One feature that confuses many learners of Finnish is related to the consonant -k- and how it “appears” or “disappears” in certain words. In this article, we’ll look at both nouns and verbs and how the -k- behaves in those.

The most common example is probably the word for “food”: ruoka, with its T-plural forms ruoat/ruuat, and inessive case form ruoassa/ruuassa. Check Wiktionary’s usage note for the variation.

1. What is consonant gradation?

Consonant gradation (astevaihtelu) is the phenomenon where a change will happen to the consonants at the edge of the last and the one-but-last syllable when you add an element to the end of the word. Consonant gradation also includes at least one of the consonants K, P and T, so in Finnish courses, it’s often referred to as KPT-vaihtelu.

These consonants are considered either “weak” or “strong”, for example, the -lt- in kulta is considered “strong” while the -ll- in kullat is considered “weak”. Consonant gradation only affects the consonants K, P and T (hence the term “KPT-vaihtelu” used in courses). Double -ss- will never become a single -s-.

2. What consonant gradation rules apply to the consonant k?

Here’s a list of consonant gradation pairs which include the consonant K:

If you’re a beginner, your first question looking at this list is probably “how do I know which one of these changes applies?”. To answer this question, you need to look at the whole word in question: the surrounding letters will often give you a clue which consonant gradation change you are dealing with.

In this article, the focus is on nouns and verbs where the K disappears!

3. Why does K disappear and appear?

The reason for the “disappearing” K lies in the history of the Finnish language. While in modern Finnish, K disappears, historically there was a weak consonant as a pair for the K, which in linguistic circles is marked as γ. You can read more about this voiced velar fricative on Wikipedia. Up until the 1500s, this sound was still present in some dialects, but it has since then disappeared completely.

So, K hasn’t always “just disappeared”. It has slowly faded out of the Finnish language, making it look like there was nothing there in the first place. However, this doesn’t really help you as a learner of Finnish. There is nothing left in words where the K disappears in the speech of modern Finnish.

One way to perhaps partly remember which verbs have a K is to look at the noun related to them. For example, the verb pelätä “to be afraid” becomes “minä pelkään“, similar to the noun pelko “fear”. In contrast, the verb pelata “to play” becomes “minä pelaan”, similar to the noun peli “game”. Early on, you might have learned the word makuuhuone “bedroom”. The makuu at the beginning of that noun is related to the verb maata (to lay down), for which the present tense conjugation is “minä makaan“.

4. Which forms are weak and which ones are strong?

Unfortunately, as you can see from the table above, the system becomes complicated when you add both wordtype A and B as well as all the verbtypes. They all have different rules for consonant gradation.

As such, the really important question becomes which forms are weak and which ones are strong? In order to address this issue, I’m giving you the rules one wordtype and one verbtype at a time below.

I would like to point out two websites that will prove useful when you’re inflecting nouns or conjugating verbs. Firstly, there’s Wiktionary! When searching for a word, for example alkaa, you can look at the declension table. Make sure to click “more” in the table to get the full view! I also really like Verbix, so click to look at alkaa in Verbix as well. Verbix – as the name implies – only shows you how verbs are conjugated, while in Wiktionary, you can also look at the inflection of nouns.

5. Nouns where the consonant K disappears

5.1. Wordtype A – Strong and weak forms

Based on their consonant gradation pattern, Finnish nouns can be divided into two groups. The first of these contains words where the basic form is strong, while some of the other cases will be weak. It’s common for teachers and coursebooks to refer to these words as “wordtype A” words (sanatyyppi A).

The table below contains the singular and plural inflection of the word alku. In red, you can see the forms where there is a -k- present.

In the next table, I have organized the same information in a different format.

5.2. List of wordtype A words where K disappears

For each word, I’m providing you with 4 forms which are weak (the T-plural, genitive, inessive, plural inessive case forms) and 3 forms that are strong (partitive, illative and plural partitive). You can refer back to the table above to see the pattern for the rest of the cases. If you want to find out what the word means, you can click on the basic form of the word to be taken to Wiktionary and find the translation there! Wiktionary also provides you with the full inflection table when you click “more” where it says “declension”.

5.3. Some special words

Things of note about the table above:

1. In situations where the disappearance of the -k- results in two of the same vowel becoming attached to one another, you will need to use an apostrophe in place of the -k-. This influences the pronunciation as well. I’issä (the plural -ssa form of ikä) will be pronounced differently than Iissä (the -ssa form of Ii, which is a municipality in Northern Finland).
2. The words aika and poika have the -k- removed, but in addition the -i- is replaced with a -j-.
3. Some words have two correct versions: one with the -k- intact and one without the -k-. In different dialects, people prefer one over the other. This is the case for the words nahka and uhka. The word tuhka also belongs to this group, but the versions where -k- disappears (tuhan, tuhkat) are much more uncommon than the version where -k- remains (tuhkan, tuhkat).
4. Some words don’t have this type of consonant gradation: they retain their -k- in all forms. This is the case for:
   • Spoken language words: eg. paku, laku, eka, toka, säkä
   • Given names: Aki, Riku, Jyrki, Marko

5.4. Wordtype B – Strong and weak forms

Wordtype B has a completely different consonant gradation pattern than wordtype A. For one, the basic form of the word is weak (pyyhe rather than pyyhke). This can be explained by deep diving into the ancient history of how the Finnish language developed, but I will not go into that here. For most students, it is enough to just remember which forms will be weak and which forms will be strong. For wordtype B words, this means every form apart from the basic form and partitive case will be strong.

The table below contains the singular and plural inflection of the word koe. In red, you can see the forms where there is a -k- present.

In the next table, I have organized the same information in a different format.

5.5. List of wordtype B words where K disappears

For each word in the table below, I’m providing you with the nominative form and the partitive case (which are the only weak forms) and 6 forms which are strong (the T-plural, genitive, inessive, plural inessive case forms). You can refer back to the table above to see the pattern for the rest of the cases. If you want to find out what the word means, you can click on the basic form of the word to be taken to Wiktionary and find the translation there! Wiktionary also provides you with the full inflection table when you click “more” where it says “declension”.

6. Verbs where the consonant K disappears

6.1. Verbtype 1 – Strong and weak forms

The infinitive (basic form) of verbtype 1 verbs end in two vowels (e.g. alkaa, pukea). While I’ve added the most common conjugated forms in the lists below, you might also want to take a look at the full conjugation table on Verbix. Here’s a link for the verb pukea.

Strong forms for verbtype 1:

• the infinitive (pukea)
• the present tense hän-form (pukee) and he-form (pukevat)
• the past tense (imperfect) hän-form (puki) and he-form (pukivat)
• all the active conditional forms, both affirmative and negative (pukisin, pukisit, pukisi, pukisimme, pukisitte, pukisivat, en pukisi)
• all the potential forms (pukenen, pukenet, pukenee, pukenemme, pukenette, pukenevat)
• the third and fourth infinitive forms (pukemassa, pukemasta, pukemaan, pukematta, pukeminen)
• the NUT-participle (pukenut, pukeneet)
• the imperative forms (pukekaa, pukekoon, pukekoot), except for the second person singular (pue!)

Weak forms for verbtype 1:

• the present tense minä, sinä, me, and te forms (puen, puet, puemme, puette)
• the negative present tense (en pue, et pue, ei pue)
• the past tense (imperfect) minä, sinä, me and te form (puin, puit, puimme, puitte)
• the passive present tense (puetaan, ei pueta)
• the passive imperfect (puettiin, ei puettu)
• the passive conditional (puettaisiin, ei puettaisi)
• the passive TAVA– and TU-participles (puettava, puettu)

The table below contains the minä, sinä and hän forms of the present tense, imperfect and conditional, as well as the negative forms of each of these. The verb in question is alkaa. In red, you can see the forms where there is a -k- present.

In the next table, I have organized similar information in a different format.

6.2. List of verbtype 1 verbs where K disappears

In the table below, I’m providing you with the following forms:

6.3. Verbtype 2 – tehdä and nähdä

Out of all the verbtype 2 forms that exist, only the verbs tehdä and nähdä have consonant gradation. The active present and imperfect tenses, as well as the conditional and the singular imperative, match up perfectly with the strong and weak forms of verbtype 1. Some other forms, however, have an -h- rather than a -k-. This is true for the infinitive (tehdä, nähdä), certain imperative forms (tehkää, tehköön, tehkööt) and the past passives (tehnyt, tehty).

Strong forms for tehdä and nähdä:

• the present tense hän-form (tekee) and he-form (tekevät)
• the past tense (imperfect) hän-form (teki) and he-form (tekivät)
• all the active conditional forms, both affirmative and negative (tekisin, tekisit, tekisi, tekisimme, tekisitte, tekisivät, en tekisi)
• the third and fourth infinitive forms (tekemässä, tekemästä, tekemään, tekemättä, tekeminen)

Weak forms for tehdä and nähdä:

• the present tense minä, sinä, me, and te forms (teen, teet, teemme, teette)
• the negative present tense (en tee, et tee, ei tee)
• the past tense (imperfect) minä, sinä, me and te form (tein, teit, teimme, teitte)

Forms with an -h- for tehdä and nähdä:

• the infinitive (tehdä, nähdä)
• the NUT-participle (tehnyt, tehneet)
• the passive present tense (tehdään, ei tehdä)
• the passive imperfect (tehtiin, ei tehty)
• the passive conditional (tehtäisiin, ei tehtäisi)
• the passive TAVA– and TU-participles (tehtävä, tehty)
• all the potential forms (tehnen, tehnet, tehnee, tehnemme, tehnette, tehnevät)
• the imperative‘s second person plural (tehkää)
• the imperative’s rare third person singular and plural (tehköön, tehkööt)

The table below contains an overview of the most common conjugated forms of the verbs tehdä and nähdä. In red, you can see the forms where there is a -k- present.

6.4. Verbtype 3 – Strong and weak forms

There are only a couple of verbtype 3 verbs that have a -k- that disappears: jaella, juosta, piestä and syöstä.

Strong forms for verbtype 3:

• all the present tense forms (jakelen, jakelet, jakelee, jakelemme, jakelette, jakelevat)
• all the negative present tense forms (en jakele, et jakele, ei jakele)
• all the past tense (imperfect) forms (jakelin, jakelit, jakeli, jakelimme, jakelitte, jakelivat)
• all the active conditional forms (jakelisin, jakelisit, jakelisi, jakelisimme, jakelisitte, jakelisivat)
• the third and fourth infinitive forms (jakelemassa, jakelemsta, jakelemaan, jakelematta, jakeleminen)
• the imperative‘s second person singular (jakele)

Weak forms for verbtype 3:

• the infinitive (jaella)
• all the potential forms (jaellen, jaellet, jaellee, jaellemme, jaellette, jaellevat)
• the NUT-participle (jaellut, jaelleet)
• the imperative‘s second person plural (jaelkaa)
• the imperative’s rare third person singular and plural (jaelkoon, jaelkoot)
• the passive present tense (jaellaan, ei jaella)
• the passive imperfect (jaeltiin, ei jaeltu)
• the passive conditional (jaeltaisiin, ei jaeltaisi)
• the passive TAVA– and TU-participles (jaeltava, jaeltu)

The table below contains the minä, sinä and hän forms of the present tense, imperfect and conditional, as well as the negative forms of each of these. The verb in question is jaella. In red, you can see the forms where there is a -k- present.

In the next table, I have organized similar information in a different format.

6.5. List of verbtype 3 verbs where K disappears

In the table below, I’m providing you with the following forms:

6.6. Verbtype 4 – Strong and weak forms

The infinitive (basic form) of verbtype 4 verbs is weak (e.g. tavata, maata). While I’ve added the most common conjugated forms in the lists below, you might also want to take a look at the full conjugation table on Verbix. Here’s a link for the verb tavata.

Strong forms for verbtype 4:

• all the present tense forms (pelkään, pelkäät, pelkää, pelkäämme, pelkäätte, pelkäävät)
• all the negative present tense forms (en pelkää, et pelkää, ei pelkää, emme pelkää, ette pelkää, eivät pelkää)
• all the past tense (imperfect) forms (pelkäsin, pelkäsit, pelkäsi, pelkäsimme, pelkäsitte, pelkäsivät)
• all the active conditional forms (pelkäisin, pelkäisit, pelkäisi, pelkäisimme, pelkäisitte, pelkäisivät)
• all the negative conditional forms (en pelkäisi, et pelkäisi, ei pelkäisi, emme pelkäisi, ette pelkäisi, eivät pelkäisi)
• the third and fourth infinitive forms (pelkäämässä, pelkäämästä, pelkäämään, pelkäämättä, pelkääminen)
• the imperative‘s second person singular (pelkää)

Weak forms for verbtype 4:

• the infinitive (pelätä)
• the passive present tense (pelätään, ei pelätä)
• the passive imperfect (pelättiin, ei pelätty)
• the passive conditional (pelättäisiin, ei pelättäisi)
• the passive TAVA– and TU-participles (pelättävä, pelätty)
• the NUT-participle (pelännyt, pelänneet)
• the imperative‘s second person plural (pelätkää)
• the imperative’s rare third person singular and plural (pelätköön, pelätkööt)
• all the potential forms (pelännen, pelännet, pelännee, pelännemme, pelännette, pelännevät)

The table below contains the minä, sinä and hän forms of the present tense, imperfect and conditional, as well as the negative forms of each of these. The verb in question is pelätä. In red, you can see the forms where there is a -k- present.

In the next table, I have organized similar information in a different format.

6.7. List of verbtype 4 verbs where K disappears

In the table below, I’m providing you with the following forms:

6.8. Verbtype 5 – Strong and weak forms

The infinitive (basic form) of verbtype 5 verbs is weak (e.g. paeta, oieta). While I’ve added the most common conjugated forms in the lists below, you might also want to take a look at the full conjugation table on Verbix. Here’s a link for the verb paeta.

Strong forms for verbtype 5:

• all the present tense forms (pakenen, pakenet, pakenee, pakenemme, pakenette, pakenevat)
• all the negative present tense forms (en pakene, et pakene, ei pakene, emme pakene, ette pakene, eivät pakene)
• all the past tense (imperfect) forms (pakenin, pakenit, pakeni, pakenimme, pakenitte, pakenivat)
• all the active conditional forms (pakenisin, pakenisit, pakenisi, pakenisimme, pakenisitte, pakenisivat)
• all the negative conditional forms (en pakenisi, et pakenisi, ei pakenisi, emme pakenisi, ette pakenisi, eivät pakenisi)
• the third and fourth infinitive forms (pakenemaan, pakenemassa, pakenemasta, pakenematta, pakeneminen)
• the imperative‘s second person singular (pakene)

Weak forms for verbtype 4:

• the infinitive (paeta)
• the passive present tense (paetaan, ei paeta)
• the passive imperfect (paettiin, ei paettu)
• the passive conditional (paettaisiin, ei paettaisi)
• the passive TAVA– and TU-participles (paettava, paettu)
• the NUT-participle (paennut, paenneet)
• the imperative‘s second person plural (paetkaa)
• the imperative’s rare third person singular and plural (paetkoon, paetkoot)
• all the potential forms (paennen, paennet, paennee, paennemme, paennette, paennevat)

The table below contains the minä, sinä and hän forms of the present tense, imperfect and conditional, as well as the negative forms of each of these. The verb in question is paeta. In red, you can see the forms where there is a -k- present.

In the next table, I have organized similar information in a different format.

6.9. List of verbtype 5 verbs where K disappears

In the table below, I’m providing you with the following forms:

That’s all for this article! I hope my tables and lists help you. I’m aware this page is somewhat chaotic, but it’s a complex issue, difficult to lay out comprehensively!

Related posts:

The Finnish Verbtypes Verbtype 1 Consonant Gradation Verbtype 4 Consonant Gradation Words ending in E – Inflection of words like HAME and NALLE