Finnish has a lot of words ending in -us/-ys (we use a capital letter for the –u– in -Us to indicate that it can be both -u- and -y-, as the vowel harmony rules require). In this article we look at the large group of verb-based words ending in -Us-Ukse. These words have the following things in common:

• They’re all nouns ending in -Us.
• They have all been derived from a verb (asentaa → asennus).
• When inflected, the -Us turns into -Ukse-.

1.Verbtype of the Base Verb

1.1. Verbtype 1: -aa/-ää verbs

Many Us-Ukse- nouns are derived from a verb belonging to verbtype 1. These verbs end in -aa/-ää.

With these verbs, you will add the -Us/-Ukse- to the weak stem of the verb. The two vowels at the end of the verb will be removed (e.g. ase-nt-aa → ase-nn-us; kirjoi-tt-aa → kirjoi-t-us).

1.2. Verbtype 1: -ua/-yä verbs

Verbs ending in -ua/-yä often deal with emotions. You can make these verbs into -Us-Ukse- nouns by taking the infinitive form and replacing the final -a/-ä with -s. In addition, consonant gradation will take place and make these verbs weak.

1.3. Verbtype 3

Verbtype 3 doesn’t have that many -Us-Ukse- nouns. For verbtype 3 verbs ending in -lla/-llä, you replace the infinitive’s marker with -lus/-lys. For verbtype 3 verbs that end in -sta/-stä, you remove the -ista/-istä and add -us/-ys.

1.4. Verbtype 4

Verbtype 4 based -Us-Ukse- nouns require you to apply the consonant gradation rules in order to find the strong grade. This is the case for the noun “lupaus” for example. Lupaus is derived from the verb “luvata“. The strong stem of that verb is lupaa– (minä lupaan). When adding -us, the extra vowel gets dropped, which gives up “lupaus“.

1.5. Verbtype 5

Since this verbtype consist of so few words, it’s logical that there can’t be a huge amount of derivatives either. For verbtype 5, you replace the infinitive’s stem -ta/-tä with -tus/-tys.

2. Inflection of Verb-Based Words Ending in -Us/-Ukse

*The plural genitive is also often “tarjousten” and “tulehdusten“.

A few examples of verb-based words ending in us-ukse

Related posts:

Words Ending in a Consonant: Overview The Negative Imperfect – Negatiivinen Imperfekti Words Ending in -As – Taivutus: As-Loppuiset Sanat Words ending in ja/ija – Opiskelija Opettaja