III infinitive (mA infinitive)

Form of the III infinitive

The III infinitive is formed by appending mA and a case suffix to the inflection stem of a verb, the same stem as used in present tense forms, e.g. juos|ta : juokse|n : juokse|ma|lla (to run: I run : by running).

In spoken Finnish, the illative of the III infinitive very often appears in a shorter form where an illative suffix (prolonging of the final vowel plus an n) is directly appended to the verb stem, e.g. juokseen instead of juoksemaan. Especially in fast speech, even the final n may be omitted, e.g. tekee.

Cases of the III infinitive

The III infinitive always has a case suffix, from a limited set of cases: the inner locational cases (inessive, elative, illative), the adessive (indicating here a method or manner), the abessive, and the instructive, which is rather archaic. The following table summarizes their use, with the verb luke|a (to read) as example and including the very rare passive form of the instructive (discussed later in this secttion).

Inner locational cases of III infinitive

The inner locational cases of the III infinitive are often used in a “locational” meaning, in the sense of referring to being in action, leaving an action, and entering an action. Examples:

Hän on korjaamassa autoa (He is repairing the car), Hän tulee korjaamasta autoa (He comes from repairing the car), Hän menee korjaamaan autoa (He goes to repair the car). The inessive is typically used with the verb olla (to be), but it can also be used e.g. in Hän istuu lukemassa kirjaa (He is sitting and reading a book).

The verbs lähteä (to leave), mennä (to go), and tulla (to come) are normally not used in the locational cases of the III infinitive. It would be odd to say e.g. Olen tulemassa kirjastosta. Instead, the cor­re­spond­ing nouns (names of action) lähtö, meno, and tulo, derived from those verbs, are used in the inessive, e.g. Olen tulossa kirjastosta (I am coming from the library).

Inessive of III infinitive (-mAssA)

The inessive of the III infinitive is often used in contexts where we use a progressive form in English, e.g. Olen syömässä corresponds to “I am eating” or, more specifically depending on context, “I am having lunch” or something similar.

However, in Finnish, such expressions involve an emphasis on being in the middle of some action, instead of being routinely used according to grammar rules. A famous Finnish saying Minä juon nyt kahvia, originally a comment by a prime minister to journalists, means “I am having coffee now”, and it is normal to put things that way rather than Minä olen nyt juomassa kahvia.

Compare the sentences Olin kirjoittamassa kirjettä, kun puhelin soi and Kirjoitin kirjettä, kun puhelin soi. They both mean “I was writing a letter, when the phone rang”, but the former emphasizes that I was in the middle of writing and the phone interrupted me. The latter just states what I was doing when the phone rang.

Elative of III infinitive (-mAstA)

The elative of the III infinitive is used in expressions for avoiding or stopping an action, “getting away” from an action, figuratively speaking. Therefore it is used with verbs like estää (to prevent), estyä (to be prevented), kieltäytyä (to refuse), kieltää (to prohibit), kieltäytyä (to refuse), lakata (to stop), pelastaa (to rescue), pelastua (to be rescued), varoa (to be wary of), varoittaa (to warn against), välttyä (to avoid), välttää (to avoid). Examples: Hän esti minua menemästä sisälle (He prevented me from entering), Lakkasin puhumasta (I stopped talking).

The common verb lopettaa (to stop) is not in the list. We do not use a III infinitive form or any verb form to express what is stopped; instead, a noun derived from the relevant verb is used, e.g. Lopetin puhumisen (where puhuminen is a noun for the action of talking, derived from puhua “to talk, to speak”). A different, less common verb with the same basic meaning, lakata, is used with the III infinitive, e.g. Lakkasin puhumasta.

The verb tulla (to come) can be used with the elative of the III infinitive to express that one is coming from doing something, e.g. Hän tulee äänestämistä (He is coming from voting).

Illative of III infinitive (-mAAn)

The illative of the III infinitive is used in many expressions for starting an action, “getting into” an action and about encourageing an action, being able to start an action, etc. For example, in English we say “We asked him to leave”, but in Finnish, we do not use the I infinitive of the verb lähteä (to leave) but the illative of the III infinitive: Pyysimme häntä lähtemään.

Many verbs require an associated verb to be in the illative of the III infinitive. Dictionaries do not usually describe this explicitly, though it can often be inferred from examples. Some common verbs in this category are alentua (to vouchsafe), auttaa (to help), harjoitella (to practice), houkutella (to persuade), joutua (to be forced to), jättää (to leave [someone to do something]), jäädä (to stay), kasvattaa (to educate), kehottaa (to urge), kouluttaa (to educate), kutsua (to invite), lahjoa (to bribe), neuvoa (to advise), onnistua (to succeed), opastaa (to guide), opettaa (to teach), oppia (to learn), pakottaa (to force), pyrkiä (to try to), pystyä (to be able to), pyytää (to ask), päästä (to get to…), rohkaista (to encourage), rukoilla (to beg), ruveta (to start), ryhtyä (to start), sattua (to happen), suostua (to agree, to be persuaded), tottua (to get used), valmistautua (to prepare oneself), yllyttää (to incite). However, some verbs similar to these in meaning require an associated verb in the I infinitive. For example, we say hän pystyy jo kävelemään (he is already able to walk) but hän osaa jo kävellä (he can already walk).

For some verbs like ehtiä (to have time to), either the I infinitive or the III infinitive illative can be used: En ehdi syödä ∼ En ehdi syömään (I don’t have time to eat). The latter may be seen as suggesting the idea “to have time to come and to…”. As a somewhat different example, the verb käskeä (to order, to command) can be used with the III infinitive, e.g. Käskin häntä poistumaan (I ordered him to leave), but this can also be expressed differently, using the I infinitive: Käskin hänen poistua; here the object is in the genitive, not in the partitive.

The verb alkaa : alan (to start, to begin) traditionally requires I infinitive, e.g. alan tehdä (I start doing) in standard language. However, the use of III infinitive illative, e.g. alan tekemään ∼ tekeen ∼ tekee, has always been common in speech. This variation reflects dialect differences. Language authorities have now decided that both forms are accepted, though the III infinitive illative only in a standard form like tekemään. This decision has been heavily criticized, and many people (and publishers) still regard alan tehdä as the only correct alternative in standard Finnish.

The rules, though mostly not listed explicitly in language norms, have not been relaxed for most verbs. Yet, constructs like pyrkii tehdä instead of the correct pyrkii tekemään are not uncommon.

There are also some adjectives and participles that require that an associated verb be in the illative of the III infinitive, such as halukas (willing), haluton (unwilling), hidas (slow), huono (poor), hyvä (good), innokas (eager), innostunut (enthusiastic), kiinnostunut (interested), kyllästynyt (fed up), nopea (fast), pätevä (competent), sopiva (suitable), valmis (ready), väsynyt (tired). Examples: Olen hidas oppimaan (I am a slow learner), Hän on hyvä tanssimaan (He is a good dancer), Oletko valmis lähtemään? (Are you ready to go?).

The illative of the III infinitive can be used with the verb olla, without any adjective, in negative statements and doubtful questions to refer to capability or suitability for doing something. The person or other entity so described is expressed with the elative form (-stA case). Example: Hänestä ei ole johtamaan (He isn’t competent/able to lead). This is similar to expressions like Hänestä ei ole johtajaksi, where a noun in the translative (-ksi case) is used, instead of a verb.

The inessive of the III infinitive is used in future tense forms, such as tulette näkemään (you will see).

Adessive of III infinitive (-mAllA)

The adessive of the III infinitive usually refers to an action carried out as a means of achieving something that is expressed by another verb. E.g. He ylittivät joen uimalla (They crossed the river by swimming), Vietin aikaa lukemalla kirjaa (I spent time reading a book). Constructs like uimalla and lukemalla kirjaa can be classified as instrumental clause equivalents.

This form is also used to enforce or emphasize the same verb used as a predicate. For example, the phrase pyytämällä pyysi consists of two forms of the verb pyytää, and it means intensively asking for something (literally “by asking asked”). This is described in more detail in section Reduplication.

Abessive of III infinitive (-mAttA)

The abessive of the III infinitive means “without …ing”, e.g. ajattelematta means “without thinking”, tietämättään (without his/her knowing). Usually the implied agent is the subject of the clause, and no possessive suffix is used even when the subject is a personal pronoun, e.g. Me teimme sen ymmärtämättä seurauksia (We did it without understanding the consequences). If the agent is different, it is expressed with a genitive attribute, e.g. Päätös tehtiin minun ymmärtämättä sen seurauksia (The decision was made so that I did not understand its consequences).

The abessive of the III infinitive of the verb tietää (to know) can be used in an adverb-like manner, without any object or adverbials relating to it, but with a possessive suffix and possibly with a genitive attribute. Examples: Tein sen tietämättäni (I did it unknowingly), Ville teki sen tietämättään (Ville did it unknowingly), Ville teki sen meidän tietämättämme (Ville did it without our knowing). There is similar use for some other verbs, e.g. Tein sen tahtomattani (I did it unwillingly). Compare this with normal use with an object, for example: Tein sen tietämättä ongelman syitä (I did it without knowing the causes of the problem).

If this form has an object, it is always in the partitive, due to the negative meaning of the form, e.g. Hän kuunteli uskomatta sanaakaan (He listened to without believing a word).

This form is also used in phrases like jättää tekemättä (to leave undone), jättää sanomatta (to leave unsaid), jättää menemättä (to not go), and olla tekemättä (to not do). It has idiomatic use when the predicate is a form of the verb voida (to be able): en voi olla sanomatta means literally “I cannot be without saying”, but it corresponds to the English idiom ”I cannot help saying”.

The abessive of the III infinitive is used to form the negation of the I infinitive, using the verb olla as an auxiliary verb in the I infinitive form. For example, the negation of nauraa (to laugh) is olla nauramatta, and we use expressions like Oli vaikeaa olla nauramatta (It was difficult not to laugh).

Instructive of III infinitive (-mAn)

The instructive of the III infinitive, e.g. tekemän, is used only with the verb pitää, which denotes necessity or obligation. It is rare and not used in modern language, except when imitating or quoting old language. E.g. the question Mitä minun pitää tekemän? (What shall I do?) in old Bible translations is simply Mitä minun pitää tehdä? in the modern translation.

An even more rare form is the passive version of the instructive, such as teh|tämä|n. Its form can be constructed from the passive participle past tense by replacing the final tU by tAmAn, e.g. tehty yields tehtämän. Example of old Biblical use (Mark 13:10): Ja sitä ennen pitää evankeliumi saarnattaman kaikille kansoille; modern translation: Mutta sitä ennen on evankeliumi julistettava kaikille kansoille (But first, the gospel must be proclaimed to all nations).

The stem of III infinitive as a participle

The stem of the III infinitive, such as tekemä, is also used as a passive participle. In such usage, the word can be used in principle in any case form, including the nominative, e.g. puolueen tekemä esitys (a/the proposal made by the party), genitive puolueen tekemän esityksen etc. The distinction between such participles and the III infinitive is partly a matter of convention, but the basic distinction is that the participles are used as attributes, like adjectives.