Participles

Participles as adjectives, nouns, and verb forms

Participles are verb forms such as “written” in English. In Finnish, participles are treated as adjectives, in addition to being verb forms, so that they have cases and plural forms. For example, “written” is kirjoitettu, a participle of kirjoittaa (to write), but depending on context, it appears in inflected forms such as the genitive kirjoitetun and the plural kirjoitetut.

Participles are mainly used as attributes, as in kirjoitettu sana (written word). They may also become nouns, along with adjective use. For example, oppinut means primarily “learned” as an adjective, but it may also mean “learned person, scholar” and be used as a noun, e.g. as a subject, object, or predicate, e.g. Oppineet sanoivat (The learned said).

Participles are also used to construct verb forms with an auxiliary verb, such as perfect tense forms, e.g. Ne on kirjoitettu (They have been written), and then different rules apply. They are also used in clause equivalents, e.g. Kuulin hänen sanovan niin (I heard him/her say so).

In some contexts, a participle may be interpreted either as being used as an adjective or as a part of two-word verb form. For example, Olen väsynyt (I am tired) can be read both ways: väsynyt, a participle of väsyä (to become tried), can be treated as an adjective or as part of a perfect form. The interpretation affects the form of the participle in some contexts. For example, in plural we say (in standard Finnish) Olemme väsyneitä when using a participle as an adjective, due to case rules for a predicative, but Olemme väsyneet when using a perfect tense form.

Simple active participles -vA and -nUt

Simple active participles have present (or, more accurately, non-past) tense and past tense. They are formed as follows:

• The present participle has the ending va or vä, which is appended to the inflection stem, the same as in the present tense forms.
• The past participle has nut or nyt suffix in the nominative but nee in most other forms (with ee shortening before the plural suffix i), e.g. sanonut : sanonee|n : sanonee|t. The suffix is appended to the same stem that appears in the infinitive. However, there are often phonetic changes:
  • A t at the end of the stem is changed to n, e.g. osat|a : osan|nut.
  • An l, r, or s at the end of the stem is causes the n in the suffix to become identical with the stem consonant, e.g. juos|ta : juos|sut.
• In the verbs tietää and taitaa, the last vowel of the stem is lost and the t before it is assimilated to n, i.e. tien|nyt and tain|nut. However, the regular forms tietänyt and taitanut are also used, but less common.

For example, the participle puhuva, from puhu|a “to speak” means “speaking” or the subordinate clause “that speaks”. The past participle puhunut (plural: puhuneet) has no direct counterpart in English, but it corresponds to the subordinate clause “that spoke” or “that has spoken”.

In colloquial language, the final consonant of nut or nyt is usually assimilated to the same as the next consonant and omitted before a pause or a vowel. E.g., en sanonut sitä (I did not say that) is usually spoken mä en sanonus sitä.

The past participle is also used to construct the perfect and pluperfect (past perfect) tenses. For example, olen puhunut (literally “I am one that spoke”) corresponds to “I have spoken”.

Passive participle as a concept

Finnish also has passive participles, which are real passive forms, as opposite to most forms called “passive” forms in most Finnish grammars. Passive participles indicate that something or someone is or was the object of the action expressed by the verb. For example, the active participles kirjoittava and kirjoittanut mean “that writes” and “that has written”, whereas the passive participles kirjoitettava and kirjoitettu mean “that is [being] written” and “that has been written” or simply “written”.

However, passive participles also say something about the agent. The above-mentioned forms kirjoitettava and kirjoitettu normally imply a personal agent. Forms like kirjoittamani specify the agent as 1st person singular, due to the suffix ni, and they act as both present and past participles, cor­re­spond­ing to “that I write” and “that I have written”.

Moreover, negative participles like kirjoittamaton can be used both as active and as passive

Passive participles, past tense

In most Finnish grammars, only forms with the suffix ttu, tty, tu, or ty are classified as passive participles. For example, puhuttu means “spoken” (from puhua “to speak”), and yhdistetty means “connected” (from yhdistää “to connect”). These forms are also used construct the 4th person forms of perfect and pluperfect (past perfect) tenses. For example, on puhuttu corresponds to “it has been spoken” or “it has been told”. For such usage, these participles can be formed even from intransitive verbs (verbs that cannot have an object), e.g. olla : oltu.

Such a form implies a personal agent but does not otherwise specify the agent. In effect, it is a 4th person form. Thus, the meaning is narrower than the meaning of cor­re­spond­ing English participles. In English, “connected” does not necessarily mean “one that has been connected by acts of human beings”. The English participle does not imply a human agent, but the Finnish participle yhdistetty does, at least in standard language.

There are also passive participles of other person forms, but they are traditionally described as distinct “agent participle” (agenttipartisiippi) forms. The traditional name is suitable in the sense that for these participles, the agent is always expressed, either with a genitive attribute or with a possessive suffix. If we consider the meanings of the forms, rather than the ways in which they are formed, we can distinguish the following passive participles, illustrated using the verb sanoa (to say) as an example:

For example, the expression sanomani asiat (in colloquial language: mun sanomat asiat) means “the things that I said”, whereas sanotut asiat means “the things that were said”. The agent cannot be expressed in any way comparable to the “by” preposition in English. Instead, an expression like “the things said by John” would normally be translated as Johnin sanomat asiat. This expression uses the 3rd person singular participle without a possessive suffix but with an attribute in genitive before it, expressing the agent.

The 4th person form, indicating unspecified but human agent, is often the only one called passive participle in Finnish grammars. It has the suffix ttU or tU. It can be formed from the 4th person indicative past tense form by changing the iin to u or y. Examples: sanoa : sanottiin : sanottu, syödään : syötiin : syöty.

Another way to describe the form of the 4th person passive past participle is the following:

• The stem used is the stem of the I infinitive, without the infinitive suffix. Note that in contraction verbs like salata, only the final vowel is regarded as the suffix: salat|a (: salaa|n).
• If the stem ends with a long vowel or a diphtong, the suffix is tU and this suffix participates in consonant gradation t : d, e.g. saa|da : saa|tu : saa|du|n and haravoi|da : haravoi|tu : haravoi|du|n.
• If the stem ends with a consonant, the suffix is tU, and it may or may not participate in consonant gradation, according to its rules for consonant combinations, e.g.. tul|la : tul|tu : tul|lu|n (with gradation lt : ll), pes|tä : pes|ty : pes|ty|n (no gradation for st), and salat|a : salat|tu : salat|u|n (with gradation tt : t).
• Otherwise the suffix is ttU and participates in consonant gradation tt : t, e.g. sano|a : sano|ttu : sano|tu|n.
• When the suffix is ttU, the stem is in the weak grade, independently of the inflection form of the participle, e.g. hankki|a : hanki|ttu : hanki|tu|n.
• When the suffix is ttU and the I infinitive (as a whole) ends with aa or ää, the last vowel of the stem (a or ä) is changed to e, e.g. osta|a : oste|ttu : oste|tu|n.

Passive participles can make Finnish sentences difficult to analyze. Further complications are caused by the fact that the dictionary form of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person participle, like sanoma, might be in use as an independent noun, too. For example, sanoma used as a noun means “message”. Thus, an expression containing a word with the mA suffix may have two interpretations, perhaps with rather similar but still different meanings: hänen sanomansa might mean “his message”, but the second word could also be a participle, so that the meaning is “what he has said”.

A noun like sanoma and the participle stem sanoma are identical in all case forms, and they share a common origin; the mA suffix is used both as a derivational suffix and as a participle suffix. However, these words are used differently, and their meanings differ: the noun has a special meaning, whereas the participle, as a verb form, can have any meanings that the verb can have when used with an object.

Passive participles as verb forms

In Finnish, passive participles are treated as verb forms to a greater extent than in English: they express a real change, an act or process that has actually changed something. For example, the meaning of yhdistetty is narrower than the meaning of “connected” also in the sense that it implies that someone has done some connecting, not just a state of connection. Moreover, like other 4th person forms, yhdistetty implies a personal agent.

For example, in English we can say “A is connected with B”, but it would be wrong to say in Finnish A on yhdistetty B:hen, unless we know that someone has actually connected A with B; otherwise, we say e.g. A on yhteydessä B:hen (A is in connection with B). In English we can say that two lakes are connected when there is a river running from one the other, but the Finnish sentence Järvet on yhdistetty toisiinsa would mean that people have connected them e.g. by building a canal.

Due to influence of foreign languages, participles like yhdistetty have been used much like English participles, to refer to a state or property. Language guides have recommended against such usage, and it is now relatively rare. However, some participles are commonly used that way, e.g. suljettu (closed). It is still recommended to say e.g. Kauppa on kiinni rather than Kauppa on suljettu when referring to the state of a shop being closed, rather than to a past action of closing. Other participles commonly used to express states are rajoitettu (limited), for which e.g. rajallinen has been recommended, and määrätty (certain; definite), which is often difficult to replace.

Language authorities now accept the use of the following participles in an adjective-like manner, so that they do not imply a personal agent or an actual change: etuoikeutettu (privileged), itseoikeutettu (as a matter of course, ex officio), määrätty (definite, certain), oikeutettu (justified), perusteltu (reasonable, justifiable), rajattu (restricted), rajoitettu (limited), sidottu (bound), tietty (certain), uskallettu (daring), varusteltu (equipped). However, the authorities warn that such use can still be disturbing to some people. There is usually a good replacement for any of these words, though it depends on the context and on the intended meaning.

Passive participle, present tense, -t(t)AvA

A verb with the suffix (t)tava or (t)tävä is a passive participle that implies an unspecified personal agent and refers to something that is being done or will be done. Thus, it is “present tense” in the same sense as present tense in Finnish in general: it refers to non-past things. For example, julkaistava, from julkaista (to publish), refers to something that is being published or, more often, will be published. Such participles may have more or less specialized meanings. For example, hyväksyttävä, from hyväksyä (to accept), means something that can (or should) be accepted, acceptable.

The passive participle present tense can be formed by replacing the iin ending of the 4th person past tense by AvA. Examples: sanoa : sanottiin : sanottava; tehdä : tehtiin : tehtävä; julkaista : julkaistiin : julkaistava. Alternatively, we can say that it is formed from the passive participle past tense by replacing the final U by AvA, e.g. sanottu yields sanottava.

The system of participles is not uniform: this type of a participle is effectively a 4th person form and has no counterpart in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person. In general, there is no grammatically correct way to express the agent in any other way either, when the participle is used in the role of an adjective attribute. Thus, we can say julkaistava kirja (a/the book that will be published), but if you wish to express the publisher, you need to say that separately or change the entire expression to use a subsidiary clause instead of a participle, e.g. kirja, jonka tulen julkaisemaan (a/the book that I will publish). We can say julkaisemani kirja, but it has a past tense participle and means “a/the book that I have published”.

However, in some contexts passive participles may have possessive suffixes, which indicate the agent. For example, the sentence Ehdotus on käsiteltävänäni has the participle käsiteltävä (being handled, being processed) in the essive case, but the suffix -ni really turns the sentence to mean “The proposal is being handled by me”. An attribute in the genitive has a similar impact: Ehdotus on ministerin käsiteltävänä (The proposal is being handled by the minister). Some sayings are based on constructs with the participle in the nominative and with a possessive suffix, e.g. Sanoin sanottavani (I said what I had to say, literally “I said my what-is-said”), Teen voitavani (I will do what I can).

The passive participle present tense can be used in the role of an adjective in different case forms, e.g. julkaistavissa kirjoissa (in books that will be published).

Some forms also have specialized usage. This is summarized in the following table of the case forms of the participle nähdä (to see), showing in bold those forms that may have specialized usage along with normal usage. The specialized usage is described after the table.

Specialized usage:

• The nominative singular, used with the verb olla, expresses necessity or obligation, e.g. Minun on julkaistava kirja joka vuosi (I have to publish a book every year). Here on julkaistava is a combined verb form. The sentence has no grammatical subject; the agent is expressed (if at all) by a noun in the genitive (minun in the example). The object may be missing, e.g. Minun on lähdettävä (I have to leave).
• The inessive plural, used with the verb olla, expresses possibility, opportunity, e.g. Suunnitelma on toteutettavissa (The plan is implementable). This can be characterized as a passive sentence: the grammatical subject (suunnitelma in the example) is the target of the action, and the agent is expressed using a genitive attribute or a possessive suffix or both, e.g. Auto on Pekan käytettävissä (The car is at Pekka’s disposal), Auto on meidän käytettävissämme (The car is at our disposal).
• The adessive plural, with the verb olla, is used much like the inessive plural, but only for some verbs and without expressing the agent. It indicates that something has specifically been made available. For example, Maalaus on nähtävillä Ateneumissa means that the painting has been set for display in Ateneum, whereas Maalaus on nähtävissä means just the the painting can be seen, is visible.
• The allative plural, with the verb olla, is used with different verbs to refer to making something available, e.g. Maalaus asetettiin nähtäville Ateneumiin (The painting was set for display in Ateneum).
• The essive singular, with the verb olla, is used for some verbs to indicate that something has been made available or submitted to something. E.g. Maalaus on nähtävänä Ateneumissa is rather synonymous with Maalaus on nähtävillä Ateneumissa. In the following phrases, the adessive is not an alternative (and the inessive would have a different meaning): on haettavana (is vacant; can be applied for), on kuljetettavana (is being transported), on myytävänä (is for sale), on tutkittavana (is being inspected/investigated), on vuokrattavana (is for rent). The plural form is possible, too, if the subject is in plural, e.g. Nämä autot ovat myytävänä ∼ myytävinä (These cars are for sale).
• The translative singular is used with different verbs to refer to making something or submitting it to something, e.g. Talo asetettiin myytäväksi (The house was put up for sale). The plural form is possible, too, if the subject is in plural, e.g. Virat julistettiin haettavaksi ∼ haettaviksi (The posts were declared vacant).

Participles do not have moods in Finnish. Usually the meaning is indicative, e.g. käytettävä means “that is used” or ”that will be used”. However, some forms of this type often denote necessity, e.g. täytettävä (that shall be filled in), but they may also mean possibility, “that can be filled” in, or be just indicative, “that will be filled in”. Similarly, syötävä, from syödä (to eat), often means “edible”, but it may also mean “that will be eaten”. The expression syötävissä oleva unambiguously means “edible”.

Since participles may be turned into nouns as well, a word like tehtävä has three rather different uses. It is often a noun meaning “task”, e.g. Tässä on sinulle tehtävä (Here is a task/job for you); it can be used in specialized ways as described above, e.g. Minun on tehtävä tämä (I have to do this); and it can be just a participle of tehdä (to do; to make), e.g. täällä tehtävät uudistukset (the reforms that are being made / will be made here).

Negative participles

A negative participle indicates the negation of a cor­re­spond­ing normal participle. The peculiar, and often inconvenient, feature is that the same negative participle corresponds to several normal participles, which have different meanings.

For example, the participles lukeva, lukenut, luettu, luettava, lukemani, lukemasi, lukema(nsa), lukemamme, and lukemanne all have different meanings. Yet, the same negative participle lukematon corresponds to all of them. It may refer to someone who is not reading, or who has not read, or something that is not being read, etc.

The negative participle can also refer to the impossibility of doing something. For example, korvaamaton, from korvat|a : korvaa|n (to replace), normally means “irreplaceable”, though it could in principle also mean e.g. “that has not been replaced”. However, different words are handled differently in this respect. Although the positive participle luettava can mean “legible, readable”, in addition to meaning “that is being read”, the negative participle lukematon can hardly have the meaning “illegible, unreadable”—instead, to express such a concept, we need to resort to words like lukukelvoton.

This is not as confusing as it may seem, since usually the context or the meaning of the verb resolves ambiguities. For example, the expression kirjoittamaton laki can only mean “unwritten law”, not “law that does not write”, since laws don’t write. The word sietämätön, from sietä|ä “tolerate”, has as such two plausible interpretations, “one that does not tolerate, intolerant” and “one that will not be tolerated, intolerable”. In order to decide between these, you need to known the full meaning of the sentence where it appears. In rare occasions, we might be left with a real ambiguity, and we might need to make a guess on the basis that in most contexts, sietämätön has a passive meaning, “intolerable”.

Ambiguities are sometimes avoided by the use of passive verbs. The participle tietämätön, of tietää (to know), has usually only an active meaning “one that does not know, ignorant”. The the participle tietymätön, of tietyä (to be known) has the meaning “one that is not known, unknown”. The passive verb tietyä is hardly used otherwise, but the participle is common especially in phrases like kadota tietymättömiin (to vanish into thin air) and olla tietymättömissä (to be nowhere to be found).

Participles expressing changes

In English, it is normal to refer to changes with expressions where only a participle indicates the change, e.g. “The problems were caused by reduced sales”. This is illogical in principle: the cause was not the sales but the reduction in sales. In Finnish, it is common to write in a similar manner, e.g. Ongelmat johtuivat vähentyneestä myynnistä. However, language guides generally recommend more logical formulations, such as Ongelmat johtuivat myynnin vähenemisestä.