Finnish Passive Voice (Passiivi)

Concepts and grammar rules regarding the formation and use of the passive voice in the Finnish language based on lecture notes.

Passiivi (Finnish Passive)

A verb form used when there is no subject in the sentence, meaning it does not specify who is performing the action.

Passive Tenses

In Finnish, the passive voice has present, imperfect, perfect, past perfect (pluskvamperfekti), and conditional forms.

Agent Restriction

Unlike many other languages like English, the Finnish passive cannot include a 'by the workers' style addition to specify the doer.

Kirja luetaan (Usage)

An example of the passive used when the reader or performer is unknown (The book is read).

General Statements (Place)

Using the passive to state how things are commonly done in a specific location, such as 'Italiassa syödään paljon pastaa'.

General People's Action (Usage)

A statement about what people in general (not a specific person) do, such as 'Nykyisin käytetään puhelinta joka paikassa'.

'Imperatiivi'-passiivi

A passive form used to express 'Let's' or 'Let's not', such as 'Mennään!' (Let's go!) or 'Ei mennä!' (Let's not go!).

'Sääntö'-passiivi

A rule-like passive that implies obligation, such as 'Hattu otetaan pois päästä' (the hat must be taken off).

Spoken Language Passive

In spoken Finnish, the passive form is used to replace the standard 'we' form, such as saying 'me tehdään' instead of 'me teemme'.

VT1 Present Passive Formation

Formed by taking the weak stem (e.g., from the 'minä' form) and adding '-taan/-tään'.

VT1 Passive Vowel Change

In Verb Type 1, if the stem's final letter is 'a' or 'ä', it changes to 'e' in the passive (e.g., antaa becomes anne-taan).

Negative VT1 Passive

Formed by using 'ei' + the weak stem + '-ta/-tä' (e.g., 'ei lueta').

VT2-6 Present Passive Formation

Formed by taking the dictionary form of the verb and adding '-an/-än' (e.g., 'voida-an', 'kävellä-än').

Negative VT2-6 Passive

Formed by using 'ei' + the dictionary form of the verb (e.g., 'ei voida').

Paqpa News Example

A YouTuber used in an example of the passive word 'syytetään' (is accused) regarding a gross tax fraud.

May 8th Example

The date used in the example 'The first episode will be published on Apple TV Plus'.

14. kesäkuuta Example

The date certificates are given in the example 'Todistukset jaetaan 14. kesäkuuta'.