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 |
You are here > Frontpage > grammar > verbs > Passive in Finnish language