The second infinitive (toinen infinitiivi) can also be called the E-infinitive. This is due to the fact that its marker is an -e-. It can appear in two cases only: the inessive (-essa) and the instructive (-en).

The second infinitive is a fairly advanced form, so if you’re a beginner, please check out the third infinitive and the fourth infinitive first. The numbers of these infinitives are not given in order of difficulty or usefulness.

1. Use of the Second Infinitive

The second infinitive is mainly used in two participle phrases (lauseenvastikkeet). We’ll look at both of those below.

1.1. Temporaalirakenne (e.g. tehdessä, tehtäessä)

The second infinitive’s missä-form is used in the temporal sentence construction (aka temporaalirakenne aka temporaalinen lauseenvastike). This means forms like e.g. tehdessä, and tehtäessä. It replaces a “kun” sentence, aka expresses what is happening while something else is happening. Read more about the temporal sentence construction!

1.2. Modaalirakenne (e.g. tehden)

The second infinitive’s instructive form can be used as a modal adverb that expresses how something is done. This is the case in the modal sentence construction (aka modaalirakenne aka modaalinen lauseenvastike).

1.3. Fossilized Second Infinitive Expressions

There are some fossilized expressions that use the second infinitive. The inessive form appears in “tähän mennessä” (up to now) and “tarpeen vaatiessa” (if needed). The instructive form is used in a wide range of expressions, which you can read more about in section 2.2. on the page about the instructive case.

1.4. Second Infinitive Sayings

• “Ei kukko käskien laula.”
  Literally: “The rooster doesn’t sing on command.”
  Meaning: Some things can’t be made to happen.
• “Ei työ tehden lopu.” — In modern Finnish “Ei työ tekemällä lopu.”
  Literally: “Work doesn’t end by doing.”
  Meaning: There is always more work to do.

2. Formation of the Second Infinitive

The marker of the second infinitive is an -e- that gets added to the verb’s first infinitive without the last -A. For verbs whose stem ends in an -e-, you will replace the -e- with an -i- (e.g. luke-a, luk-i-en; itke-ä, itk-i-essä).

The second infinitive can appear in two cases only: the inessive (–essa) and the instructive (–en). For the inessive case, there is both an active and a passive version. However, the instructive can only be in the active.

2.1. Second Infinitive Inessive

The inessive version of the E-infinitive can have both a passive and an active stem. For example:

• active: syödessäni, passive: syötäessä
• active: opiskellessamme, passive: opiskeltaessa
• active: noustessaan, passive: noustaessa

2.2. Active Second Infinitive Inessive

The active form is created by removing the first infinitive’s (the basic form’s) very last letter -a/-ä and adding –essa/-essä. To that, you can add a possessive suffix when the subject of both of the sentences you are combining are the same person (e.g. Minä imuroin syödessäni). If they’re a different person, you do not add a possessive suffix (e.g. Minä imuroin Matin syödessä). Read more about that on our page about the temporal sentence construction (temporaalinen lauseenvastike).

2.3. Passive Second Infinitive Inessive

For the passive second infinitive inessive form, I find it easiest to first conjugate the verb in the past passive (makse-tt-iin — makse-tta–essa, syö-t-iin — syö-tä–essä, kävel-t-iin — kävel-tä–essä). This helps because you will get the number of –t-‘s correct that way.

2.4. Second Infinitive Instructive

The second infinitive’s instructive form only appears in the active form. The active instructive form looks exactly like the active inessive form, only with an -n instead of -ssa. So, to reiterate: this form is created by removing the first infinitive’s (the basic form’s) very last letter -a/-ä and adding –en.

In the table below, you can find some examples. However, to get the full picture, please do read this. It will hopefully clear up the fairly awkward English translations below.

3. Overview

You can see all three forms side by side in the following table.

Related posts:

Temporal Substitute Construction – Temporaalinen lauseenvastike The Third Infinitive – Kolmas Infinitiivi The Fourth Infinitive -minen Neljäs Infinitiivi Modal Substitute Construction – Modaalinen Lauseenvastike