Appendix:Finnish participles

See also: Appendix:Finnish verb forms

Finnish has six types of participles which are treated like adjectives and can e.g. appear in both attributive and predicative positions.

Present participles

Present participles (also called "first participles" or "participles type I", particularly in older grammars) have two forms: active (-va) and passive (-tava, -ttava). The literal meaning of present active participles is "which does X" and of present passive participles is "which has X being done to it".

laulava lintu ― a singing bird (a bird that sings)

nukkuva eläin ― a sleeping animal (an animal that sleeps or is sleeping)

syötävä ateria ― the meal that is eaten

puhuttava aihe ― the subject (that is being) talked about

Present passive participles can be further used to mean "which is to be X". They can also mean "which can be X", although that is more commonly expressed by taking the present passive participle, inflecting it into the plural inessive case (adessive plural for some verbs, like saada) and then using it like an adverb (or as an adjective with oleva).

tehtävä toimenpide ― the action to be done

pelättävä asia ― a thing to be scared of

ostettava tuote (~ tuote on ostettavissa) ― a buyable product (~ the product is buyable)

keskusteltava asia ― a matter that is discussed, a matter to be discussed

Many Finnish adjectives are etymologically present participles, such as osaava (“capable”), from osata (“to have the ability or skill to”).

Finnish present participles are used to form the present and past "prospective" tenses, which are restricted to formal or literary language.

Past participles

Past participles (also called "second participles" or "participles type II", particularly in older grammars) are similar to present participles in that they have two forms; active (-nut) and passive (-tu, -ttu). The literal meaning of past active participles is "which did or has done X" and of past passive participles is "which had or has has X done to it".

lähtenyt ihminen ― the person that left

äsken tullut vieras ― the guest that came recently

talon rakentanut yritys ― the company that built the house

nähty elokuva ― the movie (that was) seen

palkittu näyttelijä ― the rewarded actor / the actor (that was) rewarded

viime vuonna rakennettu silta ― the bridge built last year

keskusteltu asia ― a matter that was discussed

Finnish past participles are also used for building some compound forms, such as the negative for the indicative past tense, as well as perfect and past perfect tense forms for all moods. Whether the active past participle or the passive past participle is used depends on the voice (active or passive). The active past participles of intransitive verbs and passive past participles of transitive verbs also have an adjectival sense; many Finnish adjectives are actually past participles.

Agent participles

Agent participles (-ma) are used to form participial phrases with the literal meaning "which someone does X or did X". Agent participles are used like adjectives, and chiefly used with either a possessive suffix or a subject in the genitive case (placed before the participle). Agent participles do not distinguish between tense or aspect.

maalaamani talo ― (the) house which I painted / (the) house painted by me

miehen maalaama talo ― (the) house which the man painted / (the) house painted by the man

ostamani auto on halvempi kuin isän ostama ― the car I bought is cheaper than the car my father bought

Agent participles are not used for most intransitive verbs, as phrases using the agent participle require an object, and it does not make semantic sense for intransitive verbs to take an object. Nevertheless, certain verbs that lack grammatical objects may still have agent participles, such as olla (“to be”) (due to so-called "object-like adverbials of quantity"), asua (“to live”) (unless such uses are interpreted as transitive), kertoa (“to tell”) (as with asua), viitata (“to refer”) and istua (“to sit”); all but the first of these may have semantic 'objects' expressed as adverbials using e.g. locative cases.

While the ending of agent participles is -ma, they should not be confused with nouns derived with -ma, or to third infinitive forms for which the stem ends with -ma (although from a purely diachronic standpoint, they are probably of the same origin).

Negative participles

Negative participles (-maton) are used as adjectives and act as negative forms of any of the present or past participles, but most commonly for the passive participles (e.g. "which does not have X done to them", "which did not have X done to them"). The exact interpretation often depends on context.

kelpaamaton henkilö ― an incapable person (literally, “a person that does not suffice”)

kelpaamaton ajatus ― an unacceptable idea (literally, “an idea that is/was not acceptable”)

kokematon ohjaaja ― an unexperienced director (literally, “a director that has not experienced”)

kokematon tilanne ― an unexperienced situation (literally, “a situation that has not been experienced”)

sietämätön asia ― an intolerable matter (literally, “a matter that cannot be tolerated”)

sietämätön henkilö ― an intolerable person (literally, “a person that cannot be tolerated”)

arvostelua sietämätön henkilö ― a person that does not tolerate criticism

julkaisematon kirja ― an unpublished book (literally, “a book that has not been published”)

julkaisematon kirjailija ― an unpublished author (literally, “an author that has not published”)

Examples of participles

Examples of participles with maalata (“to paint”)

Type	Example	Translation
Present active participle	maalaava mies	a painting man, a man who paints or can paint
Past active participle	maalannut mies	a man who has painted
Present passive participle	maalattava talo	the house being painted, the house to be painted
Past passive participle	maalattu talo	the painted house, the house that was painted
Agent participle	miehen maalaama talo	the house painted by the man
Negative participle	maalaamaton talo	the unpainted house, the house not painted

Relative clauses

Each of the six types of participles can be replaced by a relative clause.

maalaava mies ~ mies, joka maalaa ― the man that paints

maalannut mies ~ mies, joka maalasi ― the man that (has) painted

maalattava talo ~ talo, jota/joka maalataan ― the house that is being painted / the house that is to be painted

maalattu talo ~ talo, joka/jota maalattiin ― the house that was (being) painted

maalaamani talo ~ talo, jonka maalaan/maalasin ― the house that I paint/painted

(somewhat ambiguous, as agent participles do not distinguish between present/past)

maalaamaton talo ~ talo, jota ei ole maalattu ― the house that has not been painted

(most ambiguous, as the negative participle could also be present or be an active participle)

Participle constructs

• olla + present active participle: (literary, poetic) shall

  hän on huomenna ajava autoa ― he shall drive the car tomorrow

• genitive + olla + passive present participle: have to, must

  minun on ajettava autoa ― I must drive the car.

• olla + past active/passive participle: perfect/pluperfect tense
• verb of realization or awareness + genitive singular of a present participle + possessive suffix: ...X will/would...

  hän pelkäsi joutuvansa... ― he/she was afraid he/she would end up (in)...

• the inessive plural form of a past passive participle: that can be X-ed, -able, -ible (used adverbially; oleva for attributive use)

  koettavissa ― that can be experienced

  the adessive is used with some verbs, particularly ones denoting location: ulottua (“to reach”) → ulottuvilla (“reachable, attainable”)

• the inessive plural form of a negative participle: that cannot be X-ed, un-...-able, un-...-ible (used adverbially; oleva for attributive use)

  ulottumattomissa ― unreachable

The next three are kinds of absolute constructs (lauseenvastike), alongside infinitive constructs:

• verbs of observation or apparent quality + genitive of the present active/passive participle (+ possible possessive suffix): to appear to be doing (present "referative construct")

  Hänellä vaikuttaa olevan kiire.

  It appears he/she is busy.

  Kuulin hänen tulevan.

  I heard him/her coming.

  Luulen matkustavani ulkomaille toukokuussa.

  I think I will travel abroad this May.

  Luulen tästä puhuttavan vielä.

  I think this will be talked about one day.

• verbs of observation or apparent quality + genitive of the past active/passive participle (+ possible possessive suffix): to appear to have done (past "referative construct")

  Hänellä vaikuttaa olleen kiire.

  It appears he/she has been busy.

  Heikki kertoi voittaneensa suunnistusmestaruuden.

  Heikki told me he won the orienteering championships.

  Luulin tästä puhutun eilen.

  I thought this was talked about yesterday.

• partitive singular of the past passive participle (+ possible possessive suffix): having done ... (past "temporal construct")

  saavuttuani kotiin... ― after I had come home...

  pormestarin puhuttua... ― after the mayor had spoken...

Inflection

All participles are fully inflectable nominals.

• Present participles (both active -va and passive -(t)tava) and agent participles (-ma) belong to inflection type 10 (koira).
• Past active participles (-(n)ut) belong to their own inflection type, type 47 (kuollut).
• Past passive participles (-(t)tu) belong to inflection type 1 (valo), possibly with gradation.
• Negative participles (-maton) belong to inflection type 34 (onneton), with gradation.