Infinitive Forms in Finnish

In Brief

Finnish has several infinitive forms where English often uses to + verb, an -ing form, or a whole clause. The first infinitive is the dictionary form (puhua, “to speak”); the second commonly means “while doing” (puhuessa); and the third combines a verb stem with case endings to express being in, going into, coming from, doing by, or doing without an activity: puhumassa, puhumaan, puhumasta, puhumalla, puhumatta.

Overview

An infinitive is a verb form that names or presents an action without showing an ordinary person-and-tense ending such as “I speak” or “she spoke.” English relies heavily on “to speak” and “speaking.” Finnish distributes the same jobs among several forms. Choosing the right one depends especially on the word before it and on the relationship between the two actions.

At B1, the most useful system consists of the first infinitive, the temporal second infinitive, and the case forms of the third infinitive. The third infinitive behaves partly like a noun (a word for a person, thing, or idea): it takes case endings, endings that express relationships such as “in,” “into,” “from,” “by,” or “without.” This is why puhumassa and puhumaan cannot simply be treated as interchangeable translations of English “speaking.”

These forms occur constantly in everyday Finnish: wanting to do something, going to do it, being occupied with it, returning from it, doing one thing while another happens, or completing something without doing it. Learn them as patterns linked to common verbs and meanings rather than as a list of English equivalents.

How It Works

The first infinitive: the basic form

The first infinitive short form is the form listed in dictionaries. It normally ends in -a/-ä, although the complete ending may look like -da/-dä, -ta/-tä, or -la/-lä, -na/-nä, -ra/-rä depending on the verb type.

Dictionary form	Meaning	Typical use
puhua	to speak	Haluan puhua.
syödä	to eat	Voimme syödä nyt.
tulla	to come	Hän aikoo tulla.
tehdä	to do, make	Yritän tehdä tämän.

Use this form after many verbs that express wanting, ability, intention, trying, remembering, or beginning. The preceding verb carries person and tense; the infinitive does not:

• Halusin lähteä. — “I wanted to leave.”
• Osaatko uida? — “Can you swim?” / “Do you know how to swim?”
• Yritämme ymmärtää. — “We are trying to understand.”

English often inserts “to,” but Finnish inserts no separate infinitive marker. Conversely, an English -ing form after a verb does not automatically require a Finnish -ma/-mä form: “I started to read/reading” can be Aloin lukea.

The second infinitive: simultaneous action

The most important second-infinitive form has the inessive ending -essa/-essä, whose basic case meaning is “in.” In this construction it usually means while or when doing something.

Basic verb	Second infinitive	Meaning
puhua	puhuessa	while speaking
syödä	syödessä	while eating
tehdä	tehdessä	while doing
tulla	tullessa	when coming, upon arrival

If the doer of both actions is the same, Finnish normally marks that person with a possessive suffix, an ending such as -ni “my” or -si “your”:

Person	Form from puhua	Natural English meaning
I	puhuessani	while I speak / was speaking
you (singular)	puhuessasi	while you speak
he/she	puhuessaan	while he/she speaks
we	puhuessamme	while we speak
you (plural)	puhuessanne	while you speak
they	puhuessaan	while they speak

The time is inferred from the main verb: Puhuessani teen muistiinpanoja means “While speaking, I make notes,” but Puhuessani tein muistiinpanoja places the situation in the past.

When the subordinate action has a different stated subject, that subject is usually in the genitive, the form often ending in -n, and the infinitive still has the matching suffix: Opettajan puhuessa opiskelijat kuuntelivat (“While the teacher was speaking, the students listened”) or hänen tullessaan (“when he/she comes/came”). In many sentences an ordinary kun clause is clearer and more conversational: Kun opettaja puhui, opiskelijat kuuntelivat.

The second infinitive also has an instructive form in -en, expressing manner or an accompanying action: Hän tuli hymyillen (“She came smiling”). It is useful but less central than -essa/-essä.

The third infinitive: verb stem + -ma/-mä + case

The third infinitive is built with -ma/-mä and then a case ending. Vowel harmony decides between a and ä: back-vowel words take -ma- (puhua → puhuma-), while front-vowel words take -mä- (syödä → syömä-).

Do not build these forms merely by cutting letters from the dictionary form. Use the appropriate verb stem, which may change because of verb type or consonant gradation: tehdä → tekemä-, tulla → tulema-, lukea → lukema-, tavata → tapaama-.

Form	Core idea	Common pattern	Example
-massa/-mässä (inessive)	in an activity	olla/käydä + tekemässä	Olen puhumassa.
-maan/-mään (illative)	into an activity	movement or beginning + form	Menen puhumaan.
-masta/-mästä (elative)	out of/from an activity	return, stop, prevent + form	Tulen puhumasta.
-malla/-mällä (adessive)	by doing	method + result	Opin puhumalla.
-matta/-mättä (abessive)	without doing	action omitted	Lähdin puhumatta.

-massa/-mässä: engaged in an activity

With olla, this form presents someone as occupied with or in the middle of an activity: Olen tekemässä ruokaa (“I’m making food / I’m in the middle of making food”). It can also follow käydä when someone goes somewhere, carries out an activity, and returns: Kävin uimassa (“I went swimming”).

This is not a general Finnish progressive tense. The simple present is often more natural for an action happening now: Luen kirjaa means “I’m reading a book.” Olen lukemassa kirjaa puts extra focus on being engaged in that activity, often in contrast with something else.

-maan/-mään: movement into an activity

Use this after movement verbs such as mennä “go,” tulla “come,” and lähteä “leave/set off” when the destination is an action:

• Menen syömään. — “I’m going to eat.”
• Tule katsomaan! — “Come and see!”
• Lähdimme kävelemään. — “We set off walking.”

It also appears after verbs that mean starting or undertaking an activity, but verb government matters: each governing verb selects its own complement.

-masta/-mästä: movement away or separation from an activity

This form is the counterpart of -maan: Palasin juoksemasta means “I came back from running.” It also occurs after verbs whose meaning involves stopping, refusing, preventing, or avoiding. For example, Estin häntä lähtemästä means “I prevented him/her from leaving.” Such patterns should be learned with the governing verb.

-malla/-mällä: method

This form answers “How?” or “By what method?”: Suomea oppii käyttämällä sitä (“You learn Finnish by using it”). The person doing the -malla action is normally understood to be the same as the subject of the main clause.

-matta/-mättä: without doing

The abessive form expresses the absence of an action: Hän lähti sanomatta mitään (“He/She left without saying anything”). It is not an ordinary negative verb form; it packages “without doing” into one word.

Examples in Context

Finnish	English	Note
Haluan puhua suomea rohkeammin.	I want to speak Finnish more confidently.	First infinitive after haluta
Emme voi jäädä tänne.	We cannot stay here.	First infinitive after voida
Yritin soittaa sinulle.	I tried to call you.	Main verb supplies past time
Puhuessani teen joskus virheitä.	While speaking, I sometimes make mistakes.	Same subject, suffix -ni
Hänen tullessaan olimme jo valmiita.	When he/she arrived, we were already ready.	Genitive subject plus -an
Hän käveli kotiin laulaen.	He/She walked home singing.	Second infinitive in -en
Olen puhumassa asiakkaan kanssa.	I’m talking with a customer right now.	Engaged in the activity
Kävimme viikonloppuna hiihtämässä.	We went skiing at the weekend.	Visit to do an activity
Menen syömään lounasta.	I’m going to eat lunch.	Movement into an activity
Tule auttamaan minua!	Come help me!	tulla + third infinitive illative
He palasivat pelaamasta jalkapalloa.	They came back from playing football.	Return from an activity
Lopetin kahvin juomisen.	I stopped drinking coffee.	Common noun-like alternative after lopettaa
Opin uusia sanoja lukemalla.	I learn new words by reading.	Method
Hän poistui hyvästelemättä ketään.	He/She left without saying goodbye to anyone.	Action not performed

Common Mistakes

Using the dictionary form after a movement verb

• Wrong: Menen syödä.
• Right: Menen syömään.
• Why: A movement toward an activity normally uses the third infinitive illative, -maan/-mään, not the first infinitive.

Treating olla + -massa as a compulsory present progressive

• Awkward as a neutral statement: Olen asunmassa Helsingissä.
• Right: Asun Helsingissä.
• Why: Finnish has no need to copy English “be + -ing” in every present-time sentence. Also note the correct stem if the marked construction is genuinely needed: asumassa, not asunmassa.

Omitting the personal ending from the second infinitive

• Incomplete when “I” must be clear: Puhuessa teen virheitä.
• Right: Puhuessani teen virheitä.
• Why: When the understood doer is the main-clause subject, the possessive suffix identifies that person: -ni means “my/while I.”

Guessing the third-infinitive stem from the surface form

• Wrong: Menen tehdämään töitä.
• Right: Menen tekemään töitä.
• Why: Tehdä uses the stem teke- in this form. Learn an unfamiliar verb’s stem along with its verb type.

Confusing “by doing” with “without doing”

• Wrong: Opin suomea puhumatta. when the intended meaning is “by speaking”
• Right: Opin suomea puhumalla.
• Why: -malla/-mällä gives the method; -matta/-mättä says that the action does not happen.

Choosing a form only from the English translation

• Wrong strategy: translating every English “to” with the first infinitive
• Right strategy: learn haluta tehdä but mennä tekemään and palata tekemästä as patterns
• Why: Finnish complement choice is controlled by the preceding verb and the meaning of direction, location, method, or absence.

Usage Notes

Spoken Finnish uses all of these core forms, but compact second-infinitive constructions can sound more written than a kun clause. Kotiin tullessani soitin äidille is fully normal, while conversation may favor Kun tulin kotiin, soitin äidille (“When I got home, I called my mother”). The compact form is especially useful when the two actions share a subject.

The olla + -massa construction is common when the activity is temporary, currently under way, or explains someone’s location or availability: Anna ei voi vastata; hän on ajamassa (“Anna can’t answer; she’s driving”). For an ordinary fact, habit, or unmarked current action, the finite verb is usually enough.

Case government affects nearby nouns as well as the infinitive itself. For instance, objects may appear in different cases according to whether the action is complete, ongoing, negative, or otherwise bounded. That is a broader object-case issue, not a special property of the infinitive, so do not assume that every infinitive takes one fixed object form.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

The first infinitive also has a longer translative form in -akse/-äkse plus a possessive suffix. It commonly expresses purpose: Tulin auttaakseni means “I came in order to help,” and Oppiaksesi sinun täytyy harjoitella means “In order to learn, you must practise.” This form is concise and often more typical of careful writing than casual speech; jotta clauses and other everyday alternatives are also common.

The second infinitive has passive constructions such as puhuttaessa (“when speaking / when people speak”) and tehtäessä (“when doing / when something is done”). They leave the actor general or backgrounded and are frequent in instructions and formal informational writing: Autoa ajettaessa on oltava tarkkana (“When driving a car, one must be careful”).

The third-infinitive forms participate in wider networks of verb government. A form such as tekemästä can indicate literal movement away from an activity, but a governing verb may give it a more abstract meaning: prevention, refusal, or cessation. Dictionaries often show these patterns as verbi + -mAAn or verbi + -mAstA. Recording the pattern is more reliable than translating the verb alone.

Finally, do not confuse these infinitives with forms that merely look related. The -ma/-mä element is also found in the agent participle, an adjective-like form connected with an actor, as in Marian tekemä kakku (“the cake made by Maria”). Finnish also has fourth and fifth infinitives, but they have narrower functions and deserve separate treatment.

Practice Tips

1. Build five-form chains. Take one familiar verb and say tekemässä, tekemään, tekemästä, tekemällä, tekemättä. Give each form a short sentence so the directional meanings become automatic.
2. Learn the governing word with the form. Make cards for whole pairs: haluta tehdä, mennä tekemään, palata tekemästä, oppia tekemällä. This prevents English “to” or “-ing” from deciding for you.
3. Retell one event in two ways. Compare Kun tulin kotiin... with Kotiin tullessani..., or Luen nyt with Olen lukemassa. Ask what extra focus the infinitive construction adds.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Verb Types (1–3) — helps you identify the stems used before infinitive endings.
• Next step: Fourth and Fifth Infinitives — extends the Finnish infinitive system with less frequent forms.
• Advanced connection: Sentence Equivalents — develops compact constructions such as tullessani as alternatives to full subordinate clauses.