Partitive Verbs – Partitiiviverbit – Finnish Grammar
Partitive verbs are a group of verbs that always (or almost always) require their object to be inflected in the partitive case. Partitive verbs themselves won’t inflect in the partitive. Rather, the word connected to the partitive verb should be partitive.
| Verb | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| arvostaa | Arvostavatko he poliitikkoja? | Do they value/respect politicians? |
| auttaa | Voimmeko auttaa sinua? | Can we help you? |
| häiritä | Häiritsenkö sinua? | Am I bothering you? |
| ehdottaa | Hän ehdotti tätä minulle. | He suggested this to me. |
| epäillä | Älä epäile omia kykyjäsi. | Don’t doubt your own abilities. |
| etsiä | Minä etsin avaintani. | I’m searching for my key. |
| haastatella | Hän haastatteli miestä rikoksesta. | She interviewed the man about crime. |
| harkita | Sinun täytyy harkita ehdotustani. | You have to consider my proposal. |
| harrastaa | Hän harrastaa musiikkia. | He enjoys music as a hobby. |
| hävetä | Niina häpeää likaista mekkoaan. | Niina is ashamed about her dirty dress. |
| ihailla | Nainen ihailee presidenttiä. | The woman admires the president. |
| ikävöidä | Minä ikävöin kotimaatani. | I miss my home country. |
| inhota | Minä inhoan kylmää vettä. | I strongly dislike cold water. |
| jatkaa | Jatkan opiskelua koko elämäni. | I will continue studying my whole life. |
| juhlia | He juhlivat joulua yhdessä. | They celebrated Christmas together. |
| kaivata | Hän kaipaa sinua. | She misses you. |
| kannustaa | Opettaja kannusti opiskelijoita. | The teacher encouraged the students. |
| katsella | Katsellaanko meidän lomakuvia? | Let’s watch our holiday pictures? |
| kehua | Johtaja kehui työntekijää. | The boss praised the employee. |
| kieltää | Minä kielsin lapsia huutamasta. | I forbade the children to shout. |
| kiittää | Haluan kiittää vanhempiani. | I want to thank my parents. |
| kiusata | Älä kiusaa minua. | Don’t bully me. |
| kokeilla | Minä haluaisin kokeilla tätä. | I would like to try this. |
| kosia | Hän kosi tyttöystäväänsä. | He proposed to his girlfriend. |
| kunnioittaa | Kunnioitatko vanhoja ihmisiä? | Do you respect old people? |
| kuunnella | Mikko kuuntelee radiota. | Mikko listens to the radio. |
| käskeä | Äiti käski lapsia tulemaan sisään. | Mom ordered the kids to come inside. |
| käyttää | Saanko käyttää tietokonettasi? | Can I use your computer? |
| lyödä | Hän löi palloa lujaa. | He hit the ball hard. |
| mainostaa | Kauppa mainostaa vaatteitaan. | The store advertises its clothing. |
| miettiä | Minun täytyy miettiä tätä ensin. | I need to think about this first. |
| neuvoa | Opas neuvoo turisteja. | The guide advises the tourists. |
| noudattaa | Noudata liikennesääntöjä! | Obey the traffic regulations! |
| odottaa | Minä odotan bussia. | I wait for the bus. |
| onnitella | Onnittelen anoppiani. | I congratulate my mother-in-law. |
| palvella | Myyjän täytyy palvella asiakkaita. | A salesperson has to serve her customers. |
| pelata | Me pelaamme jalkapalloa. | We play soccer. |
| pelätä | Lapset pelkäävät pimeää. | The children are afraid of the dark. |
| pettää | Mies petti vaimoaan. | The man cheated on his wife. |
| purra | Koira puri lasta jalkaan. | The dog bit the child in the leg. |
| rakastaa | Minä rakastan sinua. | I love you. |
| rukoilla | Minä rukoilen Jumalaa. | I pray to God. |
| seurata | Seuraa polkua viisi minuuttia. | Follow the path for five minutes. |
| soittaa | Osaatko soittaa kitaraa? | Do you know how to play the guitar? |
| suositella | Mitä suosittelet minulle? | What do you recommend to me? |
| surra | Hän suri isänsä kuolemaa. | He mourned his father’s death. |
| suunnitella | Me suunnittelemme matkaa. | We’re planning a trip. |
| totella | Lapsi tottelee äitiä. | The child obeys mother. |
| varoa | Varo liettä! | Be careful of the stove! |
Often verbs have more than one rection, so there are verbs that proto-typically partitive verbs, but that have some other option. These rections are nicely organized in the book Tarkista tästä.
| ajaa | Minä ajan autoa. | I’m driving a car. |
|---|---|---|
| ajaa | Minä ajan autolla Helsinkiin. | I’m driving to Helsinki by car. |
| ajatella | Minä ajattelen sinua. | I’m thinking of you. |
| ajatella | Mitä hän ajattelee sinusta? | What does he think about you? |
| haukkua | Mies haukkuu vaimoaan | The husband berates his wife. |
| haukkua | Koira haukkuu vieraille. | The dog barks at strangers. |
| kaivata | Minä kaipaan sinua. | I miss you. |
| kaivata | Minä kaipaan kotimaatani. | I miss my home country. |
| kaivata | Minä kaipaan kotimaahani. | I want to go to my home country. |
| katsoa | Minä katson paljon televisiota. | I watch a lot of television. |
| katsoa | Voin katsoa osoitteen puhelinluettelosta. | I can check the address from the phone book. |
| koskea | Se ei koske sinua. | It doesn’t concern you. |
| koskea | Älä koske minuun! | Don’t touch me! |
| opiskella | Minä opiskelin matematiikkaa. | I studied mathematics. |
| opiskella | Minä opiskelen insinööriksi. | I’m studying to be an engineer. |
| puhua | Minä puhun suomen kieltä. | I speak Finnish. |
| puhua | Minä puhun opettajan kanssa. | I speak with the teacher. |
| puhua | Minä puhun opettajalle. | I speak to the teacher. |
| soittaa | Minä soitan pianoa. | I play the piano. |
| soittaa | Minä soitan äidilleni. | I call my mother. |
Intermediate and Advanced Students
Hello there! If you’re an intermediate or advanced learner of Finnish, please note that partitive verbs are labeled as such based on their prototypical use. While a teacher might have claimed early on in your studies that partitive verbs always have a partitive case object, this is a simplification.
Once you’ve studied the object rules in detail, it’s time to take another look at so-called partitive verbs. You can learn how some of these partitive verbs can be used with the genitive case as well in my article on so-called partitive verbs.
If you’re a beginner, you shouldn’t bother yet with the contents of that page. If you consider yourself an intermediate student but haven’t studied the object rules yet, you should learn how to use those first.
This might be a bit stupid question, but one other site lists akusatiivi verbit such as nähdä, unohtaa, kutsua… The question i have comes from the topic of objekti, and as known objekti can only be in 3 cases e.g nominatiivi, partitiivi, akusatiivi(or genitiivi and akusatiivi)
Does this list contain all the verbs which require partitiivi or if not, would it be wiser to just remember by heart all the akusatiivi verbs and assume all the others require partitiivi(if that situation comes up)
This is a very smart question actually! I think there are many more “partitive verbs” than “total object verbs” such as aloittaa. As such, studying the latter ones would probably be less work.
I was sure I had an article listing such verbs on Uusi kielemme, but I can’t find it! After a while, you get a “feeling” for whether a verb is a partitive verb or not without having to learn the verbs by heart. This is a good skill to develop. I’ll have to write that article soon.
Hello , why is it ‘Äiti käski lapsia tulemaan sisään.’ and not Äiti käski lapsia tulla sisään’? I have read that the third infinitive is used when two verbs are connected/combined together
but here, only one verb ‘käski’ is used. Is this an exception to the rule? Thanks for your help.
Well, you’re kind of right. The third infinitive is indeed used when two verbs are combined: “käskeä + tulla” is two verbs. I suppose you were under the impression that you need a third verb? Two verbs is enough! 🙂 If I’ve understood your thought process wrong, let me know!
yep, i thought i needed a third verb. I understand perfectly now, thanks. What country are you from? what is your mother tongue? You’ve helped me to learn so much finnish and I am forever grateful for your help.
Ahaa, problem solved! 🙂 I’m originally from Belgium, and my mother tongue is Flemish/Dutch. I moved to Finland a long time ago though, 17 years ago. Glad you’re enjoying my website!
Thanks to this kind of article
shouldnt it be “jatkan opiskelemista” instead of “jatkan opiskelua”? or is it the same thing? i really dont understand the difference between the opiskella fourth infinitive and opiskelu
opiskelu seems to be a noun of the u/y sanatyppi (opisekel/evat > opiskel/u)
The words opiskelu and opiskeleminen are both nouns that mean the same thing. You can add -minen to any verb, while there’s a variety of ways we can make other nouns out of verbs.
For example:
In many cases, these options mean the exact same thing, though -minen always describes the action expressed by the base verb, while some of the other derivates can also have other meanings in addition to that (e.g. they can mean the result of the action rather than the action itself, maalaus can be both the act of painting and the finished result).