  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 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 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 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 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 ( 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; 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 -ta? (-tÄ), e.g. saada (rule 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 -te? 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 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), 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 ( 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 ta? (with the aspiration) to the root: saa-ta? which becomes saada, and then with the termination 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. 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 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 (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. 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 So also satuloi, saddle, forms present indicative satuloin, satuloit, satuloi, satuloimme, satuloitte, satuloivat; imperfect satuloin ( 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
Similarly tako, to forge, makes the present taon, taot, takoo, taomme, taotte, takovat (k being lost by Otta, to take; present otan ( Rakenta, to build, has in the present rakennan ( YmmÄrtÄ, to understand, has similarly present ( 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, ( 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, (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 ( 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 ta?, and luvatta? 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.
Other examples: root rohkene, to dare.
Root alene, to sink.
Root syÖkse, to cast.
Root sÄkenÖitse, to glitter.
Root nÄke, to see.
Reflexive Verbs.Under this name are comprised a great number of verbal forms, formed by adding certain suffixes to the simple transitive root, many of which are not used in ordinary written and spoken Finnish. A. Reflexive verbs are formed by adding to the root the suffixes utu, yty, or untu, ynty. For instance, anta, to give, makes antautua or antauntua; teke, to do, tekeytyÄ or tekeyntyÄ. The u or y may be assimilated to the last vowel of the root, which gives us forms like antaantua, tekeentyÄ. These verbs are conjugated quite regularly. B. This suffix is also found in the shorter form u, y. Antaa, antauta; lÖytÄÄ, to find, lÖytyÄ, to be found; muuttaa, to change (act), muuttua, to change oneself. These verbs generally present some peculiarities in their conjugation. (1) They usually have the old ending pi in the 3d sing. indicative present; antauupi, but antau is also found. (2) The imperfect ends in si; antausin, antausit, antausi, etc. This s is the remains of an original t, showing that the termination u is only short for utu. (3) The same t is preserved in the infinitive and passive—antauta, antautaan. C. In the Kalevala and the Karelian dialect are found a great quantity of more or less irregular reflexive forms, which are often explained by supposing that the reflexive pronoun itse is added to the verb, and then weakened in various ways to ihe, ite, ik, k, etc. But this explanation is very doubtful. For example. From muuttaa, to change, comes the form muuttain, I change myself.
The termination kse or ihe for the third person sing. is characteristic of these verbs. We also find the termination me for the first person sing., te for the second, and se or set for the third. The concessive is muuttainnen, and the conditional is muuttaisisin, etc. The imperative and optative muuttaitkaan, muuttaitkoon The Formation of Verbs.Verbs are either primitive, that is to say, they consist of a simple root, to which are added the various modal and personal terminations, or they are derivative, that is to say, besides these terminations some formative syllable is added to the root, such as ta, ele, aise. It is not easy to assign a precise meaning to all of these terminations, particularly to the commoner, which are used in many and not very definite senses. Simple roots are either transitive or intransitive in their meaning. Derivative transitive verbs are formed with the following suffixes, which, however, are sometimes also found in verbs of neuter signification. (1) ta, tÄ, which must not be confounded with the ta of the first infinitive, is added to verbal roots ending in e, which is rejected. pÄÄstÄÄ, to let go, but pÄÄstÄ, intransitive. (N.B. The first verb is for pÄÄstÄtÄ, the second for pÄÄsetÄ, so that the t of the latter belongs to the termination of the infinitive, but the t of the latter to the stem). Paksuntaa, to thicken, but paksuta, to grow thick; peljÄttÄÄ, to frighten, but peljÄtÄ, to fear; viertÄÄ, to roll down, transitive or intransitive, but vierrÄ only intransitive. (2) tta, ttÄ, is added chiefly to roots ending in u or y which are not rejected. Juottaa, to give to drink (juoda, to drink); kÄyttÄÄ, to use (from kÄydÄ); menettÄÄ, to cause to go or lose (mennÄ, to go); nÄyttÄÄ, to show (nÄhdÄ, to see); tuottaa, to cause to bring, to get (tuoda, to bring); kuolettaa, to kill (kuolla, to die). (3) utta, yttÄ, is added mostly to polysyllabic roots: kÄvelyttÄÄ, to make walk; epÄilyttÄÄ, to make doubt; huomauttaa, Reflexive neuter verbs (vide p. 109) are formed with the following suffixes:— (1) u or y, added chiefly to dissyllabic roots ending in a and e, which are rejected, and to polysyllables in ta and oitse:—lÖytyÄ, to be found, to exist (lÖytÄÄ, to find); tuntua, to be felt (tuntea, to feel); muuttua, to change, intransitive (muuttaa, to change, trans.); tÄytyÄ, to be sufficient or necessary (tÄyttÄÄ, transitive); rakastua, to be in love with (rakastaa, to love, transitive); kuulua, to be heard (kuulla, to hear). (2) untu, ynty, shortened into utu, yty:—antauntua, antautua, or antauta, to give oneself up (antaa, to give); jakauntua, jakaantua, jakautua, or jakauta, to be divided (jakaa, to divide); kÄÄriytyÄ, to be involved (kÄÄriÄ); vetÄytyÄ, to retire (vetÄÄ). There is also a suffix pu, py, used to form a few words of intransitive signification:—joupua, to get drunk (juoda, to drink); syÖpyÄ, to eat one’s fill (syÖdÄ, to eat); jÄÄpyÄ, to remain behind (jÄÄdÄ, to remain); saapua, to arrive (from saada, cf. ‘se rendre’). Luopua, vaipua, and viipyÄ seem to be formed with the same suffix. Frequentative verbs are formed with the suffixes ele, ksi, and nta, either separately or combined. It is often hard to determine the exact force of these suffixes. Sometimes they signify a repeated or prolonged action, sometimes they form a kind of verbal diminutive, expressing an action slightly or gently performed, sometimes there is no real difference between the meanings of the original and derived verbs. (1) ele is added mostly to dissyllabic roots ending in a, which is lost before the suffix. The first infinitive ends in ella, and the verb is conjugated after the third conjugation, e.g. kysellÄ, to ask often (Russian ??????????), from kysyÄ, (2) ksi is added to the dissyllabic roots, especially to those ending in e. a and Ä become e before this suffix. kuljeksia, to wander, from kulkea, to go; eleksiÄ, to live, from elÄÄ; anneksia, from antaa, to give. The termination nta is rarely found alone, but ksenta, ksentele, and ntele occur, and ksele is a frequentative form. KÄyskellÄ, to wander, from kÄydÄ, to go; saneskella (??????????) from sanoa, kuljeskella, from kulkea. Instantaneous or semelfactive verbs. These, when they have their strict significance, denote an action done once or suddenly, and correspond to Russian forms in -????. The terminations which have this sense are— (1) ahta, added to dissyllabic verbs which lose their last vowel. Kilijahtaa, to give a cry (???????????); liikahtaa (liikkua), to make a movement (?????????); elÄhtÄÄ, to come to life (but also to live, to grow old). (2) aise, added to dissyllables in e, i, o, and u, which fall out before the termination. kiljaista, to give a cry; puraista, to give a bite (purra, to bite); halkaista, to split. Verbal suffixes are also added to nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, the verbs so formed having various meanings which can be easily illustrated from English, where verbs are often formed from substantives or adjectives with or without a suffix being added. In Finnish such derived verbs have been divided into a variety of categories; such as—(1) Instructive, which imply the provision of something with the object denoted by the noun, cf. the English to butter, to arm. (2) Factive, denoting the conversion of something into the object or quality denoted by the original word, cf. English to blacken. (3) Operative, implying the use or action of the substantive, cf. English to These classes of verbs are not denoted by special suffixes, but the syllables ta, i, itse, tta, sta are added to form verbs which may have any of these significations. Ta is added to monosyllables and roots which are susceptible of being closed, likewise to trisyllables ending in ra, la, na. Many of the verbs formed with this affix end in sta; but the s belongs to the root, not to the suffix. Examples—perustaa, to found (perus, a foundation), vaatettaa, to clothe (vaate-); veistÄÄ, to cut (veitse, a knife); poistaa, to drive away (pois); yltÄÄ, to reach (yli); kumartaa, to bow (kumara); kiirehtÄÄ, to hurry (kiire); sairastaa, to be ill (sairas). This termination sometimes becomes a, the t being lost, e.g. harjata, to comb; kullata, to gild. Here the ta is of course the termination of the infinitive. Roots ending in e? with the aspiration generally suffix ti and not ta, though sometimes both forms are found. The aspiration becomes h before the t, vaatehtia, to clothe; kiirehtiÄ, to hurry; tervehtiÄ, to salute, etc. The termination i is added to dissyllables ending in Ä, e, i, and also to such dissyllables ending in a as have o or u as their first vowel, whereas dissyllables in a with a, e, or i for their first vowel, suffix o. This rule is analogous to no. The termination itse is added chiefly to trisyllabic roots, but also to dissyllables. In trisyllabic words the final a and Ä of stems always become o and Ö before i; in dissyllables the Examples of verbs: iloita, to be glad (ilo); hedelmÖitÄ, to give fruit (hedelmÄ); askaroita, to work (askere); jumaloita (jumala), to deify; palmikoita, to twine (palmikko). tta, itta. These terminations are added to monosyllables, to dissyllables ending in i, o (Ö), and u (y), and trisyllables in a (Ä) (which always changes to o) and e. Dissyllabic and polysyllabic words prefer the termination without i. This suffix is the same as that used to form transitive verbs from intransitive, and a large proportion of the verbs which are derived from nouns by its addition are factitive. PÄÄttÄÄ, to finish (pÄÄttyÄ, to end, intransitive); jÄÄttÄÄ, to freeze; kirjoittaa, to write; lahjoittaa, to make a present; hyvittÄÄ, to use well; syyttÄÄ, to accuse; kunnioittaa, to honour. sta or ista is added generally to dissyllabic stems, whose final vowel is lost before i, though a sometimes becomes o. MetsÄstÄÄ, to hunt; kÄrjestÄÄ, to sharpen; kalastaa, to fish; ylistÄÄ, to extol; yhdistÄÄ, to unite; ÄÄnestÄÄ, to express an opinion, to vote. Another class of verbs are called translative, and express a change to the state denoted by the noun from which the verb is formed. Such are formed with the following terminations:— (1) ne is added chiefly to dissyllables, also to trisyllables in ea (eÄ), whose final a (Ä), and sometimes o, changes to e. The verb so formed is conjugated according to the third conjugation, (2) a or Ä is added mostly to dissyllabic roots ending in i, which changes to e; if added to roots ending in a, this vowel generally becomes o. It is also added to trisyllables in ea (eÄ). Soeta, to become blind (sokea). A small number of verbs are formed from adjectives by the addition of the suffix ksi or ksu, before which a and Ä are often changed to e. These verbs, sometimes called censitive, express the light in which something is regarded. Halveksia, to hold cheap (halpa); hyveksiÄ or hyvÄksyÄ, to find good, to approve; pahaksua or paheksia, to find bad, to be angry at; vÄheksiÄ or vÄhÄksyÄ, to find small or despise. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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