Verb type 1

I know foreigners who have absolutely no clue of this amazing system of the verb types and who are still fluent in Finnish and live happy lives. However, if you are an analytical person and like the comfort of being able to place every single Finnish verb into one of the six categories, this one is for you.

I have included the four important forms of each verb so that you can analyze the logic of how to conjugate the verbs in persons and how to talk about the past. This one is about the verb type one. I also have posts about verb type 2, verb type 3, verb type 4 and verb type 5. (And I need to edit all of them soon.)

to live: asua, asun, asuin, asunut

• Kuinka kauan te olette asuneet täällä? - How long have you been living here?

to say: sanoa, sanon, sanoin, sanonut

• Mitä sinä sanoit? - What did you say?

to pay/cost: maksaa, maksan, maksoin, maksanut

•  Minä maksoin viime kerralla. - I paid the last time.

to ask: kysyä, kysyn, kysyin, kysynyt

• En minä kysynyt mitään. - I didn't ask anything.

Things to remember: 

• The basic form has always two vowels in the end.
• Drop the last vowel of the basic form before adding the personal ending.
• The past tense has either i, oi or si before the personal ending. or the present participle ending. 

The SI-past

So why does the past tense of ymmärtää have si just like the verb type 4 verbs?  If you have Leila White's Grammar book of Finnish, the rules are on page 190. The stem has a t and two vowels or n, r, or l in front of it. However, there are also exceptions such as antaa and hoitaa.  Here's my top 10 of the verbs to memorize by heart:

1. to shout, to yell: huutaa, huudan, huusin, huutanut
2. to fly: lentää, lennän, lensin, lentänyt
3. to draw: piirtää, piirrän, piirsin, piirtänyt
4. to find: löytää, löydän, löysin, löytänyt
5. to know, to feel: tuntea, tunnen, tunsin, tuntenut
6. to know: tietää, tiedän, tiesin, tiennyt
7. to build: rakentaa, rakennan, rakensin, rakentanut
8. to push: työntää, työnnän, työnsin, työntänyt
9. to move: siirtää, siirrän, siirsin, siirtänyt
10. to ask for: pyytää, pyydän, pyysin, pyytänyt

Read more: 

• Verbs that have oi in the past.
• Past tenses in Finnish
• Conconant change in verb tyoe 1 verbs

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.