The Passive – Present Passive
The present passive – often just called the passive – is used extremely often in spoken language. It is therefore a topic that you should familiarize yourself with fairly early in your studies.
- The Use of the Present Passive
- When we don’t say WHO
- As the spoken language we-form
- With suggestions
- How to tell usage 1 to 3 apart
- The Formation of the Present Passive
- Verbtype 1
- Verbtypes 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6
- Consonant Gradation in the Present Passive
- The Negative Present Passive
- The Object in Passive Sentences
1. Use of the Present Passive
1.1. When we don’t say WHO
In most sentences, the passive is used when we don’t say WHO is doing the action. The reason why we’re not mentioning it can be that it’s not important who is doing the thing or we don’t know who is doing it:
For example: “Tampereelle rakennetaan raitiovaunulinjaa.”
- Translation: “A tram line is being built in Tampere” or “They’re building a tram line in Tampere”
- Interpretation #1: We don’t know who is doing the actual building. We don’t know what company is building it, which workers are actively doing the building.
- Interpretation #2: We don’t really care who is doing the building. The point of the sentence is the end result that we’re expecting.
The Finnish passive always implies it’s a person or group doing the thing. Most of the time it’s used for plural “subjects” (I use the term subject loosely, because of course there is no subject in a passive sentence).
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Suomessa juodaan paljon kahvia. | In Finland they drink a lot of coffee. |
| Opetuksessa käytetään puhelimia. | Phones are used in lessons. |
| Huomenna juhlitaan rauhan päivää. | Tomorrow peace day is celebrated. |
| Vuokralle tarjotaan yksiö (pic). | One-room apartment is offered for rent. |
For advanced learners: more about the difference between the passive and intransitivity.
1.2. As the spoken language we-form
“Puhekielen me-muoto” is a very popular form in spoken language, up to the point where you are much more likely to hear “me mennään” over the regular “me menemme” form. In standard language and especially in official written sources, you will not find this form.
| Verb | Standard language | Spoken language |
|---|---|---|
| mennä | Me menemme baariin. | Me mennään baariin. |
| rakastaa | Me rakastamme sinua. | Me rakastetaan sinua. |
| kävellä | Me kävelemme metsässä. | Me kävellään metsässä. |
1.3. With suggestions
The third use is often translated to the “let’s…” form in English. You’re suggesting something that you and whoever you’re talking to can do together. The idea is specifically that you both do it; it’s not an imperative to make the other person do something.
| Suggestion | Translation |
|---|---|
| Mennään teatteriin huomenna! | Let’s go to the theater tomorrow! |
| Käydään kaupassa! | Let’s go to (visit) the store! |
| Luetaan tämä kirja ensin! | Let’s first read this book! |
1.4. How to tell usage 1 to 3 apart
The three ways of using the passive mentioned above each have a very distinct sentence pattern to them.
- The no-subject passive will always have either a place, an object or a time at the beginning of the sentence.
- The spoken language passive will always start with “me”.
- The suggestion passive will always have the passive verb at the beginning of the sentence.
| # | Finnish | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Junalla matkustetaan paljon. | There is a lot of traveling by train. |
| 2 | Me matkustetaan paljon junalla. | We travel by train a lot. |
| 3 | Matkustetaan junalla! | Let’s travel by train! |
| 1 | Ensi vuonna äänestetään presidenttiä. | Next year a president is voted for. |
| 2 | Me äänestetään uutta presidenttiä. | We vote for a new president. |
| 3 | Äänestetään uutta presidenttiä! | Let’s vote for a new president! |
| 1 | Vedenkeitintä käytetään päivittäin. | An electric kettle is used daily. |
| 2 | Me käytetään vedenkeitintä. | We use an electric kettle. |
| 3 | Käytetään vedenkeitintä! | Let’s use an electric kettle! |
As you can see above, 1 has a location case (“junalla“), expression of time (“ensi vuonna“) and an object (“vedenkeitintä“) at the beginning of the sentence. In contrast, 2 starts with the 1st person plural personal pronoun “me”. In 3 the verb is at the beginning of the sentence.
2. The Formation of the Present Passive
The passive has one rule for verbtypes 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Verbtype 1 is the odd one out, with two separate rules that differ from the other verbtypes.
2.1. Verbtype 1 Passive: weak stem + -taan/-tään
Let’s first look at the most simple rule. For verbtype 1 verbs that end in -oa, -öä, -ua, -yä, -ea, -eä, -ia, and -iä (simply put: two vowels, except -aa/ää), you use the weak stem and add -taan/-tään to it (according to the vowel harmony rules). The weak stem is found by taking the minä-form of the verb and remove the -n.
| Verb | Passive | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| sanoa | sanotaan | Aamulla sanotaan “huomenta”. |
| nukkua | nukutaan | Yöllä nukutaan. |
| kysyä | kysytään | Kysytään opettajalta. |
| tanssia | tanssitaan | Discossa tanssitaan. |
| lähteä | lähdetään | Töihin lähdetään ajoissa. |
The second rule for verbtype 1 only applies to verbs whose infinitive ends in -aa/ää. For these verbs you first find the weak stem by removing the -n from the 1st person singular. After that, you replace the -a/ä- at the end of the stem with an -e-.
| Verb | Passive | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| ottaa | otetaan | Otetaan se mukaan! |
| rakastaa | rakastetaan | Me rakastetaan toisiamme. |
| ymmärtää | ymmärretään | Me ymmärretään kaikki. |
| maksaa | maksetaan | Kaupassa maksetaan pankkikortilla. |
| pitää | pidetään | Pidetään yhteyttä! |
2.2. Verbtypes 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6: infinitive + -an/-än
For every verbtype other than 1, you will take the infinitive of the verb as it is and add -an/-än (vowel harmony) to the end of it. Simple as can be, as long as you remember the basic form of the verb!
| Verb | Passive | Example |
|---|---|---|
| saada | saadaan | Me saadaan lähteä. |
| voida | voidaan | Suomessa voidaan opiskella. |
| ajatella | ajatellaan | Ajatellaan loogisesti! |
| päästä | päästään | Vankilasta päästään usein aikaisemmin. |
| haluta | halutaan | Kesällä halutaan enemmän jäätelöä |
| tarvita | tarvitaan | Me tarvitaan televisio. |
| vanheta | vanhetaan | Koko ajan vanhetaan. |
3. Consonant Gradation in the Present Passive
The passive present for all verbtypes is weak! That’s due to the fact that verbtype 1 is taken from the first person singular (the minä-form) and the other verbtypes from the basic form. Finally something is easy! In the table below, VT means verbtype.
| VT | Infinitive | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | nukkua | nukutaan |
| 1 | leipoa | leivotaan |
| 1 | ampua | ammutaan |
| 3 | kuunnella | kuunnellaan |
| 3 | jutella | jutellaan |
| 3 | ommella | ommellaan |
| 4 | tavata | tavataan |
| 4 | pudota | pudotaan |
| 6 | tarjeta | tarjetaan |
| 6 | lämmetä | lämmetään |
4. The Negative Present Passive
To say something isn’t being done, you should take the positive passive and remove the -an/än from the end. For most verbtypes, this actually means that you will return to the basic form of the verb. However, for verbtype 1, that isn’t the case. In front of this word construction you of course have to add “ei“.
You can find more information about the negative present passive here.
| Verbtype | Verb | Passive | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verbtype 1 | nukkua | nukutaan | ei nukuta |
| Verbtype 1 | leipoa | leivotaan | ei leivota |
| Verbtype 2 | juoda | juodaan | ei juoda |
| Verbtype 2 | tehdä | tehdään | ei tehdä |
| Verbtype 3 | olla | ollaan | ei olla |
| Verbtype 3 | ommella | ommellaan | ei ommella |
| Verbtype 4 | tavata | tavataan | ei tavata |
| Verbtype 4 | haluta | halutaan | ei haluta |
| Verbtype 5 | tarvita | tarvitaan | ei tarvita |
| Verbtype 6 | rohjeta | rohjetaan | ei rohjeta |
5. The Object in Passive Sentences
In passive sentences, the object will never appear in the genitive case. Affirmative sentences in the passive will have objects in the basic form. In negative sentences there is no difference between regular sentences and passives.
In other words, the only case endings you can find in passive sentences are the basic form (#1), the partitive case (#2) and the accusative for pronouns (#3). For plural objects, you can have the T-plural (#4) and the plural partitive (#5). You won’t get the genetive case at all in passive sentences!
| # | Regular sentence | Passive sentence |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minä syön omenan. | Syödään omena! |
| 1 | Miehet rakentavat talon. | Talo rakennetaan. |
| 1 | Me avaamme ikkunan. | Me avataan ikkuna. |
| 2 | Me emme syö omenaa. | Me ei syödä omenaa. |
| 2 | He eivät rakenna taloa. | Taloa ei rakenneta. |
| 3 | He tuntevat hänet hyvin. | Hänet tunnetaan hyvin. |
| 4 | He rakentavat talot. | Talot rakennetaan. |
| 5 | He rakentavat taloja. | Taloja rakennetaan. |
You can read more about the object in general here.
This article deals with the present passive. Finnish also has other passive forms, which are a more advanced topic. You can find an overview of the different passives here.
The order is not important. This isn’t a “lesson plan”, more of a reference page for when you’re trying to learn a certain topic.
Even WITHIN a page, there is often more information than you should take in one your first visit there. I’m trying to be complete and include as much information as I can, but that doesn’t mean a beginner would be ready to understand, process and actively use all of it.
Then again, it’s the learner who decides how they want to approach these pages 🙂
¨Koko ajan vanhetaan.¨ is it not strange or inprecise to formulate this sentence in (present)passive without a subject or an hint about who is getting older?
How do we know that we are talking about humans?
We know we’re talking about humans because that meaning is inherently embedded in the passive. There is ALWAYS the thought behind passive sentences that there is a human “subject”. Good question!
kiitos
It says that the -ää endings in verb type 1 are manipulated according the first rule, but I’ve found that they act more like the 2nd rule, like -aa endings, for example ymmärrtää becomes ymmärretään in the passive, not ymmärrätään. Thoughts?
You’re correct! It’s visible in my examples, but the text explains it wrong. I’ll fix that, thanks 🙂
Can the passive in “let’s” meaning be used in formal situations or we need to change the form?
You can use it anywhere as far as I can tell! It’s not considered spoken language.
I came across a sentence using partitive for the subject: Kaivosta pidetään maailman syvimpänä. Is there a rule for this or did I misunderstand?
It’s from Yle: https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11212596
Kaivos is actually the object in that sentence! The verb pidetään is in the passive “is considered”, so we can’t have a subject in this sentence which translates as “The well is considered the deepest of the world.” The well isn’t considering anything itself, it’s being considered by some people we’re not mentioning.
Kaivos appears in the partitive case because of the sentence construction “pitää jotain jonakin” aka pitää + partitive + essive.
Right. And I suppose in the sentence “Vuokralle tarjotaan yksiö” yksiö is in its nominative form because yksiö is not the object of tarjota?
Yksiö is the object. In a regular sentence it would be “tarjoan yksiön vuokralle“, but the genetive ending disappears in passive sentences.
Now it’s clear, thank you!
In wiktionary when looking up the word “Katsos” it translates into “Look” or “you see” probably as introduction to an explanation. It is also marked as an “optative present 2nd person singular” which I could not find. What does the “present optative” mean and why is it absent in most inflection tables? Is it no longer used?
Hmm, I would consider katsos to just be “katso + s“, with the -s making the order more friendly. I don’t currently have an article on the -s ending because that’s just all it does: makes an order more friendly. Not much to write about!
I had never heard of the optative, and Iso Suomen Kielioppi doesn’t mention it at all, which is usually a clear indicator that something is too obscure or no longer relevant.
Wikipedia mentions optatiivi, saying that in the 1800s the term was used instead of the current term jussiivi. Wikipedia also mentions kävellös, which was used in poetry in the later half of the 1800s and at least looks similar to katsos.
Googling for optatiivi does bring up some (Finnish-only) sources that you could look into further if you’re really interested in obscure grammar! 🙂
Thank you very much for your research. You showed (very politely of course) that I could have found out some more before bothering you guys. Thank you for that!
Apart from that, if it is obscure, then it is out of scope for me at the moment. I just want to get my automatic Finnish translation going, the one you cannot prevent from happening in any language you are really fluent in. So, thank you for the research, I can safely ignore this one. In later stages I might be interested though. I am certainly going to be interested in the Iso Suomen Kielioppi that you mention. Again, thank you for your swift response!
While some things are indeed just a couple of Google searches away, you can ask things here, it’s no problem! I agree with your conclusion that the optative is something you can safely ignore.
You could join our discord channel, where you can talk with other people about learning Finnish. Questions like the one you posed here could probably have started an interesting conversation :p
Could we think that it is just a colloquial s like in Mitäs kuuluu ?, Kukas tuolla tulee ?
Yup, that’s the same -s that makes things more friendly 🙂
About Object in Passive Sentences. As you mention the object in passive sentence can have basic form, partitive form and a accusative. So object can be on both singular and plural of partitive and basic form right?.
For example
talot rakennetaan= the houses are built
taloja rakennetaan= houses are built
taloja ei rakenneta = (the) houses are not built.
Are the above examples correct
Yeah, you’re correct 🙂
Can you provide me some example of Olla (ollaan) in no subject passive sentence. If there is any.
Is this what you’re looking for?
It seems like the only type of sentence that works well with no subject and the verb olla is a sentence where we have an adjective: olla + huolestuneita/valmiita/avoimia/aktiivisia.
Can the suggestion passive start with a word like “nyt” or is that not possible?
You’re entering a gray area here 🙂 “NYT käydään kaupassa” (stress on the “nyt”) feels like something between a me-passive statement and a very strong suggestion. It’s more like you’re firmly stating what we will be doing next rather than suggesting it.
“Nyt sitten syödään” is similarly just a statement, a me-passive without the “me”. “Now then, we will eat”.
I didn’t know you could form a me-passive without the “me”. Thank you!
It’s possible, but very situational: it needs to be in a situation where it’s 100% sure that you’re not giving a suggestion. As a learner, I would suggest trying to stick to using “me” in all situations.
In cases of spoken language and suggestion, the meaning of sentence is not still ”passive”. ”Passive” is just rule in order to apply to fixed structures. Is that right?. Thanks
Yeah, the FORM is called the passive, the sentence construction isn’t. Whether the sentence is a “true” passive sentence becomes clear from the sentence construction it’s in.
There is a little oddity in how the Finnish passive is formed. The basic passiivi suffix is -TTA-, and for verbs of type “sanoa”, all their passive forms except one have a double T (sanottiin, sanottakoon, sanottava, sanottu etc.). One T in the present tense is due to the fact that in Old Finnish there used to be a suffix for present (most likely -K-) and the passive form was SANO+TTA+K+SEN → sano-ta(k)-(se)n. The -sen ending then morphed into -an (illatiivi has the exact same ending in both old and modern Finnish), and -k- became silent but remained as a ghost consonant, closing the syllable and causing the double T to weaken, which gives the modern forms sanotaan, ei sanota.
However, with verbs ending in -DA (or in a sonorant + weakened D, like pur+dak → purra), all passive forms are one grade down: juodaan, juotaneen, juotu etc. instead of expected juotaan, juottaneen, juottu; purraan, purtaneen, purtu etc. instead of expected purtaan, purttaneen, purttu. What causes this? In other words, what might have caused a morpheme to become not one, but two grades weaker compared to its bare form?
They are apparently created with two different suffixes at two different points of time. For sanoa, it’s the earlier of the two suffixes, the curative causative suffix -ttA- (similar to the current day -ttaa- of maksattaa, luettaa, tapattaa). After this suffix started to grammaticalize, for some wordtypes, the causative suffix -tA- was used. This suffix was not curative. It’s the same suffix you have in the verbs pääs-tä-ä and nos-ta-a.
Source: Tapani Lehtinen – Kielen vuosituhannet – Suomen kielen kehitys kantauralista varhaissuomeen (2007). In the book, he also refers to other things he has written on the topic before, specially: a book called “Itämerensuomen passiivin alkuperästä” (1984) and an article in a French magazine called “Grammaticalization processes in Finnic: the passive” (2005). I haven’t tried to find either of those, but perhaps you’re interested enough to do so!