Imperfekti - Past tense in Finnish

How to make the past tense? Basically, you just add an i or si after the verb stem, before the personal ending. All verb stems end with a vowel. Some vowels stay, some disappear and one turns into another vowel.

1. o, u and y stay:

• sanon > sanoin - I say. I said.
• puhun > puhuin - I speak. I spoke.
• kysyn > kysyin - I ask. I asked.

2. a, ä, e and i go away:

• ostan > ostin - I buy. I bought.
• heitän > heitin - I throw. I threw.
• menen > menin - I go. I went.
• tarvitsen > tarvitsin - I need. I needed.
• pakenen > pakenin - I escape. I escaped.
• tanssin = tanssin - I dance. I danced. (Yes, they are the same.)

3. Sometimes a becomes o:

• annan > annoin - I give. I gave. (Here's a separate post about this topic!)

4. With the verb type 2 verbs, the first vowel is dropped when you add i to the stem. 

(Käydä is an exception as käyn becomes kävin in the past tense.)

• syön > söin - I eat. I ate.
• juon > join - I drink. I drunk. 
• vien > vein - I take away. I took away.
• saan > sain - I get. I got.

5. Finally, all verb type 4 verbs  and some verbs in the verb type 1 have si in the past tense:

• pakkaan > pakkasin - I pack. I packed.
• haluan > halusin - I want. I wanted.
• tykkään > tykkäsin - I like. I liked.
• tiedän > tiesin - I know. I knew.
• ymmärrän > ymmärsin - I understand. I understood.
• lennän > lensin - I flow. I flew. 

p.s. Notice that the third person singular has only one i in the end. Sometimes people accidentally double the i, but don't.

• hän lähtee > hän lähti - S/he leaves. S/he left.

If this was useful, you might also like my post past tense in a nutshell.

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.