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Tempus

The verb has four tempus:

  1. present tense
  2. imperfect tense
  3. perfect tense
  4. past perfect

1. Present tense

The present simple is the tense used to describe actions that are timeless.

Present tense expresses actions at the time of speaking and statements that are always true. Present tense is used to express also the future, because there is no future tense in Finnish. Mark of the present tense is null, therefore personal endings are added straight after the stem.

Istua - to sit

2. Imperfect tense

Imperfect tense is a simple past tense. It's marked by i, which is added between stem and personal ending.

Kysyä - to ask

*No long vowel in 3rd person.

With some verbs you must use si-ending:

More about simple past tense.

3. Perfect tense

Perfect tense delivers general information about past, eg.:

Olen käynyt Kiinassa.
I have been to China.

It consists of olla-verb and nut-participle.

Käydä - to visit

4. Past perfect (pluskvamperfect)

Past perfect tells about background of the past event, eg.:
Olin tullut juuri kotiin, kun se tapahtui. I just had arrived home, when it happened.

It consists of nut-participle and olla-verb in past tense (olin, olit, oli...).

Syödä - to eat

All topics