Language/Finnish/Grammar/Finnish-Verbs:-Past-Tense

Finnish → Grammar → Finnish Verbs: Past Tense

As a Finnish language teacher for over 20 years, I know that understanding Finnish verb tenses can be a bit challenging for beginners. In this lesson, we will focus on the past tense and the concept of vowel harmony.

Finnish Verbs: Past Tense

Finnish has two past tenses: a simple past tense and a perfect past tense. Let's start with the simple past.

To form the simple past, we add the suffix “-i” to the verb stem. The suffix is added directly to the stem, with no additional vowel (except for verbs ending in “e” or “ä”). For example:

Finnish	Pronunciation	English
puhua	['puhua]	to speak
puhuin	['puhui̯n]	I spoke
nukkua	['nukkua]	to sleep
nukuin	['nukui̯n]	I slept

As you can see in the table above, the “-i” suffix replaces the last vowel of the verb stem. However, when the verb stem ends in “e” or “ä”, the “-i” suffix must be separated from the stem with an “-h” to indicate the missing vowel sound. For example:

Finnish	Pronunciation	English
jäädä	['jæ:ðæ]	to stay
jäin	['jæi̯n]	I stayed
kirjoittaa	['kirjoi̯ttɑ: ]	to write
kirjoitin	['kirjoi̯ti̯n]	I wrote

Now let's move on to the perfect past tense. In Finnish, the perfect tense is formed with the auxiliary verb “olla” (to be) in the simple past tense, plus the past participle of the main verb. The past participle is formed by adding the suffix “-nut” or “-nyt” to the stem of the verb. For example:

Finnish	Pronunciation	English
kirjoittaa	['kirjoi̯ttɑ: ]	to write
olen kirjoittanut	['ole̞n 'kirjoi̯tːɑɲut]	I have written

In the example above, “olen” means “I have” and “kirjoittanut” is the past participle of "kirjoittaa". Notice that the past participle suffixes “-nut” and “-nyt” match the vowel harmony of the verb stem.

Vowel Harmony

In previous lessons, we briefly talked about vowel harmony in Finnish. To refresh your memory, Finnish words are divided into two groups: front vowels (ä, ö, and y) and back vowels (a, o, and u). When inflecting words or forming compounds, it is important to use the same vowel type throughout the word to maintain its harmony.

The concept of vowel harmony is also relevant when conjugating verbs. The past tense suffix “-i” and the past participle suffixes “-nut” and “-nyt” change depending on the vowel harmony of the verb stem. For example, if the verb stem has a front vowel, we use the front vowel past tense and participle suffixes:

Finnish	Pronunciation	English
kävellä	['kæʋel:æ]	to walk
kävelin	['kæʋeli̯n]	I walked
säästää	['sæ:stæ: ]	to save (money)
säästin	['sæ:sti̯n]	I saved

On the other hand, if the verb stem has a back vowel, we use the back vowel past tense and participle suffixes:

Finnish	Pronunciation	English
nukkua	['nukkua]	to sleep
nukuin	['nukui̯n]	I slept
elää	['e̞læ:]	to live
elin	['eli̯n]	I lived

Keep in mind that not all Finnish verbs follow vowel harmony rules. Some verbs have irregular past tense forms, which you will need to learn by heart.

Conclusion

Learning how to conjugate Finnish verbs in the past tense can be challenging, but with practice you will get the hang of it. Remember to always pay attention to vowel harmony, as it will affect the past tense and participle endings. Keep practicing and don't hesitate to ask for help if needed.

Sources

• Finnish Grammar Beginner's Guide (even if you hate grammar)
• Finnish Tenses: Expressing the Past, Present, and Future
• Finnish verb conjugation - Wikipedia
• Imperfekti - Past tense in Finnish - Random Finnish Lesson

Related Lessons

• Finnish Nouns: Inflection and Gender
• Future Tense
• Prepositions
• Definite Articles in Finnish
• Possessive Case in Finnish
• Finnish Participles
• Adjectives
• How to Use Have
• Finnish Verbs: Present Tense
• Questions