The imperative mood

The imperative forms

The suffixes of imperative forms, ^x, kOOn, kAAmme, kAA, kOOt, and ttAkOOn ∼ tAkOOn, can be regarded as combined mood and person suffixes. More theoretically, we could regard ^x, kO, and kAA as variants of the mood suffix and the rest as personal suffixes.

Since the 2nd person singular form has boundary gemination (marked above with ^x), it always has weak grade when consonant gradation applies, e.g. heittää (to throw) : heitä (throw, imperative).

The 2nd person singular form can described so that it is obtained from the corresponding indicative form (such as sanot) by replacing the personal suffix t by boundary gemination. Exceptionally, the imperative of the negation verb, älä, lacks boundary gemination.

Other imperative forms than the 2nd person singular are based on the consonant stem for verbs that have such a stem, e.g. tul|la : tule|n : tule : tul|kaamme, and for them the 4th person suffix is tAkOOn, e.g. tul|la : tul|takoon.

Meanings of the imperative in 2nd person

The imperative mood is used in different meanings. Although grammars often describe the imperative as primarily commanding, as its name suggests, it is rare to use it—especially the plain imperative—that way. The uses can be classified as follows:

• Giving direct orders on the basis of authority. However, except for contexts like military service, the imperative is usually softened some way even when the intent is to give an order and expect it to be obeyed.
• Giving practical instructions, mostly in written form. In such contexts, the imperative is not regarded as offensive due to the impersonal nature of communication.
• Suggestions that are meant to be taken seriously but cannot be treated as commands. Such imperatives are generally used and accepted in advertising, e.g. Ota kolme, maksa kaksi (Take three, pay for two), in philosophy of life, e.g. Ole oma itsesi (Be yourself, be what you are), and in many other contexts.
• Emergency situations like crying for help, e.g. Auttakaa! (Help!).
• Requests like Anna tuo kirja (Give that book), though usually the imperative is softened one way or another.
• Wishes and greetings, which often constitute fixed phrases, e.g. Nuku hyvin (Sleep well). A special phrase is Ole hyvä ∼ Olkaa hyvä, which literally means “Be good” but is used when asking for something (like “please” in English in such contexts) and also when giving something, when we would say e.g. “Here you are” in English.

For direct orders in informal situations, the indicative can imply a stronger command, when accompanied with a word like nyt (now). E.g. Nyt kyllä annat kynän is a stronger command than Anna kynä and expresses impatience.

Softening a request

Finnish uses various methods to soften a request, either by using an added suffix in the imperative or by using other verb forms. Instead of the simple imperative Anna kynä (Give [me] [a] pen/pencil), the following expressions can be used:

• Annas kynä, using the -s suffix. This might be said to be minimally softened.
• Annapa kynä, using the -pA suffix. Maybe a little more softened.
• Annatko kynän, using nominally a question (Do you give a pen). This, like the above, more or less means that the person addressed is expected to do as asked.
• Antaisitko kynän, using nominally a question in the conditional mood. This might be regarded as a normal polite request.
• Voitko antaa kynän, nominally a question about ability (Can you give a pen). This is more polite.
• Voisitko antaa kynän, as above but in the conditional (Could you give a pen). This is even more polite in form, but rather common.

There is no simple equivalent to the English “please”. Roughly speaking, Antaisitko kynän is at the same level of basic politeness as “Can you please give me a pen”. It is possible to say Anna kynä, ole hyvä or Ole hyvä ja anna kynä, where ole hyvä corresponds to “please”, but these are not commonly used and might even be taken as rude.

Use of personal pronouns with the imperative

The 1st and 2nd person forms of the imperative are normally used without a personal pronoun, even in speech. If a personal pronoun is used, it may be taken as emphasis on the person or persons addressed. For example, instead of Älkää menkö sinne (Don’t go there), we can say Älkää te menkö sinne (Don’t you go there), which more or less implies that someone else is going there. On the other hand, in the sentence Älä sinä tuollaisia puhu (Don’t talk things like that), the pronoun sinä is normally a fill word, or it might convey the message “I’m talking to you”.

1st person plural imperative (“let’s …”)

The 1st person plural imperative, such as sanokaamme, is rare in modern language. It is mostly used in literary style to express assumptions (like “let us say” in English) rather than imperative proper. In formal or solemn language, it might be used in suggestions; e.g. in liturgy, a priest may say rukoilkaamme (let us pray). In colloquial language, the normal (indicative) form of the 4th person is used instead: rukoillaan.

Thus, a 4th person verb form like mennään (from mennä “to go”) has three interpretations depending on context:

1. a normal 4th person form (“one goes”, or “you go” when using “you” generically)
2. a colloquial 1st person plural when used with the pronoun me (me mennään ”we’ll go” or “we are going”)
3. a 1st person plural imperative when used without a pronoun (“let’s go”)

In written language, only the first meaning of these is strictly standard, but the the third meaning is widely accepted and used, too.

The three uses of a form like mennään can usually be distinguished on the basis of word order and other parts of the clause:

1. when used as normal 4th person form, it normally follows some expression describing the context, e.g. Suomessa mennään kouluun yleensä seitsenvuotiaana (In Finland, people usually start school at the eight of seven)
2. when preceded by the pronoun me (we), it is is the colloquial counterpart to menemme (we go)
3. otherwise, it usually has imperative meaning (let’s go), and it normally appears at the start of a sentence, e.g. Mennään uimaan! (Let’s go to swim!)

By its nature, the 1st person plural imperative menkäämme or its colloquial equivalent mennään is not a command but rather a suggestion or encouragement. To express a direct command to a group including the one that gives the command, it is normal to use the 1st person plural form or (less formally) the 4th person form, usually together with the personal pronoun: me menemme or me mennään.

3rd person imperatives

By their nature, 3rd person imperatives cannot be commands in any normal sense. Typically their use corresponds to the varying uses of “let him/her/them ...” in English. This includes the following types of usage:

• In Biblical or otherwise religious language, they are presented as used by a supernatural being that is able to cause things by his words, e.g. Tulkoon valkeus or, in modern translation, Tulkoon valo (Let there be light).
• In some sayings and some solemn styles, they express wishes, e.g. Eläköön vapaus! (Long live freedom!) and Tapahtukoon sinun tahtosi (May your will be done).
• In literary style, they can be used to introduce concepts and hypotheses, e.g. Olkoon x mielivaltainen reaaliluku (Let x be an arbitrary real number).
• They often express permission, acceptance, or tolerance, corresponding to “let him/her/them ...”, e.g. Menköön kotiin jos on väsynyt (Let him go home if he is tired), Eläköön kuten haluaa (Let him live as he likes).
• They are used to express that some people should do something themselves, when responding to a suggestion to do it for them. Sample dialog:

  – Voisitko pestä Villen auton? (Could you please wash Ville’s car?)

  – No en! Pesköön itse autonsa! (Oh no! Let him wash his own car!)

• They are used to say that one does not care about some action, as in Sanokoon mitä sanoo, minä en usko (Let him say whatever he says, I don’t believe) or as in the following dialog:

  – Pekka sanoi tulevansa kahdeksalta. (Pekka said he will arrive at eight o’clock.)

  – Tulkoon vain. Minä tulen yhdeksältä. (Let him do so. I’ll come at nine.)

The word eläköön is in principle the 3rd person singular imperative of elää (to live), meaning “let him/her/it live”. In practice, it is regarded as more or less an interjection, meaning “long live…”, so we can also say e.g. Eläköön uudet mestarit! (Long live the new champions!). The form eläkööt is the corresponding plural (“let them live”), but very rarely used.

Apart from some phrases like eläköön, 3rd person imperatives are normally used only in some styles of written language. However, such imperatives are used even in spoken language in a concessive meaning; e.g., eläköön kuten haluaa means “let him/her live as he/she likes”.

4th person imperative

The 4th person imperative is almost exclusively used only in writing and in solemn speeches. It can be used to express a general wish, e.g. nuorisoa kasvatettakoon would mean “let the youth be educated”. More often, and more prosaically, it can be used to express assumptions and hypotheses in scientific and other contexts. For example, oletettakoon would mean “let it be assumed” and would be just a bit more formal than olettakaamme (let us assume), which in turn is more formal than oletetaan. Yet another use, perhaps the most common, is concessive, in phrases like sanottakoon mitä tahansa (whatever people say; literally: let whatever be said); in speech, 4th person indicative forms like sanotaan or sanottiin are more common in such phrases.

The -Os optative

There are special verb forms like ollos, ottaos, and ällös used in old-fashioned poetic language instead of 2nd person singular imperative forms like ole, ota, and älä. By their form, they can be classified as imperatives, since they can be analyzed as having the kO suffix in weak grade, followed by the personal suffix s. They are traditionally called optative forms (optatiivi) and may be interpreted as expressing wishes rather than commands or requests.

The form of the object of an imperative

Independently of the meaning of an imperative form, a special rule applies to the grammatical case of its object. If the object is in singular and would appear in the genitive according to general rules, it is in the nominative. Example: Ota tämä kirja (Take this book), as opposite to Otan tämän kirjan (I’ll take this book). This is described in more detail in section Marking the object.