Long form of the First Infinitive – Finaalirakenne
If you’ve studied Finnish a little bit, you probably know about the Finnish verbtypes. The A-infinitive is the form which that division is based on. Finnish has many infinitives, but the first infinitive is what we call the basic form of a verb.
In this article we will look at the long form of the first infinitive, which is a much more advanced and rarely used form that is based on the first infinitive. Linguistics often call the first infinitive the A-infinitiivi, because it ends in an -a/-ä for all verbs.
1. The Use of the Long Form of the First Infinitive
This form of the verb will be used to express purpose: the reason why you’re doing something. Most of the time it appears in a sentence construction that is called the “finaalirakenne” in Finnish. You will need the translative case for this.
For example “Ajoin Helsinkiin nähdäkseni Maijan.” means “I drove to Helsinki in order to see Maija.” It expresses the reason of my trip. The subject of the sentence and the subject of the finaalirakenne are always the same person!
2. The Formation of the Long Form of the First Infinitive
This form consists of the infinitive (the so-called basic form) of the verb, followed by the translative marker -kse- and a possessive suffix.
| Infinitive | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| oppia | Minä tulin Suomeen oppiakseni suomea. | I came to Finland in order to learn Finnish. |
| nähdä | Turistit tulivat nähdäkseen Näsijärven. | The tourists came to see the lake Näsijärvi. |
| levätä | Lähdin maalle levätäkseni. | I went to the country side in order to rest. |
| varata | Nainen soitti varatakseen ajan. | The woman called in order to reserve a time. |
| ostaa | Kävin kaupassa ostaakseni maitoa. | I went to the store in order to buy milk. |
3. Special Uses
Certain verbs have a different meaning when you add the translative and a possessive suffix to them. Their translation won’t be “in order to”, but instead they’ll mean “as far as”. These appear mostly in the minä-form.
| Infinitive | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| muistaa | Muistaakseni suljin oven. | As far as I remember I closed the door. |
| tietää | Oulussa ei ole tietääkseni orpokotia. | As far as I know there isn’t an orphanage in Oulu. |
| luulla | Luullakseni hän on ihan mukava. | As far as I can tell (think) she’s pretty nice. |
| nähdä | Emme tehneet nähdäkseni virhettä. | As far as I can see we didn’t make a mistake. |
| käsittää | Salo sai käsittääkseni 17 miljoonaa. | As far as I understand Salo got 17 million. |
In addition, you can also have jos-sentences with the long form of the first infinitive. These sentences express a certain type of resignation: “oh well, if that’s what happens, we’ll have to live with it”. I can’t think of a good translation for these type of sentences, so my translations are a little unusual in the table below.
| Example | English |
|---|---|
| Hän tulee, jos on tullakseen. | He will come, if that’s what happens. |
| Sieniä tulee, jos on tullakseen. | There will be mushrooms, if that’s what fate decides. |
| Anna heidän nauraa, jos on nauraakseen. | Let them laugh, if that’s what they end up doing. |
| Suuttukoon, jos on suuttuakseen. | Let her get mad, if that’s what what she does. |
| Kaiku vastaa, jos on vastatakseen. | The echo will reply, if it replies. |
Kiitos, this article helped a lot!
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The 3rd use of the “Kse” sounds to me like when you saying: It is what it is or you gotta do what you gotta do.
For the translations in the last table, the structure that comes to mind as most appropriate is just simple repetition.
If he comes, he comes.
If mushrooms grow, they grow. (took a bit of license here, as I’m not quite sure of context)
If they laugh, let them laugh/they laugh.
If she gets mad, just let her/she gets mad.
If it echoes, it echoes. (Again not really sure of the context here, so hard to say)
Hi, I have a small question about this article. Any help will be appreciated!
I like the way of saying “as far as” using the long form of the first infinitive because it sounds more fluent to me but I did not understand where do I put the “as far as” in a sentence and is there any preferences about it.
Also does it sound archaic or it is being used in colloquial language?
Good question! Finnish word order is pretty “free” so there’s some leaway, but generally you can put tietääkseni, muistaakseni etc. either at the beginning of your sentence, or right after the verb. These aren’t archaic-sounding and you can use them in colloquial Finnish as well.
In contrast, the “in order to” meaning (e.g. tulin ilmoittaakseni) is rare in spoken Finnish.