Verbtype 1 Consonant Gradation
This article focuses on verbtype 1 consonant gradation. It’s the reason behind why nukkua becomes minä nukun, and leipoa becomes minä leivon. You can find an explanation of the Finnish verbtypes here.
- What is consonant gradation?
- When do you use consonant gradation in verbtype 1?
- Which consonants change?
- Limitations on consonant gradation
- Consonant type limitations
- Syllable limitations
- Consonant clusters
- Open and closed syllables
1. What is Consonant Gradation?
Consonant gradation is something you’re going to run into all the time when learning Finnish. It’s something that affects both nouns and verbs, though in different ways. It’s called gradation, because words can have a “strong” grade and a “weak” grade. This change takes place when we add an ending to a word. For verbs this can be the personal endings (e.g. -n, -t) or any of the tense modifiers.
Consonant gradation only affects certain consonants (K, P and T). When conjugating a verb, the K, P and T in the middle of the word can change. Different verbtypes undergo a different system of consonant gradation.
In this article, we will only be looking at verbtype 1 consonant gradation. Find out more about the other verbtypes here.
2. When Do You Use Consonant Gradation?
For verbtype 1, the infinitive of the verb (the basic form) will always be strong. Minä, sinä, me and te will become weak when you add the personal ending, while hän and he will remain as they were in the basic form. The present and past tense for verbtype 1 will follow this same pattern.
We could rephrase this by saying that verbtype 1 consonant gradation takes place when you add the following personal endings: -n, -t, -mme, -tte. As you can see, this leaves the third person forms out.
Other tenses and moods:
- The past participle of verbtype 1 verbs will always be strong:
en laittanut, olen ottanut, emme ole tappaneet - The passive of verbtype 1 verbs will always be weak:
laitetaan, otetaan, laitettiin, otettaisiin - The conditional of verbtype 1 verbs will always be strong:
ottaisin, laittaisimme, tappaisitko - The singular imperative will be weak and the plural imperative strong:
Laita! Laittakaa! Ota! Ottakaa!
3. Which Consonants Change?
Consonant gradation only happens with the following consonants.
| Strong | Weak | Infinitive | Weak forms | Strong forms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| kk | k | nukkua | minä nukun, sinä nukut me nukumme, te nukutte |
hän nukkuu he nukkuvat |
| pp | p | tappaa | minä tapan, sinä tapat me tapamme, te tapatte |
hän tappaa he tappavat |
| tt | t | soittaa | minä soitan, sinä soitat me soitamme, te soitatte |
hän soittaa he soittavat |
| nt | nn | antaa | minä annan, sinä annat me annamme, te annatte |
hän antaa he antavat |
| nk | ng | tinkiä | minä tingin, sinä tingit me tingimme, te tingitte |
hän tinkii he tinkivät |
| mp | mm | ampua | minä ammun, sinä ammut me ammumme, te ammutte |
hän ampuu he ampuvat |
| lt | ll | kieltää | minä kiellän, sinä kiellät me kiellämme, te kiellätte |
hän kieltää he kieltävät |
| rt | rr | kiertää | minä kierrän, sinä kierrät me kierrämme, te kierrätte |
hän kiertää he kiertävät |
| t | d | tietää | minä tiedän, sinä tiedät me tiedämme, te tiedätte |
hän tietää he tietävät |
| k | Ø | lukea | minä luen, sinä luet me luemme, te luette |
hän lukee he lukevat |
| k | v | – | – | – |
| p | v | sopia | minä sovin, sinä sovit me sovimme, te sovitte |
hän sopii he sopivat |
| lke | lje | sulkea | minä suljen, sinä suljet me suljemme, te suljette |
hän sulkee he sulkevat |
| rke | rje | särkeä | minä särjen, sinä särjet, me särjemme, te särjette |
hän särkee he särkevät |
- More information on RK and LK becomes RJ and LJ here.
- Read more about words where K disappears here.
4. Limitations on Consonant Gradation
4.1. Consonant type limitations
If a certain consonant combination is not included in the list above, they’re not subject to consonant gradation. For example: -ss- is not in the list, so you will never consonant gradate -ss- to -s-, such as for the verb tanssia (minä tanssin, hän tanssii).
It’s also important to understand that the consonant gradation of verbtype 1 will always have a strong infinitive.
| Infinitive | Conjugation |
|---|---|
| tanssia | minä tanssin |
| marssia | minä marssin |
4.2. Syllable limitations
Consonant gradation can only take place at the border between the last and the last but one (second-to-last) syllable. This means that certain longer verbs won’t be subject to consonant gradation.
For example, the verb vääntäytyä has -nt-, but we won’t have a weak minä-form because the -nt- isn’t situated at the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable. The -t- at the latter part of this word will undergo consonant gradation of course.
| Infinitive | Conjugation | In contrast with |
|---|---|---|
| vääntäytyä | minä vääntäydyn | vääntyä > minä väännyn |
| kieltäytyä | minä kieltäydyn | kieltää > minä kiellän |
4.3. Consonant clusters
Generally, consonant gradation does not happen when there is an -s-, -h- or a -t- next to the consonants that normally change. This is the case for example with the verb maksaa. Because there is an -s- next to the -k-, you don’t get consonant gradation. Other verbs in this category: etsiä, katsoa, itkeä, kytkeä, leuhkia.
| Infinitive | Conjugation |
|---|---|
| maksaa | minä maksan |
| itkeä | minä itken |
| katsoa | minä katson |
| leuhkia | minä leuhkin |
| todistaa | minä todistan |
5. Open and closed syllables
Note: If you’re not familiar with what is meant by open and closed syllables, it is probably a good idea just to remember which forms are weak/strong (e.g. minä, sinä, me and te are weak, while hän and he are strong in the present tense).
If you do come from a background where you’ve learned about open and closed syllables, this is an alternative tool useful to decide if a word will be strong or weak. You can recognise strong and weak forms by looking at what type of syllables a word contains. Note that there are exceptions to this system, as you will see for the examples belong.
An open syllable (avotavu) is a syllable that ends in a vowel, while a closed syllable (umpitavu) ends in a consonant.
- A consonant cluster that’s located at the beginning of a closed syllable will become weak.
- Consonant clusters at the beginning of an open syllable will be strong.
Consonants that can undergo consonant gradation are:
- always located at the border of the last and the one-but-last syllable
- always have a consonant at the beginning of this syllable
Note that there are certain verb forms where the open/closed syllable rule doesn’t apply. This is specifically the case for the singular imperative and the present passive. In these exceptional forms, you will have the weak grade at the beginning of an open syllable. This is due to historical reasons, related to boundary gemination.
The verb nukkua: examples of forms where the syllable rules apply
| Verb | Syllables | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| nukkua | nuk-ku-a | The syllable -ku- is open (ends in a vowel), so it will retain both consonants. |
| minä nukun | nu-kun | The syllable -kun- is closed (ends in a consonant), so one of the k’s will disappear. |
| hän nukkuu | nuk-kuu | The syllable -kuu- is open (ends in a vowel), so it will retain both consonants. |
| nukuttiin | nu-kut-tiin | The syllable -kut- is closed (ends in a consonant), so one of the k’s will disappear. |
| nukkunut | nuk-ku-nut | The syllable -ku- is open (ends in a vowel), so it will retain both consonants. |
| nukkuisin | nuk-kui-sin | The syllable -kui- is open (ends in a vowel), so it will retain both consonants. |
The verb nukkua: examples of forms where the syllable rules don’t apply
| Verb | Syllables | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| nukutaan | nu-ku-taan | The syllable rule can’t be applied to the passive present tense of verbtype 1 verbs |
| nuku | nu-ku | The syllable rule can’t be applied to the singular imperative of verbtype 1 verbs |
The verb leipoa: examples of forms where the syllable rules apply
| Verb | Syllables | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| leipoa | lei-po-a | The syllable -po- is open (ends in a vowel), so it will have -v- instead of -p-. |
| minä leivon | lei-von | The syllable -von- is closed (ends in a consonant), so it will have -v- instead of -p-. |
| hän leipoo | lei-poo | The syllable -poo- is open (ends in a vowel), so it will retain both consonants. |
| leivottiin | lei-vot-tiin | The syllable -vot- is closed (ends in a consonant), so it will have -v- instead of -p-. |
| leiponut | lei-po-nut | The syllable -po- is open (ends in a vowel), so it will retain both consonants. |
| leipoisin | lei-poi-sin | The syllable -poi- is open (ends in a vowel), so it will retain both consonants. |
The verb nukkua: examples of forms where the syllable rules don’t apply
| Verb | Syllables | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| leivotaan | lei-vo-taan | The syllable rule can’t be applied to the passive present tense of verbtype 1 verbs. |
| leivo | lei-vo | The syllable rule can’t be applied to the singular imperative of verbtype 1 verbs. |
Fred Karlsson’s Finnish: An Essential Grammar lists ‘särkeä‘ (to break) > ‘minä särjen‘ (I break) as an example of ‘rke>rje’ consonant gradation in verbs. ‘Särkeä‘ belongs to KOTUS type 58 (laskea), which includes many verbs with consonant gradation (k → ∅|p → v|t → d|nk → ng|k → j).
He notes that ‘k>v’ gradation (e.g., ‘puku‘ > ‘puvun‘) is rare and limited to a few nominals in which ‘k’ is both proceeded and followed by ‘u/y’ (i.e., -UkU-) such as ‘suku‘ (family, relatives), ‘luku‘ (number) and ‘kyky‘. This observation is mirrored in Iso Suomen Kielioppi, which says that k>v gradation occurs when the ‘k’ is surrounded by identical short round vowels (the 4 round vowels being -o-, -u-, -ö- and -y-), although the examples provided all follow the -UkU- pattern (including ‘myky‘ (dumpling)).
For an interesting take on consonant gradation:
http://jkorpela.fi/cons-grad.html
Ahh, särkeä! Of course. I’m adding that one.
Isn’t it strange how k-v gradation hasn’t disappeared from Finnish over time? Things that are so extremely rare often just stop happening over time. Then again, the most likely consonant gradation type they would have gotten redirected to would be k → ∅. The result would be lu’un, pu’un, su’un, which (while not impossible in Finnish, eg. rei’itin) isn’t all that pretty.
Perhaps there is some underlying principle of phonotactics, or some merged words which needed to be distinguished in their inflected forms? The ‘k’ sound is so overrepresented in Finnish, plus there is that vestigial glottal stop…maybe there is some special connection?!
Yeah, the underlying principle is probably that disappearance of k between short back vowels uKu -> u’u triggers [v] in there as a quite a natural consonant to be put between u-u. [w] is a semivowel, which corresponds to [u], but Finnish wouldn’t allow [suwu]. This sort of semivowel like sound happens only when [u] is between different vowels, like in kiuas, aueta so the consonant moves to the next most comfortable spot, [v].
Compare Karelian rauveta in place of Finnish raueta.
Shouldn’t the 3rd person plural form of “tappaa” be “tappavat” instead of “tappaavat”? I thought that to conjugate the verb you had to obtain the stem by deleting the last -a / -ä of the infinitive form (tappa-) and then adding the personal suffix to conjugate it (-vat/-vät).
You are 100% correct! Thanks for pointing it out. 🙂
If the KPT change doesn’t apply if the is a s,h or a t next to the letter that change, then why does lahteä turn into minä lähden
Yep, that’s just the general rule. There are fairly many verbs with -ht- that do undergo consonant gradation: ehtiä, lähteä, purjehtia, tervehtiä, etc.