Finnish Verbtype 4 Consonant Gradation

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 (-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 4 consonant gradation. Find out more about verbtype 4 and the other verbtypes here.

2. When Do You Use Consonant Gradation?

Verbtype 4 consonant gradation takes place in all the conjugated forms of the present tense. The infinitive of the verb (the basic form) will always be weak, while every conjugated form will be strong.

There is a huge amount of verbtype 4 verbs that don’t undergo consonant gradation, eventhough they have the right consonants. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing which verbs undergo consonant gradation and which ones don’t. Even a simple verb pair like pelata / pelätä will behave differently (pelata: minä pelaan / pelätä: minä pelkään). Hence, for verbtype 4, you will have to learn by heart which verbs undergo consonant gradation.

3. Which Consonants Change?

Consonant gradation only happens with the following consonants.

Weak	Strong	Verb Infinitive	Weak
k	kk	pakata	minä pakkaan, sinä pakkaat, hän pakkaa me pakkaamme, te pakkaatte, he pakkaavat
p	pp	hypätä	minä hyppään, sinä hyppäät, hän hyppää me hyppäämme, te hyppäätte, he hyppäävät
t	tt	mitata	minä mittaan, sinä mittaat, hän mittaa me mittaamme, te mittaatte, he mittaavat
nn	nt	suunnata	minä suuntaan, sinä suuntaat, hän suuntaa me suuntaamme, te suuntaatte, he suuntaavat
ng	nk	hangata	minä hankaan, sinä hankaat, hän hankaa me hankaamme, te hankaatte, he hankaavat
mm	mp	kammata	minä kampaan, sinä kampaat, hän kampaa me kampaamme, te kampaatte, he kampaavat
ll	lt	vallata	minä valtaan, sinä valtaat, hän valtaa me valtaamme, te valtaatte, he valtaavat
rr	rt	kerrata	minä kertaan, sinä kertaat, hän kertaa me kertaamme, te kertaatte, he kertaavat
d	t	pudota	minä putoan, sinä putoat, hän putoaa me putoamme, te putoatte, he putoavat
Ø	k	maata	minä makaan, sinä makaat, hän makaa me makaamme, te makaatte, he makaavat
v	p	tavata	minä tapaan, sinä tapaat, hän tapaa me tapaamme, te tapaatte, he tapaavat

4. Limitations on Consonant Gradation

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-.

Consonant gradation can only take place at the border between the last and the one-but-last syllable. This means that certain longer verbs won’t be subject to consonant gradation. I can’t currently think of an example of this, but there is always that one student that finds an example! Maybe it’s you? Let me know!

Many verbtype 4 verbs do not undergo consonant gradation. There is unfortunately no rule for which ones do and which ones don’t. Time to learn them by heart, one by one, when they come your way.