Thursday, July 5, 2018

How to say the "ing" form in Finnish

Sometimes people ask me how to say the English -ing form in Finnish. I came up with these examples of reading:

1. Indicative verb form with a partitive object


  • Luen hyvää kirjaa. - I'm reading a good book.

2. MA infinitive (inessive, elative, adessive or abessive)


  • Olin kirjastossa lukemassa. - I was in the library reading. 
  • Milloin tulet lukemasta? - When will you come from reading? 
  • Voit oppia lisää lukemalla. - You can learn more by reading.
  • En voi olla lukematta tätä kirjaa! - I can't be without reading this book!


4. VA participle


  • Kuka tuo kirjaa lukeva mies on? - Who is that man reading a book?
  • Näin jonkun lukevan tuota kirjaa eilen. - I saw someone reading that book yesterday.  You can also say Näin, että joku luki tuota kirjaa eilen. (Here's the referative construction for grammar lovers!)

5. E-infinitive instuctive


  • Lapsi juoksi itkien kotiin. - A child ran home crying.

6. Essive


  • Istuin väsyneenä bussissa. - I sat on the bus feeling tired. 





About the author of Random Finnish Lesson: 


My name is Hanna Männikkölahti. I am a professional Finnish teacher who gives private online lessons and simplifies books into easy Finnish. Please read more in www.linktr.ee/hannamannikkolahti and follow this blog, if you want to be the first one to know when I post something new.  

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi
Minä haluan kysyä sinulta?