FINNISH: AN ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR This is the ideal reference grammar for the student of Finnish It gives a systematic account of the structures of the written language and also features the characteristics of colloquial Finnish as spoken in Helsinki and its surroundings Finnish: An Essential Grammar is grounded in fundamental insights of modern linguistics No prior knowledge is assumed on the part of the reader and grammatical rules are clearly explained without jargon Features include: • • • • pronunciation guide thorough descriptions of morphology (word structure) and syntax (sentence structure) inflection tables subject index Finnish: An Essential Grammar is a revised and updated edition of a volume first published in 1983, since when it has proved popular with students and professional linguists worldwide It has been translated into several languages, including Finnish Fred Karlsson is Professor of General Linguistics at the University of Helsinki FINNISH: AN ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR Fred Karlsson London and New York First published 1983 as Finnish Grammar by WSOY, Helsinki New edition published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002 © 1983; 1999 Fred Karlsson Translated by Andrew Chesterman All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Karlsson, Fred, [Finsk grammatik English] Finnish: an essential grammar/Fred Karlsson; [translated by Andrew Chesterman] p cm.—(Routledge grammars) Revised and updated version of: Finnish grammar Helsinki: WSOY [Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö], 1983 Finnish grammar is a translation of Suomen peruskielioppi, 1982, a translation of: Finsk grammatik Originally published: Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura), 1978 Includes bibliographical references and index Finnish language—Grammar Finnish language—Textbooks for foreign speakers—English I Chesterman, Andrew II Title III Series PH135.K35 1999 494′.5415–dc21 98–55439 CIP ISBN 0-203-01822-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-18753-9 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-20705-3 (pbk) ISBN 0-415-20704-5 (hbk) CONTENTS Preface List of abbreviations ix x Introduction §1 §2 §3 §4 The relation of Finnish to other languages Finnish past and present The basic characteristics of Finnish What are the special difficulties? Pronunciation and sound structure §5 §6 §7 §8 §9 §10 §11 Letters and sounds Vowels and consonants Short and long sounds Diphthongs Syllables Stress and intonation Vowel harmony 18 Nominals and their endings Finite verb forms and their endings Non-finite verb forms and their endings Two important sound alternations §15 §16 Consonant gradation (p, t, k) Vowel changes before -i- endings The declension of nominals §17 §18 §19 §20 9 10 12 14 14 15 16 A survey of word structure §12 §13 §14 18 21 24 28 28 38 44 General Nominals with a basic form in -i Nominals with a basic form in -e Nominals with a basic form ending in a consonant v 44 46 49 50 vi Contents The conjugation of verbs §21 §22 §23 55 General Infinitive endings Inflectional stems 55 56 57 Basic sentence structure 61 §24 §25 §26 §27 §28 §29 §30 §31 Present tense personal endings The nominative (basic form of nominals) Singular and plural The verb olla ‘(to) be’ ‘To have’ in Finnish Negative sentences Questions and answers Concord of attributes The partitive §32 §33 Formation of the partitive Use of the partitive The genitive, possessive suffixes and the accusative §34 §35 §36 §37 §38 §39 Formation of the genitive Use of the genitive Possessive suffixes What is the accusative? The accusative endings Quantity adverbs taking an object case 10 The six local cases §40 §41 §42 §43 §44 §45 §46 §47 §48 General Inessive Elative Illative Adessive Ablative Allative Directional verbs Place names 11 Other cases §49 §50 §51 Essive Translative Abessive, comitative and instructive 61 63 67 68 69 69 71 74 76 76 82 91 91 95 97 100 102 105 107 107 108 110 112 115 117 119 120 121 123 123 125 127 Contents vii 12 Numerals §52 §53 Cardinal numbers Ordinal numbers 13 Pronouns §54 §55 §56 §57 §58 Personal pronouns Demonstrative pronouns Interrogative pronouns Indefinite pronouns Relative pronouns 14 Tenses §59 §60 §61 §62 §63 Present tense Past tense Perfect tense Pluperfect tense Negative forms Indicative Conditional Imperative Potential General Passive present Passive past Passive perfect and pluperfect Passive moods 17 Infinitives §73 §74 §75 §76 §77 General First infinitive Second infinitive Third infinitive Fourth infinitive 18 Participles §78 §79 136 136 138 140 142 149 152 152 156 158 159 162 16 The passive §68 §69 §70 §71 §72 129 134 152 15 Moods §64 §65 §66 §67 129 General Present participle active 162 162 165 169 172 172 173 175 177 180 182 182 183 184 188 192 194 194 195 viii Contents §80 §81 §82 §83 §84 Present participle passive The past participles The participial construction The temporal construction The agent construction 19 Comparison of adjectives §85 §86 196 198 200 205 207 211 Comparative Superlative 211 214 20 Other word classes 218 §87 §88 §89 §90 §91 Adverbs Prepositions Postpositions Conjunctions Particles 21 Word formation §92 §93 §94 218 221 222 226 228 231 General Derivation Compounding 231 232 241 22 The colloquial spoken language 244 §95 §96 §97 General Omission and assimilation of sounds Differences of form Appendix: Inflection tables Subject index 244 245 246 249 267 PREFACE Finnish: An Essential Grammar is a slightly modified version of the book Finnish Grammar published by WSOY in Helsinki in 1983 The second edition went out of print in 1995 Finnish Grammar was a translation of the Finnish book Suomen peruskielioppi published in 1982 The original Swedish edition Finsk grammatik appeared in 1978 These versions were published by the Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura), Helsinki Finnish: An Essential Grammar is primarily intended for those wanting to learn the basics of the language The book covers the grammatical core; rare forms and constructions have not been included I have tried to formulate the grammatical rules as precisely as possible using reasonable terminology At the same time, all essentials should be easy to find in the numerous examples The book relies on some basic insights of modern linguistics and might therefore serve as an introduction to the structure of Finnish for professional linguists as well Chapters and contain surveys of the word and clause structure, respectively, and for those readers unfamiliar with the basics it is recommended that these are read first In this edition, compared to the previous versions, I have changed the typography of the grammatical rules, written more on Finnish pronunciation, and updated many examples The Internet page http://www.helsinki.fi/~jones/finn–books.html provides a list of books available for studying practical Finnish The home page of the Research Center for the Languages of Finland, http:// www.domlang.fi/, provides a wealth of information concerning the Finnish language The Internet page http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/~fkarlsso/ genkau2.html is a full list of the 2,000 distinct forms that a Finnish noun can take My sincere thanks are due to Professor Andrew Chesterman, who skilfully and critically made the translation, to the anonymous referee of Routledge who suggested several improvements, and to the Finnish Ministry of Education for financially supporting the original translation in 1982 Last but not least: thank you, Sylvi, as well as Max, Linn and Maj for continuous support! Fred Karlsson Helsinki November 1998 ix 254 Finnish: An Essential Grammar Affirmative Passive sanottakoon Negative älköön sanottako Potential Present active Singular sanonen sanonet sanonee I may say en sanone et sanone ei sanone Plural sanonemme sanonette sanonevat emme sanone ette sanone eivät sanone Passive sanottaneen ei sanottane I may not say Perfect active Singular lienen sanonut I may have said en liene sanonut I may not have said lienet sanonut lienee sanonut et liene sanonut ei liene sanonut Plural lienemme sanoneet lienette sanoneet lienevät sanoneet emme liene sanoneet ette liene sanoneet eivät liene sanoneet Passive lienee sanottu ei liene sanottu NON-FINITE FORMS Infinitives First inf sanoa sanoakseni Second inf sanoessa sanoen Third inf sanomaan sanomassa sanomasta sanomalla sanomatta to say Appendix: Inflection tables 255 Participles Present Active Passive sanova sanottava saying that must be said Past Active Passive sanonut sanottu said said HYPÄT/Ä VERBS FINITE FORMS Indicative Affirmative Singular hyppään hyppäät hyppää Present active Negative I jump en hyppää et hyppää ei hyppää Plural hyppäämme hyppäätte hyppäävät emme hyppää ette hyppää eivät hyppää Passive hypätään ei hypätä I not jump Past active Singular hyppäsin hyppäsit hyppäsi I jumped en hypännyt et hypännyt ei hypännyt Plural hyppäsimme hyppäsitte hyppäsivät emme hypänneet ette hypänneet eivät hypänneet Passive hypättiin ei hypätty I did not jump 256 Finnish: An Essential Grammar Perfect active Singular olen hypännyt olet hypännyt on hypännyt I have jumped en ole hypännyt et ole hypännyt ei ole hypännyt I have not jumped Plural olemme hypänneet olette hypänneet ovat hypänneet emme ole hypänneet ette ole hypänneet eivät ole hypänneet Passive on hypätty ei ole hypätty Pluperfect active Singular olin hypännyt olit hypännyt oli hypännyt I had jumped en ollut hypännyt I had not jumped et ollut hypännyt ei ollut hypännyt Plural olimme hypänneet olitte hypänneet olivat hypänneet emme olleet hypänneet ette olleet hypänneet eivät olleet hypänneet Passive oli hypätty ei ollut hypätty Conditional Present active Singular hyppäisin hyppäisit hyppäisi I would jump en hyppäisi et hyppäisi ei hyppäisi Plural hyppäisimme hyppäisitte hyppäisivät emme hyppäisi ette hyppäisi eivät hyppäisi Passive hypättäisiin ei hypättäisi I would not jump Appendix: Inflection tables 257 Perfect active Singular olisin hypännyt I would have en olisi hypännyt I would not have jumped jumped olisit hypännyt et olisi hypännyt olisi hypännyt ei olisi hypännyt Plural olisimme hypänneet olisitte hypänneet olisivat hypänneet emme olisi hypänneet ette olisi hypänneet eivät olisi hypänneet Passive olisi hypätty ei olisi hypätty Imperative Present active Singular hyppää hypätköön jump älä hyppää älköön hypätkö Plural hypätkäämme hypätkää hypätkööt älkäämme hypätkö älkää hypätkö älkööt hypätkö Passive hypättäköön älköön hypättäkö not jump Potential Present active Singular hypännen hypännet hypännee I may jump en hypänne et hypänne ei hypänne Plural hypännemme hypännette hypännevät emme hypänne ette hypänne eivät hypänne Passive hypättäneen ei hypättäne I may not jump 258 Finnish: An Essential Grammar Perfect active Singular lienen hypännyt I may have en liene hypännyt I may not have jumped jumped lienet hypännyt et liene hypännyt lienee hypännyt ei liene hypännyt Plural lienemme hypänneet lienette hypänneet lienevät hypänneet emme liene hypänneet ette liene hypänneet eivät liene hypänneet Passive lienee hypätty ei liene hypätty NON-FINITE FORMS Infinitives First inf hypätä hypätäkseni Second inf hypätessä hypäten Third inf hyppäämään hyppäämässä hyppäämästä hyppäämällä hyppäämättä to jump Participles Active Passive hyppäävä hypättävä Active Passive hypännyt hypätty Present jumping Past Appendix: Inflection tables 259 SAA/DA VERBS FINITE FORMS Indicative Affirmative Singular saan saat saa Present active Negative I get en saa et saa ei saa Plural saamme saatte saavat emme saa ette saa eivät saa Passive saadaan ei saada I not get Past -active Singular sain sait sai I got en saanut et saanut ei saanut Plural saimme saitte saivat emme saaneet ette saaneet eivät saaneet Passive saatiin ei saatu I did not get Perfect active Singular olen saanut olet saanut on saanut I have got en ole saanut et ole saanut ei ole saanut Plural olemme saaneet olette saaneet ovat saaneet emme ole saaneet ette ole saaneet eivät ole saaneet Passive on saatu ei ole saatu I have not got 260 Finnish: An Essential Grammar Pluperfect active Singular olin saanut olit saanut oli saanut I had got en ollut saanut et ollut saanut ei ollut saanut I had not got Plural olimme saaneet olitte saaneet olivat saaneet emme olleet saaneet ette olleet saaneet eivät olleet saaneet Passive oli saatu ei ollut saatu Conditional Present active Singular saisin saisit saisi I would get en saisi et saisi ei saisi Plural saisimme saisitte saisivat emme saisi ette saisi eivät saisi Passive saataisiin ei saataisi I would not get Perfect active Singular olisin saanut I would have got en olisi saanut olisit saanut olisi saanut et olisi saanut ei olisi saanut Plural olisimme saaneet olisitte saaneet olisivat saaneet emme olisi saaneet ette olisi saaneet eivät olisi saaneet Passive olisi saatu ei olisi saatu I would not have got Appendix: Inflection tables 261 Imperative Present active Singular saa saakoon get älä saa älköön saako Plural saakaamme saakaa saakoot älkäämme saako älkää saako älkööt saako Passive saatakoon älköön saatako not get Potential Present active Singular saanen saanet saanee I may get en saane et saane ei saane Plural saanemme saanette saanevat emme saane ette saane eivät saane Passive saataneen ei saatane I may not get Perfect active Singular lienen saanut I may have got en liene saanut I may not have got lienet saanut lienee saanut et liene saanut ei liene saanut Plural lienemme saaneet lienette saaneet lienevät saaneet emme liene saaneet ette liene saaneet eivät liene saaneet Passive lienee saatu ei liene saatu 262 Finnish: An Essential Grammar NON-FINITE FORMS Infinitives First inf saada saadakseni Second inf saadessa saaden Third inf saamaan saamassa saamasta saamalla saamatta to get Participles Active Passive saava saanut Active Passive saatava saatu Present getting Past TARVIT/A VERBS FINITE FORMS Indicative Affirmative Singular tarvitsen tarvitset tarvitsee Present active Negative I need en tarvitse et tarvitse ei tarvitse Plural tarvitsemme tarvitsette tarvitsevat emme tarvitse ette tarvitse eivät tarvitse Passive tarvitaan ei tarvita I not need Appendix: Inflection tables 263 Past active Singular tarvitsin tarvitsit tarvitsi I needed en tarvinnut et tarvinnut ei tarvinnut Plural tarvitsimme tarvitsitte tarvitsivat emme tarvinneet ette tarvinneet eivät tarvinneet Passive tarvittiin ei tarvittu I did not need Perfect active Singular olen tarvinnut olet tarvinnut on tarvinnut I have needed en ole tarvinnut et ole tarvinnut ei ole tarvinnut I have not needed Plural olemme tarvinneet olette tarvinneet ovat tarvinneet emme ole tarvinneet ette ole tarvinneet eivät ole tarvinneet Passive on tarvittu ei ole tarvittu Pluperfect active Singular olin tarvinnut olit tarvinnut oli tarvinnut I had needed en ollut tarvinnut I had not needed et ollut tarvinnut ei ollut tarvinnut Plural olimme tarvinneet olitte tarvinneet olivat tarvinneet emme olleet tarvinneet ette olleet tarvinneet eivät olleet tarvinneet Passive oli tarvittu ei ollut tarvittu 264 Finnish: An Essential Grammar Conditional Present active Singular tarvitsisin tarvitsisit tarvitsisi I would need en tarvitsisi et tarvitsisi ei tarvitsisi Plural tarvitsisimme tarvitsisitte tarvitsisivat emme tarvitsisi ette tarvitsisi eivät tarvitsisi Passive tarvittaisiin ei tarvittaisi Perfect active Singular olisin tarvinnut I would have en olisi tarvinnut needed olisit tarvinnut et olisi tarvinnut olisi tarvinnut ei olisi tarvinnut I would not need I would not have needed Plural olisimme tarvinneet olisitte tarvinneet olisivat tarvinneet emme olisi tarvinneet ette olisi tarvinneet eivät olisi tarvinneet Passive olisi tarvittu ei olisi tarvittu Imperative Present active Singular tarvitse tarvitkoon need älä tarvitse älköön tarvitko Plural tarvitkaamme tarvitkaa tarvitkoot älkäämme tarvitko älkää tarvitko älkööt tarvitko Passive tarvittakoon älköön tarvittako not need Appendix: Inflection tables 265 Potential Present active Singular tarvinnen tarvinnet tarvinnee I may need en tarvinne et tarvinne ei tarvinne Plural tarvinnemme tarvinnette tarvinnevat emme tarvinne ette tarvinne eivät tarvinne Passive tarvittaneen ei tarvittane I may not need Perfect active Singular lienen tarvinnut I may have en liene tarvinnut I may not have needed needed lienet tarvinnut et liene tarvinnut lienee tarvinnut ei liene tarvinnut Plural lienemme tarvinneet lienette tarvinneet lienevät tarvinneet emme liene tarvinneet ette liene tarvinneet eivät liene tarvinneet Passive lienee tarvittu ei liene tarvittu NON-FINITE FORMS Infinitives First inf tarvita tarvitakseni Second inf tarvitessa tarviten Third inf tarvitsemaan tarvitsemassa tarvitsemasta tarvitsemalla tarvitsematta 266 Finnish: An Essential Grammar Participles Active Passive tarvitseva tarvinnut Active Passive tarvittava tarvittu Present needing Past SUBJECT INDEX (Numbers refer to sections: §) finite verb form 13 abessive 51 ablative 45 absolute superlative 86 accusative 37, 38 adessive 44 adjective 12 adverb 87 affirmative sentence 29 agent construction 76, 84 allative 46 answer 30 attribute 31 auxiliary verb 27 basic form 18–20, 23 cardinal number 52 case ending 12 comitative 51 comparative 85 complement 25.3, 33.3 compounding 94 concord 24, 31 conditional 65 conjugation 21–3 conjunction 90 consonant consonant gradation 15 declension 17–20 demonstrative pronoun 55 derivation 92, 93 derivative suffix 92, 93 derived form 92, 93 diphthong divisible noun 25.2 elative 42 enclitic particle 12–14, 91 ending 12–14 essive 49 genitive 34, 35 illative 43 imperative 66 indefinite pronoun 57 indicative 64 inessive 41 inessive construction 75.1 infinitive 73–6 inflection 12–14, 17–20, 21–3 instructive 51 interrogative pronoun 56 intonation 10 main stress 10 mood 64–7 negative sentence 29 nominal 12 nominative 25 non-divisible noun 25.2 non-finite verb form 14, 73, 78 noun 12 number 12 numeral 52, 53 object 33.2, 37, 38 ordinal number 53 orthography participial construction 82 participle 78–84 particle 12–14, 91 partitive 32, 33 passive 68–72 past tense 60 perfect 61 person 24 personal pronoun 54 phoneme 5, 267 268 Index pluperfect 62 plural 26 possessive suffix 36 postposition 89 potential 67 predicate noun 25.3, 33.3 preposition 88 present 59 pronoun 54–8 pronunciation 5–10 quantity question 30, 56 relative pronoun 58 root 12–14 singular 26 stress 10 strong grade 15 subject 25.3, 33.1 superlative 86 syllable temporal construction 83 tense 59–63 translative 50 verb 13, 14 vowel vowel change 16 vowel combination vowel harmony 11 weak grade 15 ... hand in the hand into the hand hand in the hands the hand, too my hand (hand) (hand/in) (hand/into) (hand/partitive case) (hand/s/in) (hand/too) (hand/my) The basic form käsi takes different forms... THE RELATION OF FINNISH TO OTHER LANGUAGES The Finnish language is a member of the Finno-Ugric language family This is quite different from the Indo-European family, to which languages such as... SPECIAL DIFFICULTIES? It is worth mentioning the areas of Finnish grammar which can cause most learning difficulty Since Finnish is not an Indo-European language the basic vocabulary differs from