Finnish Superlative of Adjectives – Superlatiivi
The superlative expresses that something has a certain quality the most. In this article, we will focus on the Finnish superlative of adjectives.
In addition to this, we also have an article about:
- The Use of the Superlative
- Not all adjectives have a superlative form
- Hän on maailman kaunein
- Hän on kaunein meistä
- Hän on kaikkein kaunein
- Hän on mitä kaunein
- The Formation of the Superlative
- Adjectives ending in -o/-ö/-u/-y
- Adjectives ending in -a/-ä
- Adjectives ending in -i
- New adjectives ending in -i
- Old adjectives ending in -i
- Adjectives ending in a consonant
- Adjectives ending in -e
- Adjectives ending in -nen
- Exceptions
- Consonant Gradation in the Superlative
- Putting Comparative Forms in the Cases
1. Use of the Finnish Superlative
The Finnish superlative of adjectives is used when we’re comparing the qualities of three or more things, and one of those has the most of a certain quality.
1.1. Not all adjectives have a superlative form
Some adjectives just can’t have a comparative and/or a superlative. You can use your own language as a reasoning ground: something can be free of charge, but can something else be the most free? Someone can be unique; but can someone be the most unique? Someone can be unemployed, but is there a way for someone else to be the most unemployed?
Adjectives that don’t have a superlative form usually express a quality that someone either has or doesn’t have. There is no grey area between the two. Take the adjective kuollut (dead) for example. A person can’t be a little dead, so they can’t be more dead or the most dead either (nobody bring up zombies or vampires here!).
1.2. Hän on maailman kaunein
We can use the genitive case to express what group we’re comparing something to.
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Hän on maailman paras juoksija. | She’s the world’s best runner. |
| Suomi ei ole Euroopan kylmin maa. | Finland isn’t Europe’s coldest country. |
| Turku on Suomen vanhin kaupunki. | Turku is Finland’s oldest city. |
| Iida asuu Ranskan suurimmassa kaupungissa. | Iida lives in France’s largest city. |
| Kävin kaupungin pienimmässä baarissa. | I went to the city’s smallest bar. |
1.2. Hän on meistä kaunein
We can use the elative case in comparisons to express the group we’re comparing to.
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Kuka meistä on kaunein? | Who of all of us is the most beautiful? |
| Anna on teistä nuorin. | Anna is the youngest of all of you. |
| Liisa on heistä paras laulamaan. | Liisa is the best of all of them at singing. |
| Hän on kiltein opiskelija koko koulusta. | She’s the nicest student of the whole school. |
| Ani on juoksijoista nopein. | Ani is the fastest of the runners. |
1.3. Hän on kaikkein kaunein
The superlative can also be used in combination with the word kaikkein. When using this word, you don’t have to specify the group from which something is superior because we’re including everything. In spoken language, kaikista is often used instead of kaikkein.
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Kakku on kaikkein paras jälkiruoka. | Cake is the best desert of all. |
| Jalkapallo on kaikkein hauskin urheilulaji. | Soccer is the most fun sport of all. |
| Kuka on kaikkein kaunein? | Who is the most beautiful of all? |
| Tää on just kaikista pahin mahdollisuus. | This is exactly the worst possibility of all. |
| Mika oli kaikista nopein. | Mika was the fastest of all. |
1.4. Hän on mitä kaunein
The superlative can be used in expressions utilizing the pronoun mitä. In these cases, the meaning can be both superlative or just strengthened by the presence of the mitä.
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Kultaseni, sinulla on mitä kaunein vartalo. | Honey, you have the most beautiful body. |
| Ilma on mitä ihanin. | The weather is wonderful. |
| Elokuva oli mitä mielenkiintoisin. | The movie was super interesting. |
2. The Formation of the Finnish Superlative of Adjectives
2.1. Adjectives ending in -o/-ö/-u/-y
The general rule for Finnish superlative of adjectives is to add –in to the weak form of the word.
| Adjective | Superlative | Adjective | Superlative |
|---|---|---|---|
| kesy | kesyin | paksu | paksuin |
| hassu | hassuin | hieno | hienoin |
| hölmö | hölmöin | huono | huonoin |
| helppo | helpoin | heikko | heikoin |
2.2. Adjectives ending in -a/-ä
For all words (short and long) ending in -a/-ä, the superlative will replace the final -a/-ä with the superlative’s marker –in. The only exception to this is kiva, which can be both kivoin and occasionally kivin. This exception was probably caused by kivin being so close to kivi (stone). Remember consonant gradation! These words are weak.
| Adjective | Superlative | Adjective | Superlative |
|---|---|---|---|
| ihana | ihanin | vanha | vanhin |
| laiska | laiskin | hauska | hauskin |
| terävä | terävin | köyhä | köyhin |
| halpa | halvin | kiva | kivoin |
2.3. Adjectives ending in -i
2.3.1. New adjectives ending in -i
New words are often loanwords. Usually they’re recognisable because they resemble words in other languages. For these words, the final –i will be replaced with –ein. This is most probably the case because without the –e-, the words would look exactly like their genitive form (e.g. siistin, intiimin).
| Adjective | Superlative | Adjective | Superlative |
|---|---|---|---|
| siisti | siistein | akuutti | akuutein |
| moderni | modernein | kiltti | kiltein |
| elegantti | elegantein | populaari | populaarein |
| villi | villein | intiimi | intiimein |
2.3.2. Old adjectives ending in -i
For old adjectives ending in -i (which is a really small group), you will replace the final –i with –in.
| Adjective | Superlative |
|---|---|
| suuri | suurin |
| nuori | nuorin |
| pieni | pienin |
2.4. Adjectives ending in a consonant
There are many groups of adjectives that end in a consonant.
- Adjectives ending in –as: replace –as with –ain → strong stem!
- Adjectives ending in –is: replace –is with –ein → strong stem!
- Adjectives ending in -ut/yt: replace –t with –in
- Adjectives ending in –nut/nyt: replace –ut with –ein
| Adjective | Superlative | Adjective | Superlative |
|---|---|---|---|
| puhdas | puhtain | kevyt | kevyin |
| hidas | hitain | ohut | ohuin |
| rikas | rikkain | lyhyt | lyhyin/lyhin |
| kallis | kallein | väsynyt | väsynein |
| tyyris | tyyrein | kyllästynyt | kyllästynein |
| kaunis | kaunein | masentunut | masentunein |
2.5. Adjectives ending in -e
Another small group: add –in to the end of the word.
| Adjective | Superlative | Adjective | Superlative |
|---|---|---|---|
| ahne | ahnein | tuore | tuorein |
| terve | tervein | kade | katein |
2.6. Adjectives ending in -nen
For these words, you should remove the –nen and add –sin. From a morphological point of view, the -s- is actually part of the stem of the word (e.g. vihais-, suomalais-), and you’re adding –in to that stem.
| Adjective | Superlative | Adjective | Superlative |
|---|---|---|---|
| suomalainen | suomalaisin | tavallinen | tavallisin |
| sininen | sinisin | iloinen | iloisin |
| vihainen | vihaisin | hiljainen | hiljaisin |
2.7. Exceptions
The following words are important because they inflect a little differently than you might expect.
- hyvä – parempi – paras/parhain
- pitkä – pidempi/pitempi – pisin
- uusi – uudempi – uusin
- lämmin– lämpimämpi – lämpimin
- hapan – happamampi – happamin
3. Consonant Gradation in the Superlative
The Finnish superlative of wordtype A words is always weak. The superlative of wordtype B is always strong.
| Wordtype A | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Adjective | Superlative | Adjective | Superlative |
| helppo | helpoin | tuttu | tutuin |
| kiltti | kiltein | halpa | halvin |
| heikko | heikoin | tanakka | tanakin |
| märkä | märin | vankka | vankain |
| arka | arin | aito | aidoin |
I have a separate article on wordtype A.
| Wordtype B | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adjective | Superlative | Adjective | Superlative | ||
| rikas | rikkain | hidas | hitain | ||
| älykäs | älykkäin | puhdas | puhtain | ||
| valpas | valppain | altis | alttein | ||
I have a separate article on wordtype B.
4. Putting superlative forms in the cases
In addition to having a nominative form, the superlative forms of adjectives can also be inflected in all the different cases – both in the singular and the plural. I made a page with examples for you to check out.
As a general rule that is correct, but as shown in the table, the –U– in the –Uin– ending can be dropped for lyhyt:lyhin (lyhyin is alternate form), as described here.
Lyhyin is interesting because it confuses Finnish speakers to some extent. There have been several instances where – in a normal conversation – a Finn said either lyhyin or lyhin and then paused for a second with an “is that right” look on their face. Super interesting to notice!
Hello,
I have noticed that this article doesn’t have formation of -ton/tön words
Yes! This is on purpose. You CAN in theory form the superlative of, for example, maidoton (maidottomin). However, if you think about the meaning of these words, it’s just not something that “works”. A biscuit can have no milk in it at all. However, there can’t be a second biscuit that have EVEN LESS milk than that. It either has no milk, or it does have milk. The comparative and superlative just don’t work. You’re either unemployed (työtön) or you have a job, one person can’t been MORE unemployed than the other.
Thank you for your answer! True, I must’ve been so caught up by grammatical rules that missed the real meaning. It now makes perfect sense that this type of words just doesn’t need comparative and superlative 🙂