A Finnish Grammar

First Conjugation.

The characteristics of this conjugation are as follow:—

(a) The root always ends in a long vowel.

(b) There is no change of consonants.

(c) The third person sing. of the present tense is the simple root.

(d) The last vowel of the root is liable to changes before the i of the past tense and conditional.

(e) In the present passive, and in infinitive I the termination ta becomes da.

This conjugation includes:—

1. All monosyllabic roots. In participle I active they take either va (vä) or pa (pä).

2. Trisyllabic roots ending in oi or öi. These have only va (vä) in the participle I.

Monosyllabic verbs occasionally take the termination pi in the third person sing. present indicative, e.g. lyöpi, saapi. This is especially frequent in the dialect spoken about St. Petersburg.

The trisyllabic verbs ending in oi, öi, also frequently form their infinitive in ta, that is to say, the root also exists in a form ending in -tse. Haravoida is the infinitive from the root haravoi; haravoita, the infinitive from the derived root of the same meaning haravoitse.

Examples: saa, to receive; tuo, to bring.

Similarly lyö, to strike, makes in the present lyön, lyöt, lyö, lyömme, lyötte, lyövät; imperfect löin (by rule 4); concessive lyönen; conditional löisin (4); imperative lyö, lyökäämme, lyökää; infinitives lyödä, lyödessä, lyömän, lyöminen, lyömäisilläni; participles lyövä and lyönyt; passive lyödään, etc.

So also satuloi, saddle, forms present indicative satuloin, satuloit, satuloi, satuloimme, satuloitte, satuloivat; imperfect satuloin (5); concessive satuloinen; conditional satuloisin; imperative satuloi; optative satuloiʻos; infinitives satuloida, satuloidessa, satuloiman, satuloiminen, satuloimaisillani; participles satuloiva, satuloinut; passive satuloidaan.

Second Conjugation.

The second conjugation has the following characteristics:—

(1) The root ends in a short vowel.

(2) The consonant at the beginning of the last syllable is liable to the usual changes, when that syllable becomes closed.

(3) In the third person sing. present indicative the final vowel is lengthened.

(4) The first infinitive has the termination a (ä).

(5) The root of the passive ends in tta (ttä), and hence the present passive in taan.

(6) The first participle active always ends in va (vä).

To this conjugation belong:—

A. All roots ending in o, ö, u, y.

B. All dissyllables ending in a, ä, and polysyllables ending in ta (tä) after h, l, n, r, s, t; heittä, to throw; tappa, to kill; armahta, to pity; sivalta, to strike; ymmärtä, to understand.

(1) In these verbs a or ä is always changed to e before the termination of the passive, kaata, kaadetaan.

(2) Before the i of the imperfect, polysyllables always reject a or ä, pelasta, pelasti, etc.

Dissyllabic verbs vary in their treatment of a, though ä is always rejected. If the vowel of the first syllable is o or u; then a is generally rejected. Otta, take, imperfect otti; muista, muisti. But if the vowel of the first syllable is a or e, the a of the last syllable generally becomes o; laula, lauloi, sing; anta, antoi, give. But a great number of verbs ending in ta, and having a in the first syllable, use both forms; ahtoi or ahti, blow; karttoi or kartti, to avoid; saattoi or saatti, to lead.

If a verb ending in lta, nta, or rta (or the corresponding forms in ä) elides the vowel before i, then t becomes s; kieltä, to deny, kielsi; kumarta, to adore, kumarsi, etc. The same change occurs after a long vowel in the forms löysi, found; tiesi, knew; taisi, knew how to; pyysi, asked; kaasi, threw down; huusi, shouted. Most verbs of this type, however, take ti, though some have double forms.

C. All verbs ending in i.

D. All dissyllables ending in ke, te, pe; e.g. luke, to read; lähte, go away; kylpe, to bath.

This e is elided before i, and t is sometimes changed to s; tunte, to feel, tunsi.

In infinitive II either the e of the root or that of the termination is changed to i, generally that of the root; lukiessa or lukeissa, but never lukeessa.

Examples of conjugation II:—Roots repi, to tear; luke, to read. The p of repi becomes v in a closed syllable, and the k of luke drops out (by rules 34 and 27).

Similarly tako, to forge, makes the present taon, taot, takoo, taomme, taotte, takovat (k being lost by 28); imperfect taoin, taoit, takoi, taoimme, taoitte, takoivat; concessive takonen; conditional takoisin; imperative tao, takokaa; optative takoʻos, takokoon; infinitives takoa, takoessa, takoman, takominen, takomaisillani; participles takova, takonut; passive taotaan, etc.

Otta, to take; present otan (30), otat, ottaa, otamme, otatte, ottavat; imperfect otin, otit, otti, etc.; concessive ottanen; conditional ottaisin; imperative ota, ottakaamme; optative ottaos, ottakoon; infinitive ottaa, ottaessa, ottaman, ottaminen, ottamaisillani; participles ottava, ottanut; passive otetaan, etc.

Rakenta, to build, has in the present rakennan (31), rakennat, rakentaa, rakennamme, rakennatte, rakentavat; imperfect rakensin, rakensit, rakensi, etc.; passive rakennetaan, etc.

Ymmärtä, to understand, has similarly present (31) ymmärrän, ymmärrät, ymmärtää, etc.; imperfect ymmärsin; passive ymmärretään.

Pyrki, to strive, makes in the present pyrin, pyrit, pyrkii, pyrimme, pyritte, pyrkivät; imperfect pyrin; concessive pyrkinen; conditional pyrkisin; imperative pyri, pyrkikää; infinitive pyrkiä, etc.; passive pyritään, etc.

Tappa, to kill; present tapan, tapat, tappaa, etc.; imperfect tapoin, tapoit, tappoi, (7); concessive tappanen; conditional tappaisin; imperative tapa, tappakaamme; infinitive tappaa, tappaessa, tappaman, tappaminen, tappamaisillani; passive tapetaan (11).

Third Conjugation.

This conjugation comprises all verbs where the radical is liable to become closed by the loss of the final vowel, from which results a variety of consonantal changes. The verbs which are conjugated in this way fall into two classes.

I. Dissyllabic roots ending in le, ne, re, se, and all polysyllabic roots ending in the vowel e.

These verbs have the following characteristics.

A. The root is closed—

(1) Before t in infinitive I and II and in the passive verb;

(2) Before n in the conditional and participle II active;

(3) Before k in the imperative.

B. The root may then be further changed by assimilation—

(1) Before t in the infinitive. The roots tule, mene, pure make their infinitives tulta, mentä, purta, which become tulla, ennä, purra. But roots ending in se, like nouse, keep the infinitive in sta,—nousta; for st is not a group liable to assimilation. Further simplifications of consonantal groups may take place; for example, root syökse, to throw down, shortened to syöks, infinitive syökstä, becomes syöstä; root säkenöitse, infinitive säkenöits-tä becomes säkenöitä.

(2) The l, r, or t at the end of the closed root always assimilates the n of the conditional and of participle II active. The final s sometimes assimilates n; frequently in participle II, rarely in the conditional.

E.g. The roots tule, pure, kaitse, which in their closed forms become tul, pur, kait, form the conditionals tullee, purree, kainnee, and the participles tullut, purrut, kainnut. Nouse forms nousnee, rarely noussee and participle II nousnut or noussut.

C. A strong consonant at the beginning of the penultimate syllable in polysyllabic words is also liable to softening in forms derived from the closed root, but not in forms derived from the full root. Root rohkene, to dare; infinitive I rohjeta.

D. The final e is dropped in the imperfect.

E. The third sing. present has ee.

F. Trisyllabic roots in ne change n to t in the imperative, and have the infinitive I ending in ta preceded by a vowel so that ne is altogether lost; e.g. alene; imperative aletkoon; infinitive aleta.

G. The participle I active ends in va, vä.

In the verbs näke and teke k becomes h when the root loses its final vowel.

II. The second division of this conjugation comprises all trisyllabic roots ending in ta, tä preceded by a short vowel. Such are lupata, to promise; hakkata, to strike; pelkätä, to fear, etc.

In these verbs the following changes occur:—

A. In the present the t of the syllable ta (tä) is lost, and if the preceding vowel is a or ä, a long vowel is formed. That is, lupata, pelkätä become lupaa, pelkää. If the preceding vowel is o, ö, or e, the vowels may be assimilated into one long vowel or remain as they are. Putota, putoa, or putoo; kerketä, kerkeä, or kerkee; but if the vowel of the penultimate syllable is u, y, or i, such assimilation rarely occurs.

B. In the imperfect the final vowel is lost and t becomes s before the i which characterizes this tense; lupasin, etc.

C. The root is closed in the concessive, and the final t assimilated to the n; lupata-nen becomes luvat-nen (34), and then luvannen (30).

D. In the conditional the last syllable of the root is generally completely lost; lupaisi for lupata-isi; but a trace of it remains in such forms as kokoaisi (alternative for kokoisi) representing kokotaisi.

V. Similarly infinitives I, II, and the passive are formed from the closed root, and as the formative syllable ta is closed by the breathing, tt becomes t; that is to say, the full root lupata becomes the closed root luvat; to this is added the closed syllable taʻ, and luvattaʻ becomes luvata. Similarly the passive luvataan.

Examples.

Division I. Roots tule, to come; closed form tul. Nouse, to rise; closed form nous.

Roots lupata, to promise; kokota, to collect.