According to the way Finnish is currently taught to immigrants, there are six verbtypes in Finnish. Over time, there have been many different ways of dividing verbs into categories. The model with 6 verbtypes presented below is definitely not the only one. There have been attempts to limit the amount of Finnish verbtypes to 3, but there has also been a system with 45 verbtypes. If you’d like to hear more about those, Michael Hämäläinen has brought up some of these alternative ways in the comments

Verbs are divided into verbtypes based on what they look like in their basic (infinitive) form as well as how they change when being conjugated. If you know what verbtype verbs belong to, it will be easier for you to remember how it is conjugated.

This article called Your First 100 Finnish Verbs will help you get started!

1. Verbtype 1

Verbtype 1 is the most common of the 6 Finnish verbtypes. Verbs belonging to this verbtype have an infinitive that ends in 2 vowels (-aa, -ea, -eä, -ia, -iä, -oa, -ua, -yä, -ää, -öä). To find this type of verb’s infinitive stem, you remove the final -a or -ä from the infinitive.

Please note with the verb odottaa above that verbtype 1 verbs can undergo consonant gradation! Verbs below that undergo consonant gradation are marked with KPT below.

Some other common type 1 verbs:

2. Verbtype 2

This verbtype consists of verbs that end in -da/-dä. To find this type of verb’s infinitive stem, you remove the -da/-dä. Notice that the third person singular doesn’t get the final letter doubled like in verbtype 1!

Verbtype 2 only has two verbs that undergo consonant gradation: tehdä and nähdä. Their consonant gradation mirrors that of verbtype 1: e.g. tehdä — teen, teet, tekee.

Some other common type 2 verbs:

3. Verbtype 3

Verbs belonging to this verbtype end in -lla/-llä, -nna/-nnä, -rra/-rrä, -sta/-stä (in other words: in two consonants and a vowel). To find these verbs’ infinitive stem, remove the -la/-lä, -na/-nä, -ra/-rä, or -ta/-tä. To this stem, you add an -e- before adding the personal ending!

Remember that verbtype 3 verbs like jutella undergo consonant gradation! The ones in the list below that do so are marked with KPT.

Some other common type 3 verbs:

4. Verbtype 4

Verbs belonging to verbtype 4 end in -ata/-ätä, -ota/-ötä, -uta/-ytä. To find this type of verb’s infinitive stem, you remove the -t (so NOT the final -a!). Some sources will tell you to remove the -ta and then add an -a. This comes down to the same thing.

The third person singular gets an -a added to the end when the two vowels from the stem are different vowels. When the two vowels are -aa- it wouldn’t make sense to add a third one, so we add nothing (e.g. hän halua+a is correct, but hän osaa+a doesn’t work).

Remember that verbtype 4 verbs can undergo consonant gradation! The ones in the list below that do so are marked with KPT.

Some other common type 4 verbs:

Many -ATA verbs are loanwords. You can find out more about Swedish origin loanverbs.

5. Verbtype 5

Verbtype 5 is quite rare compared to the other Finnish verbtypes. Verbs belonging to this verbtype end in -ita/-itä. To find this type of verb’s infinitive stem, you remove the final -ta/-tä. To this stem, you then add -tse- before adding the personal ending!

Some sources will give you a different rule. They recommend removing the -ita/-itä (so also removing the -i-) and adding -itse- to that stem before adding the personal ending. The end result is the same, so choose whichever method makes more sense to you.

There are some sources that combine verbtype 3 and verbtype 5, based on how both receive an extra -e- when being conjugated.

Verbtype 5 verbs do not undergo consonant gradation.

Some other common type 5 verbs:

6. Verbtype 6

Verbtype 6 is the most rarely used of all the Finnish verbtypes. Most of these verbs have something in common when you translate them: their meaning will usually be “to become something”. This implies a change from one state to another (becoming cold, hot, old, etc). There are, however, exceptions that do not follow this pattern. Most of these verbs that imply a change will have an adjective as their base (e.g. vanheta – vanha, lämmetä – lämmin, laajeta – laaja).

This type of verb ends in -eta/-etä. To find the infinitive stem for verbtype 6, you remove the final -ta/-tä. To this stem, you then add -ne- before adding the personal ending.

Remember that verbtype 6 verbs can undergo consonant gradation!

Some other common type 6 verbs:

7. Verbtype 4, 5 and 6 Crossovers

While the Finnish verbtypes system has very few exceptions, there are some verbtype 4, 5 and 6 verbs that cross over from one verbtype to another. These verbs do not fit in with the (simplified) rules used in most course books.

Mainly because of this problem with Finnish verbtypes 4, 5 and 6, some linguists consider all three of these verbtypes as one large groups of verbs ending in -Vta (vowel+ta), which has three subgroups. That way, they avoid the issue of these exceptions completely. However, for Finnish language learners, this combination of three verbtypes isn’t practical.

The following verbs look like verbtype 5 (-ita/-itä) but get conjugated like verbtype 4. See the struck out words for how these would have been conjugated if we would follow the rules to the letter.

• selvitä (to become clear) — selviän (not selvitsen)
• hävitä (to lose, to disappear) — häviän (not hävitsen)

Next, we have some verbs that look like verbtype 6 (-eta/-etä) but get conjugated like verbtype 4.

• hävetä (to be ashamed) KPT — häpeän (not häpenen)
• kiivetä (to climb) KPT — kiipeän (not kiipenen)
• ruveta (to start*) KPT — rupean (not rupenen)
• todeta (to state) KPT — totean (not totenen)

Last but not least, here are some verbs that look like verbtype 4 but get conjugated like verbtype 6.

• hapata (to acidify) KPT — happanee (not happaa)
• loitota (to divert away) KPT — loittonee (not loittoaa)
• helpota (to get easier) KPT — helpponee (not helppoaa)
• parata (to get better) — paranee (not paraa)

Note: The problem with verbtype 6 verbs in general is that their basic form is used very rarely and often substituted for another verb’s basic form. For example, the infinitive parata isn’t in active use at all despite its existence. You can read more about these verbs in my article on verbtype 6. If you’re an advanced student, you might also benefit from googling sekaparadigma (mixed paradigm).

That’s all there is to say currently about the Finnish verbtypes!

Related posts:

Verbtype 1 Consonant Gradation Verbtype 6 Consonant Gradation Why Doesn’t Siivota Become “Siipoan”? Verbtype 1 – Conjugation – All Tenses and Moods