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

Finnish → Grammar → Finnish Verbs: Present Tense

As a Finnish language teacher with 20 years of experience, I am excited to teach you about present tense verbs in Finnish. Conjugating verbs in Finnish may seem intimidating at first, but with some practice and attention to detail, you will soon master it like a pro. In this lesson, we will explore the present tense form of Finnish verbs, including the concept of verb stems.

With the completion of this lesson, consider investigating these related pages: Subordinate Clauses & The Finnish Alphabet.

Finnish Verbs: Present Tense

In Finnish, the present tense form of verbs indicates an ongoing action that is happening at the moment of speaking or a habitual action that takes place repeatedly. To conjugate present tense verbs, we need to identify the verb stem first. The verb stem is the base form of the verb that remains constant throughout its conjugation.

Let's take the verb "olla" (to be) as an example:

Finnish	Pronunciation	English
Olen	[o.len]	I am	Olet	[o.let]	You are	On	[o.n]	He/she/it is	Olemme	[o.lem.me]	We are	Olette	[o.let.te]	You all are	Ovat	[o.vat]	They are

As you can see, the verb stem "ole-" remains the same in all conjugated forms. To form the present tense, we add suffixes to the verb stem, which vary depending on the subject pronoun.

Here are some more examples of present tense verb conjugation:

Finnish	Pronunciation	English
Puhun	[pu.hun]	I speak	Puhut	[pu.hut]	You speak	Puhuu	[pu.huː]	He/she/it speaks	Puhumme	[pu.hu.mːe]	We speak	Puhutte	[pu.hut.te]	You all speak	Puhuvat	[pu.hu.vat]	They speak

Notice how in the above table the verb stem for speak is "puhu-"

Note that there are some exceptions to the rule of verb stem remaining the same. Some verbs in Finnish have a vowel change in their stem, while others have a vowel harmony requirement that affects the suffixes added to the stem.

To become familiar with present tense verb conjugation, it's important first to learn the most common Finnish verbs. Create a list of such verbs and practice their present tense forms regularly to improve your skills.

Conclusion

Conjugating verbs may seem challenging at first, but with practice and patience, you will learn to do it perfectly. In this lesson, we introduced you to the Finnish present tense verbs and the concept of verb stems, which remains the same throughout the conjugation. As you continue to learn Finnish, keep practicing present tense verb forms and identify new verbs to use. This will help you cement your knowledge and become more confident speaking and writing the Finnish language.

Sources

• Finnish Tenses: Expressing the Past, Present, and Future
• Finnish Grammar Beginner's Guide (even if you hate grammar)
• Finnish grammar - Wikipedia
• The unbearable beauty of Finnish grammar - thisisFINLAND

Excellent job on conquering this lesson! Consider delving into these related pages: Finnish Verbs: Past Tense & Sentence Structure.

Other Lessons

• Basic Finnish Phonetics
• Finnish Adjectives and Pronouns
• How to Use Have
• Conditional Mood
• Finnish Sentence Structure
• The Finnish Alphabet
• Negation
• Nouns
• Finnish Participles
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