Negation

The negation verb

The English negation word “not” has no inflection, but in Finnish, negation is expressed using a negation verb. This verb has no infinitive, and its inflection is rather restricted, but it is still a verb. It has the personal forms en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät (so that the stem is partly e-, partly ei-) and the imperative forms älä, älköön, älkäämme, älkää, älkööt. Historically, the negative prefix epä- (un-, non-) is a participle of the negation verb.

The negation verb is used together with a verb that expresses what is being negated, e.g. en sano (I do not say). The negation verb appears alone only in a negative answer to a question, so that the other verb is implied, e.g. En!, and as the adverb-like form ei, which may be used to accompany a negative answer, e.g. Ei, en sano.

Summary of negations of a verb

The following table summarizes negations of all simple finite forms of a verb, using sanoa as the example verb. Of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person forms, only 1st person forms are shown, if the other forms follow the same pattern, with variation only in the negation verb. Only 1st person singular is shown when the only difference with plural forms is in the negation verb.

The negations of conditional forms such as en sanoisi(^x) have been marked as containing a special negation form of the main verb. However, this form coincides with the simple positive form used in 3rd person singular such as sanoisi, except that the negation form may have boundary gemination (in most forms of the language, it does not have it).

The following table summarizes the negation forms for a verb with a consonant stem, using the verb is juosta (to run) as the example.

Negation of present tense forms

In negative indicative present tense, the verb being negated is in a special form, which coincides—somewhat paradoxically—with the common imperative form.

The 4th person form is exceptional: in it, the negation verb is in the 3rd person form, and the main verb is in a special form. That form is the normal 4th person form with the *n part. replaced by boundary gemination. Thus, for sano|a : sano|taan, this form is sano|ta^x. For tul|la^x : tul|laan, it is tul|la^x, i.e. the same as the infinitive.

Thus, to express the negation of the expressions sanon, sanot etc. (I say, you say,…), we use the following:

• en sano (I do not say)
• et sano (you do not say)
• hän ei sano (he/she does not say)
• emme sano (we do not say)
• ette sano (you do not say, with plural “you”)
• he eivät sano (they do not say)
• ei sanota (one does not say)

As usual with verbs, colloquial language normally uses the 1st and 2nd person pronoun: mä en sano etc., and the 2nd person plural is the same as the 4th person but with a subject: me ei sanota (we do not say).

Negation of past tense forms

The negation verb has no separate past tense. Instead, in a negation of a past tense expression, the main verb is in the past participle form, e.g. en sanonut. The participle has separate forms for singular and plural, but otherwise it is not inflected in this context—it is always in the nominative. In 2nd person singular, when using the polite pronoun Te (the teitittely addressing), the negation verb is in plural, ette, but the participle is in singular in standard language, e.g. sanonut (but plural participles are often used in practice).

In the 4th person, the main verb is in the 4th person passive participle form: ei sanottu. The same form is used in the 2nd person plural in colloquial language: me ei sanottu.

Thus, in standard language the forms are:

• en sanonut (I did not say)
• et sanonut (you did not say)
• ette sanonut (you did not say, addressing one person politely)
• hän ei sanonut (he/she did not say)
• emme sanoneet (we did not say)
• ette sanoneet (you did not say, with plural “you”)
• he eivät sanoneet (they did not say)
• ei sanottu (one did not say)

Negation of perfect and pluperfect forms

A perfect or pluperfect form is negated simply by negating the auxiliary verb olla. For example, the negation of olen sanonut is en ole sanonut, and negation of olin sanonut is en ollut sanonut. The same principle is applied in the 4th form, e.g. the negation of on sanottu is ei ole sanottu and the negation of oli sanottu is ei ollut sanottu (in speech often ei oltu sanottu).

Negation of conditional forms

The negation of a conditional form consists of the negation verb and of the main verb in a form that ends with the conditional suffix isi, with no person suffix. Thus, the negations of sanoisin, sanoisit etc. are en sanoisi, et sanoisi, etc.

In some dialects, there is boundary gemination in the isi forms used in this context, e.g. en sanoisi mitään is pronounced en sanoisim mitään. However, this is rarely heard in common spoken language.

Negation of potential forms

The negation of a potential form consists of the negation verb and of the main verb in a form that ends with the potential suffix ne^x, with no person suffix, but with boundary gemination applied. Thus, the negations of sanonen, sanonet etc. are en sanone, et sanone, etc., and e.g. en sanone mitään is pronounced en sanonem mitään.

Negation of expressions with an auxiliary verb

Negation of perfect, pluperfect, and future forms means negating the auxiliary verbi (olla or tulla). The main verb is in the same form as in a positive expression. The following examples show first a positive statement, then its negation:

• olen sanonut, en ole sanonut
• olin sanonut, en ollut sanonut
• tulen sanomaan, en tule sanomaan
• olen sanova, en ole sanova

Negation of imperative forms

Generally, negation of the imperative means a prohibition (e.g. “do not say”). In Finnish, the normal imperative forms of verbs consist of the negation verb in a 2nd person imperative form followed by the main verb in a special form, e.g. älä sano^x, älkää sanoko^x. Other person forms of the negative imperative are rather dated and nowadays mostly not used in normal style; they express wishes rather than commands or instructions.

• älä sano^x (do not say)
• älköön sanoko^x (let him/her not say)
• älkäämme sanoko^x (let us not say, formal) ∼ ei sanota^x (let’s not say, normal)
• älkää sanoko^x (do not say, when addressing several people or politely one person)
• älkööt sanoko^x (let them not say)
• älköön sanottako^x (let it not be said)

Instead of the old 1st person plural imperative like älkäämme sanoko^x, the normal (indicative) mood of the 4th person, e.g. ei sanota^x, is used almost always, except in solemn language. A difference between such use and using the same words for indicative statements (we do not say) is usually made with intonation or with an exclamation sign (Ei sanota!).

As indicated in the summary above, the form of the main verb in negative imperative forms always has boundary gemination in standard Finnish, e.g. älä sano mitään is pronounced älä sanom mitään. The form is the same as the normal imperative form in 2nd person singular. In most other persons, the form consists of the stem (consonant stem when available) and the kO^x suffix. The 4th person has the combined suffix ttAkO ∼ tAkO, which contains both the mode suffix and the person suffix. The suffix tAkO is used for verbs that have a consonant stem, e.g. kävellä : kävel|täkö.

Unlike other 2nd person singular imperative forms, älä lacks boundary gemination.

Negation of infinitives

The I infinitive has no negation form, but the negation of an infinitive like tehdä can be expressed with a phrase like olla tekemättä, i.e. using the infinitive olla and the III infinitive abessive form of the main verb.

Expressions like ei tehdä are sometimes used, but not accepted in standard language. However, they have some use even in well-known translations such as Ollako vai eikö olla (To be or not to be).

Other infinitives have no negation forms. The III infinitive abessive like laulamatta (without singing) is itself negative, but it can be used as a negation of infinitives like laulaen or laulamalla in a special sense only.

Negation of participles

As described in section Negative participles, a participle with the suffix mAtOn (e.g. kirjoittamaton) acts as a negation for several participles (e.g., kirjoitettu, kirjoittava) that have different meanings. In clause equivalents, participles cannot be negated.

Negation context

As explained in the description of pronouns, some pronouns such as joku (someone) have negative counterparts such as kukaan, for use when the sentence has a negation verb or is otherwise negative. Thus, we say Joku tietää sen (Someone knows it) but Kukaan ei tiedä sitä (Nobody knows it). In the example, every word of the negative sentence is different from the words of the positive sentence. Even the form of the object is different, partitive sitä vs. genitive sen.

Negation verb combined with other words

As described in section Contractions, the negation verb is often contracted with the preceding word, e.g. että ei is contracted to ettei.

A different combination takes place with the conjunction ja (and). Normally, e.g. ja ei is replaced by eikä. This is described in section The connective suffix kä.

Omission of the negation verb

Due to the special form of the main verb in negation, you might omit the negation verb and still have the negative meaning understood. Such things happen in speech in some situations. The colloquial sentence En mä sitä osta (I will not buy it) might sometimes be shortened to Mä sitä osta. Such expressions may have a somewhat aggressive tone, which may be enfored by using the word vittu (very common, but vulgar and aggressive; the literal meaning is “cunt”), which is often phonetically joined with the next word in this context: Vittumä sitä osta. This type of expressions has been jocularly called the aggressive mood, aggressiivi.

Expressions for nobody, nothing, nowhere etc.

Finnish has no single-word counterparts to words like “nobody”. Instead, negative-context pronouns and adverbs like kukaan, mikään, and missään are used together with the negation verb. As a simple rule, nobody = ei kukaan, nothing = ei mikään, nowhere = ei missään. However, the clause structures are different.

For example, in the English sentence “Nobody knows it”, we have a simple structure with a subject (nobody), a predicate (knows), and an object (it). In the corresponding Finnish sentence Kukaan ei tiedä sitä, the predicate is the negative indicative: ei tiedä. We can use an alternative word order for emphasis or style, Ei kukaan tiedä sitä.

A slightly different example shows that the negation verb is inflected when needed: Emme tiedä siitä mitään corresponds to “We do not know anything about it” or “We know nothing about it”. The Finnish expression is structurally similar to “do not know anything”; there is no way in Finnish to have a structure corresponding to “know nothing”.

Other negative expressions

Negation can be expressed in several other ways, too:

• The abessive case, with the ttA suffix. For example, Hän istui kokouksessa sanomatta mitään (He sat in in the meeting without saying anything, He sat in the meeting and did not say anything).
• The suffix tOn : ttOmA- used to derive adjectives from nouns, usually with the meaning “which lacks…”. E.g., from raha (money) we can derive rahaton : rahattoman (moneyless). Thus, instead of Minulla ei ole lainkaan rahaa (I have no money whatsoever), we can say Olen aivan rahaton (I am entirely moneyless).
• The suffix ttOmUUs : ttOmUUde- used to derive nouns with the meaning “lack of…”. A combination of the suffixes tOn and UUs.
• The prefixes ei- and epä-, which are mainly attached to adjectives (rarely to nouns). They have partly different meanings, but epä- is the normal prefix, whereas ei- is used in some contexts to express more objective negation. For example, epäinhimillinen, from inhimillinen (human), means “inhuman”, whereas ei-inhimillinen (written with a hyphen) means “non-human, not human”.

Negative adjectives

As mentioned in the preceding subsection, negative adjectives are formed mainly in two ways: appending the tOn suffix to a noun and prefixing an adjective with epä. Quite often there are two adjective derivations from a noun, a positive one with the llinen suffix and a negative one with the tOn suffix, e.g. vaarallinen (dangerous) and vaaraton (harmless, not dangerous) from vaara (danger).

Words derived with the suffix tOn usually have a noun as their base, but some of them have a specialized meaning and may have a somewhat obscure base word, e.g. hillitön (unrestrained), hävytön (shameless), and tavaton (unusual, exceptional). The derivation laiton of laki means “illegal, unlawful”, whereas laittomuus is best understood as based directly on laki, with with the meanings “lack of law” and “violation of law”.

As a rule, -tOn derivations indicate complete lack of something, e.g. kalaton järvi means a lake that has no fish at all. However, they are also used, especially as modern terminology, to indicate that some substance is present in essentially lower amount than normal. For example, kofeiiniton means “decaffeinated”, even though decaf coffee contains some caffeine, just essentially less than normal coffee. However, we distinguish, at least in formal style, e.g. between laktoositon = lactose-free and vähälaktoosinen = low-lactose.

In old vocabulary, compound words with vapaa (free) as the second part appear instead of -tOn derivations, e.g. tullivapaa instead of tulliton (toll-free). Language authorities have always recommended against such words, and their use is now mostly limited to a few terms like verovapaa (= veroton, tax-free).