Passive verbs
There are two voices of a verb, passive and active. Active has the personal conjugation and 6 persons. Passive has only 1 personal form; passive is used when person is indefinite.
In Finnish, passive is used in general statemens. There's no subject in the passive sentence.
- Suomessa puhutaan suomea.
- They speak Finnish in Finland./Finnish is spoken in Finland.
Another common use for passive is in suggestions:
- Mennäänkö?
- Are we going? / Shall we go?
- Pelataanko korttia?
- Shall we pray cards?/ How about if we played cards?
It has 4 tempus and 4 modes.
| puhutaan | is spoken |
| puhuttiin | was spoken |
| on puhuttu | has been spoken |
| oli puhuttu | had been spoken |
| puhuttaisiin | would be spoken |
| puhuttakoon | let be spoken |
| puhuttaneen | might be spoken |
How to form passive?
NB! Passive is always in weak grade!
Passive present tense
In verb types 2-6, you form the passive by adding -an/-än after the infinitive.
| juoda | -> juodaan |
| opiskella | -> opiskellaan |
| olla | -> ollaan |
In verb type 1 you form the passive by adding -taan/tään after the stem of the 1. person singular:
| nukkua | -> nuku-n | -> nukutaan |
| lukea | -> lue-n | -> luetaan |
| sanoa | -> sano-n | -> sanotaan |
NB! The last vowel a becomes e!
| antaa | -> anna-n | -> annetaan |
| rakastaa | -> rakasta-n | -> rakastetaan |
Negative passive present tense
You can form the negative passive (present tense) by removing the 2 last letters (-an/än).
| >juodaan | -> ei juoda |
| opiskellaan | -> ei opiskella |
| sanotaan | -> ei sanota |
| nukutaan | -> ei nukuta |
| annetaan | -> ei anneta |
In verb types 2-6 the negative passive is similar to 1. infinitive.
Passive simple past tense
In verb types 2-6, you form the passive by adding -tiin after the infinitive stem (remove the last 2 letters from the infinitive).
| juoda | -> juotiin |
| opiskella | -> opiskeltiin |
| olla | -> oltiin |
In verb type 1 you form the passive by adding -ttiin after the stem of the 1.person singular:
| >nukkua | -> nuku-n | -> nukuttiin |
| lukea | -> lue-n | -> luettiin |
| antaa | -> anna-n | -> annettiin |
NB! The last vowel a/ä becomes e!
| Antaa | -> anna-n | -> annetiin |
| Rakastaa | -> rakasta-n | -> rakastettiin |
Negative passive simple past tense
In verb types 2-6, you form the negative passive (simple past tense) by adding -tu/ty after the infinitive stem (remove the last 2 letters from the infinitive).
| juoda | -> ei juotu |
| olla | -> ei oltu |
| opiskella | -> ei opiskeltu |
In verb type 1, you form the negative passive (simple past tense) by adding -ttu/tty after the stem of the 1.person singular.
| nukkua | -> ei nukuttu |
| lukea | -> ei luettu |
| antaa | -> ei annettu |
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