Tuesday, April 26, 2022

How to say the English -ed form in Finnish

Sometimes my students say things like Tämä on tehnyt Suomessa when it should be Tämä on tehty Suomessa. (This is/was made in Finland). Notice how Finnish has THREE different verb forms that can mean the same as the English past participle form of a verb. You know, the -ed form or something irregular. 


  1. tehnyt is an active past participle
  2. tehty is a passive past  participle
  3. tekemä is an agent participle


Here are more examples: 

baked

  1. En ole leiponut mitään pitkään aikaan. - I haven't baked anything for a long time. 
  2. Tämä on leivottu rakkaudella. - This is baked with love. 
  3. Tämä on kaikkien aikojen paras leipomani kakku! - This is the best cake I've ever baked. 


written

  1. Oletko sinä kirjoittanut tämän? - Have you written this?
  2. Tämä on kirjoitettu kauan sitten. - This was written (has been written) a long time ago.
  3. Kenen kirjoittama tämä on? - Who wrote this? (By whom is this written?)


built

  1. En ole koskaan rakentanut mitään. - I have never built anything.
  2. Tämä talo on rakennettu 1960-luvulla.  - This house was built (is built) in the 60's.
  3. Tämä talo on isäni rakentama. - This house was built (is built) by my father. 




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. Follow this blog, if you want to be the first one to know when I post something new.  If you want to subscribe to my newsletter, you can do it here


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