc.

The Passive.

All the forms of the finite passive verb in Finnish are impersonal, e.g. tuodaan means ‘people bring,’ or ‘there is a bringing,’ in French ‘on apporte;’ but there are no personal forms like the Latin or Greek passives.

The root of the passive is formed by adding ta or tä to the verb. The same changes are made as for the infinitive I active; but,

A. If the t of the passive termination comes between two simple vowels it is doubled, e.g. leipo, leivotta (35).

B. Simple a and ä become e before the t, which is then doubled, kaiva, kaivetta; heittä, heitettä.

The root thus formed receives a termination analogous to the illative, that is to say h—n with the same vowel between them as precedes the h. In the passive the h drops out, and the n is preceded by a long vowel. The syllable ta in the present is closed with the aspiration.

For instance:—Saa makes saadaan, that is saa + ta’ + han, the h dropping out and the t being softened; syö, syödään for syö-tä’-hän. So too sido, sidotta, sidotahan, which becomes sidotaan; mene (which is shortened to men) becomes mennään; kaiva, kaivetta, kaivetaan. It is to be noticed that in verbs ending in a long vowel or diphthong, the passive present has the form daan, the t being softened. But where the t is doubled after a short vowel the present passive ends in taan.

The imperfect tense is formed as in the active by adding i to the stem, but the consonants are not softened, because the syllable ti does not end with the aspiration, e.g. the present passive is formed by adding taʻ (with the aspiration) to the root: saa-taʻ which becomes saada, and then with the termination saadaan. But the imperfect has the stem saati, which gives saatiin. So we have root sido, present sidotaan, but imperfect sidottiin; repi, present revitään, imperfect revittiin; tule (shortened tul), present tullaan, imperfect tultiin.

The concessive passive is formed by adding to the passive root in ta, the modal termination ne, and the usual suffix, saata + ne + hen = saataneen. The consonants are not weakened, e.g. tultaneen, sidottaneen. The final n is frequently omitted, e.g. saatanee.

The conditional is formed by placing isi after the syllable ta, and suffixing the termination hin saata + isi + hin; saataisiin; tul (tule), tulta, tultaisiin.

In the optative the termination ko is added between ta and the suffix hon, saata-ko-hon, saatakoon.

The imperative is not used.

Theoretically of course all the five infinitives can be formed for the passive as well as the active verb, but practically only two are ever used: (a) The inessive sing. of the infinitive II. The root is of the form saatate, which becomes saatae, and we have such forms as saataessa, noustaessa. (b) The instructive of infinitive III formed by adding ma to the root ending in ta and suffixing n, saataman, luvattaman.[11]

There are two participles.

I. Formed as in the active by adding va or vä after ta, tä; saatava, revittävä.

II. Formed by adding u or y after ta or tä, before which vowels a, ä always fall out; saata + u, saatu; revittä + y, revitty.

The Negative Conjugation.

The conjugation of the negative verb is entirely different from that of the positive.

In Finnish there is no word exactly corresponding to the English words ‘not,’ ‘no.’ Instead there is a negative verb, consisting of a root combined with the personal terminations, and which may be literally translated ‘not I,’ ‘not thou,’ ‘not it,’ etc.

The root of this verb in the present is e or ei, and it is conjugated as below.

The forms for the imperative are formed from the root äl or el.

The optative is formed similarly.

There is also a form used in dubitative or conditional sentences.

This form is used in composition with the present or conditional: minä tulen, ellei paha ilma estä, I will come if the bad weather does not stop me. Elleivät olisi kotona, in case they are not at home.

The negative present of an active verb is formed by prefixing this verb to the root, which is always closed by the aspiration.

Root tuo, to bring.

But the root repi makes—

the root being closed by the aspiration, and consequently becoming revi by rule 35.

The negative imperfect is formed by prefixing the verb en, etc., to the nominative of participle II active. The participle takes the plur. inflexions in the plur.

Or from the root repi—

The negative of the concessive is formed in the same way by prefixing the negative verb to the root, to which is added the syllable -ne.

Saa, to receive; root for the concessive, saane, negative concessive.

In an exactly similar manner the conditional is formed by adding isi to the root, and prefixing the negative verb.

The negative imperative is formed by prefixing to the root of the verb (closed by the aspiration in the singular) the imperative forms of the negative verb given above. In the plur. ko (kö) is suffixed to the root of the verb to be negatived.

Similarly—

The negative optative is formed by suffixing ko, kö, to the root, and employing before it the negative forms of the optative verb. The use of the suffix ko in the negative imperative shows how closely the two forms are allied.

The negative of the passive is similarly formed by prefixing the verb ei to the passive root—that is, to the root of the verb with the syllable ta (tä) added, but without the termination which characterises the affirmative passive. This root is closed by the aspiration, but the imperfect is formed with participle II, passive, e.g. roots saa, repi, tule (tul), passive roots saada, revitä, tulla.

Imperative not used.

The Auxiliary Verb.

The conjugation of the positive auxiliary verb olla, to be, is as follows:—

In poetry are found various contracted forms, mostly produced by the omission of l from the root. Present indicative 1. oon, 2. oot; plur. 1. oomme, 2. ootte. Conditional: oisin, oisit, oisi, oisimme, oisitte, oisivat. Concessive: lien, liet, lie. Passive form: liedään.

With the aid of this auxiliary and certain participles are formed the compound tenses of the Finnish verb. These are:—

(1) The perfect, formed with the present of the auxiliary and the nominative of participle II, which in the plur. takes the plural terminations, as is the case in all the other tenses: olen, olet, on saanut; olemme, olette, ovat saaneet, I, thou, he has received.

(2) The pluperfect, formed by prefixing the imperfect of the auxiliary to the same participle: olin, olit, oli saanut; olimme, olitte, olivat saaneet, I had received, etc.

(3) The compound concessive, formed by adding the conditional of the auxiliary to the same participle: lienen, lienet, lienee saanut; lienemme, lienette, lienevät saaneet, I may have received (il se peut que j’ai reçu).

(4) The compound conditional, formed by prefixing the conditional of the auxiliary to the same participle: olisin, olisit, olisi saanut; olisimme, olisitte, olisivat saaneet, I should have received, etc.

When these four tenses of the verb ‘to be’ are combined with participle I, they form a future, of which there may be four varieties:—

(1) Olen, etc., saava, I shall receive; (2) olin, etc., saava, I was about to receive; (3) lienen saava, perhaps I shall receive; (4) olisin saava, I might have received.

Though the plur. of these forms should grammatically be olemme saavat, which forms are employed in the literary language, yet in the spoken language the participle does not take the plural termination.

The compound tenses of the passive are formed by adding the tense of the verb olla to participle II, passive.

The negative forms for these tenses are formed by putting the auxiliary verb in the negative form, and keeping the participle as before. The negative forms of the auxiliary verb are:—

It is hoped that with the aid of the foregoing explanations the conjugation of a Finnish verb will be perfectly clear.

The verbs may be divided into three conjugations.