Table Of ContentFINNISH:
AN ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR
This is the ideal reference grammar for the student of Finnish. It gives a
systematic account of the structures of the written language and also features
the characteristics of colloquial Finnish as spoken in Helsinki and its
surroundings.
Finnish: An Essential Grammar is grounded in fundamental insights of
modern linguistics. No prior knowledge is assumed on the part of the reader
and grammatical rules are clearly explained without jargon.
Features include:
• pronunciation guide
(cid:127) thorough descriptions of morphology (word structure) and syntax
(sentence structure)
(cid:127) inflection tables
(cid:127) subject index
Finnish: An Essential Grammar is a revised and updated edition of a volume
first published in 1983, since when it has proved popular with students and
professional linguists worldwide. It has been translated into several
languages, including Finnish.
Fred Karlsson is Professor of General Linguistics at the University of
Helsinki.
FINNISH:
AN ESSENTIAL
GRAMMAR
Fred Karlsson
London and New York
First published 1983 as Finnish Grammar
by WSOY, Helsinki
New edition published 1999
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.
© 1983; 1999 Fred Karlsson
Translated by Andrew Chesterman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Karlsson, Fred,
[Finsk grammatik. English]
Finnish: an essential grammar/Fred Karlsson; [translated by
Andrew Chesterman].
p. cm.—(Routledge grammars)
Revised and updated version of: Finnish grammar. Helsinki: WSOY
[Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö], 1983. Finnish grammar is a translation of
Suomen peruskielioppi, 1982, a translation of: Finsk grammatik. Originally
published: Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden
Seura), 1978.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Finnish language—Grammar. 2. Finnish language—Textbooks for
foreign speakers—English. I. Chesterman, Andrew. II. Title. III. Series.
PH135.K35 1999
494¢.5415–dc21 98–55439
CIP
ISBN 0-203-01822-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-18753-9 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-20705-3 (pbk)
ISBN 0-415-20704-5 (hbk)
CCOONNTTEENNTTSS
PPrreeffaaccee iixx
LLiisstt ooff aabbbbrreevviiaattiioonnss xx
11 IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn 11
§§11 TThhee rreellaattiioonn ooff FFiinnnniisshh ttoo ootthheerr llaanngguuaaggeess 11
§§22 FFiinnnniisshh ppaasstt aanndd pprreesseenntt 22
§§33 TThhee bbaassiicc cchhaarraacctteerriissttiiccss ooff FFiinnnniisshh 44
§§44 WWhhaatt aarree tthhee ssppeecciiaall ddiiffffiiccuullttiieess?? 66
22 PPrroonnuunncciiaattiioonn aanndd ssoouunndd ssttrruuccttuurree 99
§§55 LLeetttteerrss aanndd ssoouunnddss 99
§§66 VVoowweellss aanndd ccoonnssoonnaannttss 1100
§§77 SShhoorrtt aanndd lloonngg ssoouunnddss 1122
§§88 DDiipphhtthhoonnggss 1144
§§99 SSyyllllaabblleess 1144
§§1100 SSttrreessss aanndd iinnttoonnaattiioonn 1155
§§1111 VVoowweell hhaarrmmoonnyy 1166
33 AA ssuurrvveeyy ooff wwoorrdd ssttrruuccttuurree 1188
§§1122 NNoommiinnaallss aanndd tthheeiirr eennddiinnggss 1188
§§1133 FFiinniittee vveerrbb ffoorrmmss aanndd tthheeiirr eennddiinnggss 2211
§§1144 NNoonn--ffiinniittee vveerrbb ffoorrmmss aanndd tthheeiirr eennddiinnggss 2244
44 TTwwoo iimmppoorrttaanntt ssoouunndd aalltteerrnnaattiioonnss 2288
§§1155 CCoonnssoonnaanntt ggrraaddaattiioonn ((pp,, tt,, kk)) 2288
§§1166 VVoowweell cchhaannggeess bbeeffoorree --ii-- eennddiinnggss 3388
55 TThhee ddeecclleennssiioonn ooff nnoommiinnaallss 4444
§§1177 GGeenneerraall 4444
§§1188 NNoommiinnaallss wwiitthh aa bbaassiicc ffoorrmm iinn --ii 4466
§§1199 NNoommiinnaallss wwiitthh aa bbaassiicc ffoorrmm iinn --ee 4499
§§2200 NNoommiinnaallss wwiitthh aa bbaassiicc ffoorrmm eennddiinngg iinn aa ccoonnssoonnaanntt 5500
vv
vi Contents
6 The conjugation of verbs 55
§21 General 55
§22 Infinitive endings 56
§23 Inflectional stems 57
7 Basic sentence structure 61
§24 Present tense personal endings 61
§25 The nominative (basic form of nominals) 63
§26 Singular and plural 67
§27 The verb olla ‘(to) be’ 68
§28 ‘To have’ in Finnish 69
§29 Negative sentences 69
§30 Questions and answers 71
§31 Concord of attributes 74
8 The partitive 76
§32 Formation of the partitive 76
§33 Use of the partitive 82
9 The genitive, possessive suffixes and the accusative 91
§34 Formation of the genitive 91
§35 Use of the genitive 95
§36 Possessive suffixes 97
§37 What is the accusative? 100
§38 The accusative endings 102
§39 Quantity adverbs taking an object case 105
10 The six local cases 107
§40 General 107
§41 Inessive 108
§42 Elative 110
§43 Illative 112
§44 Adessive 115
§45 Ablative 117
§46 Allative 119
§47 Directional verbs 120
§48 Place names 121
11 Other cases 123
§49 Essive 123
§50 Translative 125
§51 Abessive, comitative and instructive 127
Contents vii
12 Numerals 129
§52 Cardinal numbers 129
§53 Ordinal numbers 134
13 Pronouns 136
§54 Personal pronouns 136
§55 Demonstrative pronouns 138
§56 Interrogative pronouns 140
§57 Indefinite pronouns 142
§58 Relative pronouns 149
14 Tenses 152
§59 Present tense 152
§60 Past tense 152
§61 Perfect tense 156
§62 Pluperfect tense 158
§63 Negative forms 159
15 Moods 162
§64 Indicative 162
§65 Conditional 162
§66 Imperative 165
§67 Potential 169
16 The passive 172
§68 General 172
§69 Passive present 173
§70 Passive past 175
§71 Passive perfect and pluperfect 177
§72 Passive moods 180
17 Infinitives 182
§73 General 182
§74 First infinitive 183
§75 Second infinitive 184
§76 Third infinitive 188
§77 Fourth infinitive 192
18 Participles 194
§78 General 194
§79 Present participle active 195
viii Contents
§80 Present participle passive 196
§81 The past participles 198
§82 The participial construction 200
§83 The temporal construction 205
§84 The agent construction 207
19 Comparison of adjectives 211
§85 Comparative 211
§86 Superlative 214
20 Other word classes 218
§87 Adverbs 218
§88 Prepositions 221
§89 Postpositions 222
§90 Conjunctions 226
§91 Particles 228
21 Word formation 231
§92 General 231
§93 Derivation 232
§94 Compounding 241
22 The colloquial spoken language 244
§95 General 244
§96 Omission and assimilation of sounds 245
§97 Differences of form 246
Appendix: Inflection tables 249
Subject index 267
PREFACE
Finnish: An Essential Grammar is a slightly modified version of the book
Finnish Grammar published by WSOY in Helsinki in 1983. The second
edition went out of print in 1995. Finnish Grammar was a translation of the
Finnish book Suomen peruskielioppi published in 1982. The original
Swedish edition Finsk grammatik appeared in 1978. These versions were
published by the Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden
Seura), Helsinki.
Finnish: An Essential Grammar is primarily intended for those wanting
to learn the basics of the language. The book covers the grammatical core;
rare forms and constructions have not been included. I have tried to
formulate the grammatical rules as precisely as possible using reasonable
terminology. At the same time, all essentials should be easy to find in the
numerous examples.
The book relies on some basic insights of modern linguistics and might
therefore serve as an introduction to the structure of Finnish for professional
linguists as well. Chapters 3 and 7 contain surveys of the word and clause
structure, respectively, and for those readers unfamiliar with the basics it is
recommended that these are read first.
In this edition, compared to the previous versions, I have changed the
typography of the grammatical rules, written more on Finnish pronunciation,
and updated many examples.
The Internet page http://www.helsinki.fi/~jones/finn–books.html
provides a list of books available for studying practical Finnish. The home
page of the Research Center for the Languages of Finland, http://
www.domlang.fi/, provides a wealth of information concerning the Finnish
language. The Internet page http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/~fkarlsso/
genkau2.html is a full list of the 2,000 distinct forms that a Finnish noun
can take.
My sincere thanks are due to Professor Andrew Chesterman, who
skilfully and critically made the translation, to the anonymous referee of
Routledge who suggested several improvements, and to the Finnish Ministry
of Education for financially supporting the original translation in 1982. Last
but not least: thank you, Sylvi, as well as Max, Linn and Maj for continuous
support!
Fred Karlsson
Helsinki. November 1998
ix
