Monday, November 6, 2017

Frequentative verbs in Finnish

Here's a post about verbs that express actions that happen kind of repeatedly or in a light-hearted manner. First we have verb type 3 verbs that are all derived from verb type 1 verbs by changing the end of the verb into -ella or -ellä. As you will notice, sometimes the meaning of a word can change surprisingly much!

Test yourself and see how many of these you understand:

Verbs ending with -ella and -ellä:


  1. aivastaa > aivastella
  2. ajaa > ajella 
  3. haistaa > haistella
  4. heittää > heitellä
  5. hiihtää > hiihdellä
  6. hyppiä > hypellä
  7. järjestää > järjestellä
  8. kastaa > kastella
  9. katsoa > katsella
  10. kiertää > kierrellä
  11. kirjoittaa > kirjoitella
  12. kosia > kosiskella
  13. kysyä > kysellä
  14. laulaa > laulella
  15. matkustaa > matkustella
  16. muistaa > muistella
  17. olla > oleskella
  18. oksentaa > oksennella
  19. oppia > opiskella 
  20. palaa > palella
  21. sairastaa > sairastella
  22. soittaa > soitella
  23. sanoa > sanella
  24. rakastaa > rakastella
  25. tappaa > tapella
  26. vaihtua > vaihdella





Here are the translations:

  1. aivastaa > aivastella - to sneeze > to sneeze repeatedly
  2. ajaa > ajella - to drive, to drive around without any particular reason
  3. haistaa > haistella - to smell > to sniff
  4. heittää > heitellä - to throw > to throw back and forth
  5. hiihtää > hiihdellä - to ski > to ski around, to ski in a light-hearted manner
  6. hyppiä > hypellä - to jump > to jump around
  7. järjestää > järjestellä - to organize > to arrange, to sort
  8. kastaa > kastella - to dip  > to wet something
  9. katsoa > katsella - to watch > to watch, but not so seriously
  10. kiertää > kierrellä - to go round once, to twist > to walk or drive around
  11. kirjoittaa > kirjoitella - to write > to write back and forth
  12. kosia > kosiskella - to propose (to ask to marry) > to woo
  13. kysyä > kysellä - to ask > to ask around
  14. laulaa > laulella - to sing > to sing in a light-hearted manner
  15. matkustaa > matkustella - to travel, to go travelling
  16. muistaa > muistella - to remember > to reminisce, to look back
  17. olla > oleskella - to be, to reside
  18. oksentaa > oksennella - to vomit > to throw up a little bit, but multiple times
  19. palaa > palella - to burn > to feel / be cold 
  20. oppia > opiskella - to learn > to study 
  21. sairastaa > sairastella - to be sick > to be sick repeatedly
  22. soittaa > soitella - to call/to play an instrument  > to call each other / to play an instrument in a light-hearted manner
  23. sanoa > sanella - to say > to dictate
  24. rakastaa > rakastella - to love > to make love
  25. tappaa > tapella - to kill > to fight, to argue
  26. vaihtua > vaihdella - to change > to vary, to alternate

Another way to make frequentative verbs is to add -eske- inside of  a verb type 3 verb. You can also add -eskella to some verb type 1 verbs.

How many do you already know?

Verbs ending with -eskella and -eskellä:


  1. nuolla > nuoleskella
  2. olla > oleskella
  3. pierrä > piereskellä 
  4. panna > paneskella
  5. lukea > lueskella
  6. nauraa > naureskella

Translations:
  1. nuolla > nuoleskella - to lick > to lick multiple times, to suck up, to flatter
  2. olla > oleskella - to be > to dwell, to linger
  3. pierrä > piereskellä - to pass gas in general > to fart constantly
  4. panna > paneskella  - to have sex > to have sex with one or several people many times or in a light-hearted manner
  5. lukea > lueskella - to read > to read in a light-hearted manner
  6. nauraa > naureskella - to laught > to laugh in a sarcastic manner

Notice the exceptional juosta > juoksennella - to run > to run around.


Verb type 4 verbs can get a suffix -illa:


  1. halata > halailla
  2. kirota > kiroilla

Translations:

  1. halata > halailla - to hug > to hug multiple times in a friendly and light-hearted way
  2. kirota > kiroilla - to curse someone > to swear


You can be very creative when making new verbs. Feel free to try anything, but don't be offended if people don't understand you.







Kiitos, kun luit! Jos pidit postauksesta, voit jakaa sen eteenpäin.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it. 
– Hanna

3 comments:

Tommy Quist said...

'dat kantele tho'

Random Finnish Lesson / Hanna Männikkölahti said...

Aa, onko meemissä vääränlainen kantele? Mä en edes katsonut sitä.:)

jose peirano said...

Hi Hanna! Could you describe in a future post how is the structure in Finnish for "getting something done by someone" or "making someone do something for you" (something like in english is called "Causative case" for have and get):

"I got my car fixed" or "I will have my hair cut"

I know that in Finnish there are some verbs that mean that by themselves, like "laulattaa" (to make someone sing) or in the sentence:

"maalautin talun taiteilijalla" (maalauttaa) - I got my paint painted by an artist

What about other verbs that does not explicitly mean making someone do something?

if you already wrote something about that, please excuse me. I could not find it usnig the search box (or maybe I don´t know how to exactly look for it)
Thanks for everything!