Verbs in Finnish Spoken Language
Verbs in Finnish spoken language get conjugated quite differently than normally. This article goes over those changes and links you to related articles that go more into depth.
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- Personal pronouns
- The me-passive (me mennään)
- The third person plural (ne menee)
- The present tense of verbs
- Olla, mennä and tulla
- Lähteä, odottaa and ajatella
- Most verbs
- Tarvita
- The other tenses and moods
- The imperfect tense
- The perfect tense
- The conditional
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1. Personal pronouns
The personal pronouns are the first difference between standard and spoken Finnish. In fact, these pronouns are very often the ONLY spoken language element that’s used in course books you’re using to study. They are, however, only the tip of the iceberg.
There are regional difference between what variant of the ones below is used. Only the most common forms are listed here, which means I’ve excluded forms such as mnää and miä for minä.
| Standard | Spoken |
|---|---|
| minä | mä, mää, mie (mnää, miä, meä) |
| sinä | sä, sää, sie (snää, siä, seä) |
| hän | se |
| me | me, myö (met) |
| te | te, työ (tet) |
| he | ne, hyö (het) |
Read more in this article about mä, mulla, mun, mua!
2. The me-passive
The me-form in spoken language doesn’t have the familiar -mme at the end of it. Instead, we use the passive.
| Standard | Spoken |
|---|---|
| me nukumme | me nukutaan |
| me syömme | me syödään |
| me opiskelemme | me opiskellaan |
| me tapaamme | me tavataan |
| me häiritsemme | me häiritään |
| me pakenemme | me paetaan |
This isn’t limited to only the present tense. You will find it in all cases! Read more about this here!
| Standard | Spoken |
|---|---|
| me nukumme | me nukutaan |
| me emme nuku | me ei nukuta |
| me nukuimme | me nukuttiin |
| me emme nukkuneet | me ei nukuttu |
| me olemme nukkuneet | me ollaan nukuttu |
| me emme ole nukkuneet | me ei olla nukuttu |
| me olimme nukkuneet | me oltiin nukuttu |
| me emme olleet nukkuneet | me ei oltu nukuttu |
| me olisimme nukkuneet | me oltais(iin) nukuttu |
3. The third person plural – Ne menee
In the third person plural (he menevät), we will use the same person as in the third person singular (ne menee). This form is used all through the paradigm. For example, the past tense will be ne meni, the perfect tense ne on mennyt and the conditional ne menisi.
| Standard | Spoken |
|---|---|
| he nukkuvat | ne nukkuu |
| he syövät | ne syö |
| he opiskelevat | ne opiskelee |
| he tapaavat | ne tapaa |
| he häiritsevät | ne häiritsee |
| he pakenevat | ne pakenee |
Read more in this article about ne menee, ne syö, ne tekee!
4. The present tense of verbs
4.1. Olla, mennä and tulla
I’m starting with the verbs that are most clearly different from their standard language version.
| olla | mennä | tulla |
|---|---|---|
| mä oon | mä meen | mä tuun |
| sä oot | sä meet | sä tuut |
| se on | se menee | se tulee |
| me ollaan | me mennään | me tullaan |
| te ootte | te meette | te tuutte |
| ne on | ne menee | ne tulee |
4.2. Lähteä, odottaa and ajatella
Leaving letters out of the middle of a word (sisäheitto) is fairly common in Finnish, especially for the -d- sound.
| lähteä | odottaa | ajatella |
|---|---|---|
| mä lähen | mä ootan | mä aattelen |
| sä lähet | sä ootat | sä aattelet |
| se lähtee | se oottaa | se aattelee |
| me lähetään | me odotetaan | me aatellaan |
| te lähette | te ootatte | te aattelette |
| ne lähtee | ne oottaa | ne aattelee |
4.3. Most verbs
Not all verbs are as dramatically different in spoken language than in standard Finnish. The examples below demonstrate this: for most verbs, only the me-form and the ne-form are different.
| nukkua | nousta | sanoa |
|---|---|---|
| mä nukun | mä nousen | mä sanon |
| sä nukut | sä nouset | sä sanot |
| se nukkuu | se nousee | se sanoo |
| me nukutaan | me noustaan | me sanotaan |
| te nukutte | te nousette | te sanotte |
| ne nukkuu | ne nousee | ne sanoo |
4.4. Tarvita
The verb tarvita is interesting because it has two paradigms in spoken language, which are both used. In #1 that you will also find tarvin with one -i-, and in #2 you will also find tarten with one -t-.
| Standard | Spoken #1 | Spoken #2 |
|---|---|---|
| minä tarvitsen | mä tarviin | mä tartten |
| sinä tarvitset | sä tarviit | sä tarttet |
| hän tarvitsee | se tarvii | se tarttee |
| me tarvitsemme | me tarviimme | me tarvitaan |
| te tarvitsette | te tarviitte | – |
| he tarvitsevat | ne tarvii | ne tarttee |
5. The other tenses and moods
The other tenses and moods aren’t especially different from standard Finnish. They undergo the sound changes that are typical for Finnish in general, such as dropping the -i from the end of a word.
5.1. The imperfect tense
The imperfect tense is generally very similar in spoken and written Finnish. The biggest differences lay in 1) the me-form (where we use the passive imperfect), and 2) the third person forms, where we can sometimes drop the -i from the end of the word.
This is a regular occurrence all through spoken Finnish and not exclusive to the imperfect tense. Read more here.
| Standard | Spoken |
|---|---|
| minä kysyin | mä kysyin |
| sinä kysyit | sä kysyit |
| hän kysyi | se kysy(i) |
| me kysyimme | me kysyttiin |
| te kysyitte | te kysyitte |
| he kysyivät | ne kysy(i) |
The third person changes are interesting, because in the singular you will need to listen very closely to hear the difference.
5.2. The perfect tense
The perfect tense will often lose its final -t. Another difference to note is that in the plural forms, -nut/-nyt doesn’t become -neet: in spoken language -nut/-nyt is also used in the plural forms.
| Standard | Spoken |
|---|---|
| minä olen kysynyt | mä oon kysyny(t) |
| sinä olet kysynyt | sä oot kysyny(t) |
| hän on kysynyt | se on kysyny(t) |
| me olemme kysyneet | me ollaan kysytty |
| te olette kysyneet | te ootte kysyny(t) |
| he ovat kysyneet | ne on kysyny(t) |
This is of course also the case in the negative imperfect tense (mä en kysyny) and the plusquampefect (mä olin kysyny).
5.3. The conditional
The conditional’s marker is -isi-, so according to regular occurrences all over spoken Finnish, we will drop the final -i when it occurs at the end of the word. Read more here.
| Standard | Spoken |
|---|---|
| minä kysyisin | mä kysyisin |
| sinä kysyisit | sä kysyisit |
| hän kysyisi | se kysyis |
| me kysyisimme | me kysyttäis(iin) |
| te kysyisitte | te kysyisitte |
| he kysyisivät | ne kysyis |
In verbtype 4, we will find some verbs that will in standard Finnish contain a string of three vowels in a row (e.g. haluaisin, siivoaisin). These forms will lose the middle vowel (e.g. haluisin, siivoisin).
| Standard | Spoken |
|---|---|
| minä haluaisin | mä haluisin |
| sinä haluaisit | sä haluisit |
| hän haluaisi | se haluis |
| me haluaisimme | me haluttais(iin) |
| te haluaisitte | te haluisitte |
| he haluaisivat | ne haluisivat |
That’s all for verbs in Finnish spoken language!
Hi, I was listening to music of Anne Mattila encountering the song “Ethän mee”. Someone in my fb group told me it was puhekieli for “you won’t go, will you?” explaining that mee was short for menee. So I was wondering if there is some kind of contraction here that makes sense?
I should have been more clear: I was referring to the “Ethän” part and how the meaning refers to “you”. Sorry about that little omission.
Interesting! Useful! Thanks for the examples!
Thank you very much. The link to your page contains a very complete explanation. Thanks!
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