Participles in Finnish

In Brief

Finnish has four central participles: present active -va/-vä (puhuva, “speaking”), past active -nut/-nyt (puhunut, “having spoken”), present passive -tava/-tävä (luettava, “to be read”), and past passive -ttu/-tty (luettu, “read”). They behave much like adjectives: they describe nouns and take case and number endings to agree with them.

Overview

A participle is a form made from a verb but used in ways that resemble an adjective or, in some constructions, a noun. Compare mies puhuu (“the man speaks”) with puhuva mies (“the man who is speaking”). The action puhua has become a description of mies. Finnish calls participles partisiipit.

At B2, participles matter because Finnish uses them far more systematically than English does. They appear in everyday descriptions such as suljettu ovi (“a closed door”), in instructions such as ennen käytettävä lääke (“medicine to be used before...”), and especially in compact written language. A participle can often replace a relative clause—a clause beginning with “who,” “which,” or “that”—without losing the relationship between the action and the noun.

You already know one of these forms from the perfect tense: olen puhunut (“I have spoken”). Here the past active participle is part of a verb tense. In this article, the main focus is its adjectival use alongside the other three participles.

How It Works

The four-way system

Two choices determine the basic participle:

1. Active or passive: Is the described noun the doer of the action, or is the action directed at it?
2. Present or past: Is the action simultaneous, characteristic, expected, or still pending—or is it already completed?

Finnish form	English meaning	Relationship
puhuva mies	a man who is speaking	Present active: the man performs the action.
puhunut mies	a man who has spoken	Past active: the man performed the action earlier.
luettava kirja	a book to be read / a book that must be read	Present passive: reading is directed at the book and is pending or required.
luettu kirja	a book that has been read	Past passive: reading directed at the book is complete.

“Present” and “past” are useful labels, but they are not always literal clock times. The present active may describe a lasting habit (paljon matkustava henkilö, “a person who travels a lot”), while the present passive often expresses necessity, suitability, or an intended action rather than an action happening right now.

Present active: -va/-vä

The present active participle is generally built from the present-tense verb stem plus -va or -vä, following vowel harmony:

Verb	Participle	Meaning
puhua	puhuva	speaking; one who speaks
syödä	syövä	eating; one who eats
lukea	lukeva	reading; one who reads
tulla	tuleva	coming; future/upcoming
tehdä	tekevä	doing; one who does

The stem follows normal Finnish verb patterns, including consonant gradation where relevant. It is therefore safer to connect the form to a present-tense form you know: hän lukee → lukeva, hän tekee → tekevä.

This participle describes the doer: itkevä lapsi is a child who is crying, and Suomessa asuva ystäväni is my friend who lives in Finland. English often uses an -ing form, but not always: Finnish tuleva viikko is naturally “next week” or “the coming week.”

Past active: -nut/-nyt

The past active participle ends in -nut/-nyt in the singular basic form. Some verbs show -lut/-lyt, -rut/-ryt, or assimilation to -sut/-syt according to their stem. These are the same forms used with olla in the perfect tense.

Verb	Participle	Meaning
puhua	puhunut	having spoken; who spoke
syödä	syönyt	having eaten; who ate
tulla	tullut	having come; who came
purra	purrut	having bitten; who bit
nousta	noussut	having risen; who rose
tehdä	tehnyt	having done; who did

It describes a doer whose action is earlier or complete: kilpailun voittanut joukkue means “the team that won the competition.” Unlike English, Finnish can place this entire idea before the noun.

When used as an adjective, the form agrees with its noun. Its inflected stem changes from -nut/-nyt to -nee-: puhunut opiskelija, puhuneen opiskelijan, puhuneita opiskelijoita. In the nominative plural, use -neet: puhuneet opiskelijat.

Present passive: -tava/-tävä

The present passive participle is formed from the passive stem and ends in -tava/-tävä. The exact stem changes are the same kind seen in other passive forms, so the result is not always obtained by simply attaching an ending to the infinitive.

Verb	Participle	Typical meaning
puhua	puhuttava	to be spoken; must be discussed
lukea	luettava	to be read; readable, depending on context
syödä	syötävä	to be eaten; edible
tehdä	tehtävä	to be done; a task
valita	valittava	to be chosen

This form describes the target of an action, not its doer. It commonly has one of three readings:

• necessary or pending: Tämä asia on ratkaistava. (“This matter must be resolved.”)
• intended for an action: luettava kirja (“a book to read / a book that is to be read”)
• possible or suitable: syötävä omena (“an edible apple”)

Context decides which reading is natural. Notice also that some participles become ordinary nouns: tehtävä can mean “a task” or “an exercise.”

Past passive: -ttu/-tty

The past passive participle ends in -ttu/-tty, with stem-dependent variants and changes. It describes something affected by an already completed action.

Verb	Participle	Meaning
puhua	puhuttu	spoken; discussed
lukea	luettu	read
syödä	syöty	eaten
tehdä	tehty	done; made
rakentaa	rakennettu	built

Thus rakennettu talo is a house that someone has built, but the builder is not named. This resembles an English past participle, although Finnish agreement makes the form more adjective-like.

Agreement and position

An attributive participle—one placed directly before a noun—normally agrees with that noun in case (the ending that marks a word’s role) and number. The participle comes before the noun, and both words receive matching endings.

Finnish phrase	English	Form
puhuva nainen	a woman who is speaking	nominative singular
puhuvan naisen	of a woman who is speaking	genitive singular
puhuvassa naisessa	in a woman who is speaking	inessive singular
puhuvat naiset	women who are speaking	nominative plural
puhuville naisille	to women who are speaking	allative plural
rakennetuissa taloissa	in built houses	inessive plural

Participles can also follow olla as predicate descriptions: Ovi on suljettu (“The door is closed”). In such sentences, form and meaning depend on the whole construction; do not assume that every word ending in -ttu is functioning in exactly the same way.

Turning relative clauses into participle phrases

A relative clause can often be shortened when the noun’s relationship to the verb is clear.

Relative clause	Participle phrase	English
mies, joka puhuu puhelimessa	puhelimessa puhuva mies	the man speaking on the phone
nainen, joka voitti kilpailun	kilpailun voittanut nainen	the woman who won the competition
kirja, joka pitää lukea	luettava kirja	a book that must be read
silta, joka rakennettiin viime vuonna	viime vuonna rakennettu silta	the bridge built last year

The other words belonging to the action remain before the participle: eilen asemalla tapaamani henkilö is structurally denser than English. For now, note the pattern; participles with an explicitly named agent belong especially to the separate agent-participle topic.

Examples in Context

Finnish	English	Note
Kadulla seisova mies odottaa taksia.	The man standing in the street is waiting for a taxi.	Present active, action happening now.
Suomessa asuva sisareni puhuu kolmea kieltä.	My sister who lives in Finland speaks three languages.	Present active, continuing situation.
Paljon liikkuva ihminen tarvitsee hyvät kengät.	A person who moves around a lot needs good shoes.	Present active, characteristic habit.
Kokoukseen tullut vieras istui ikkunan viereen.	The guest who had come to the meeting sat by the window.	Past active, earlier action.
Kilpailun voittaneet pelaajat juhlivat myöhään.	The players who won the competition celebrated late.	Past active, nominative plural -neet.
Olen jo syönyt.	I have already eaten.	Past active participle in the perfect tense.
Tämä on tänään lähetettävä kirje.	This is a letter that must be sent today.	Present passive, pending obligation.
Pöydällä on syötävä omena.	There is an edible apple on the table.	Present passive, suitability.
Meidän on puhuttava tästä asiasta.	We must talk about this matter.	Necessity construction with a present passive participle.
Luin viime vuonna julkaistun romaanin.	I read the novel published last year.	Past passive; the whole phrase is an object.
Rakennetussa talossa ei vielä asu ketään.	No one lives in the newly built house yet.	Past passive in the inessive case.
Ovi oli lukittu, mutta ikkuna oli auki.	The door was locked, but the window was open.	Completed resulting state.

Common Mistakes

Treating -va as the equivalent of every English -ing form

• Wrong: Olen lukeva kirjaa.
• Right: Luen kirjaa. (“I am reading a book.”)
• Why: Finnish normally uses the ordinary present tense for an action in progress. -va/-vä is chiefly a participle describing a noun, not a general progressive tense.

Reversing active and passive

• Wrong: kirjan lukeva opiskelija when you mean “the book that has been read”
• Right: luettu kirja
• Why: lukeva opiskelija describes the doer—the student reads. Luettu kirja describes what receives the action—the book has been read.

Using the present passive for a completed result

• Wrong: eilen rakennettava talo for “the house built yesterday”
• Right: eilen rakennettu talo
• Why: -tava/-tävä usually presents an action as pending, required, intended, or possible. A completed passive action needs -ttu/-tty.

Forgetting agreement

• Wrong: puhuva naisen kanssa
• Right: puhuvan naisen kanssa
• Why: kanssa requires a genitive phrase. Both the participle and noun must be genitive here.

Keeping -nut unchanged in plural and oblique cases

• Wrong: kilpailun voittanut pelaajat
• Right: kilpailun voittaneet pelaajat
• Why: Past active participles decline: singular voittanut, plural voittaneet, genitive singular voittaneen.

Naming a passive agent as if the form were English

• Awkward: äidin tehty kakku
• Right: äidin tekemä kakku (“a cake made by mother”)
• Why: A named doer normally calls for the agent participle -ma/-mä with a genitive agent. The plain past passive tehty kakku leaves the doer unexpressed.

Usage Notes

Participle phrases are common in both speech and writing, but their density varies. Short lexicalized phrases—suljettu ovi, tuleva viikko, keitetty muna—are completely ordinary in conversation. Long strings placed before a noun are more characteristic of news, official documents, academic prose, and carefully edited writing.

English speakers often prefer a clause after the noun: “the report that the committee published yesterday.” Finnish can gather the same information before it: komitean eilen julkaisema raportti. This compactness is useful, but a long phrase can be hard to process. Native writers also choose a joka relative clause when it is clearer.

The present passive participle deserves special care in translation. On tehtävä often means “must be done,” not merely “is being done.” Likewise, luettava teksti may be “a text to read,” “required reading,” or “a readable text,” depending on context. Learn the entire phrase rather than assigning one fixed English equivalent to -tava/-tävä.

Many participles have developed adjective or noun meanings that may no longer feel fully verbal: kiinnostava (“interesting”), tuleva (“future”), menneisyys is unrelated as a lexical noun but mennyt can mean “past,” tehtävä (“task”), and aikuinen historically involves a different derivational history and should not be analysed by this four-form rule. A familiar ending is a clue, not permission to invent a verb analysis for every word.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

Participles are building blocks for several more advanced Finnish constructions.

First, the referative construction compresses reported thoughts, speech, or perceptions: Luulin hänen olevan kotona (“I thought that he/she was at home”) and Kuulin hänen lähteneen (“I heard that he/she had left”). Here -van/-vän signals an action simultaneous with the main reference point, while a past participial form such as -neen marks an earlier action. These are not ordinary adjective+noun phrases, even though they use related participial material.

Second, the agent participle in -ma/-mä allows the doer to be named: opettajan antama tehtävä (“the task given by the teacher”). Compare:

• opettajan antama tehtävä — the teacher is explicitly the giver
• annettu tehtävä — the task was given; the giver is not stated
• annettava tehtävä — the task is to be given

Finnish also has a negative participial adjective in -maton/-mätön, often meaning “not V-ed” or “without having been V-ed”: lukematon kirja can mean “an unread book.” Be careful: lukematon also has the lexical meaning “countless,” so context matters.

Finally, participles can become nouns referring to people or things. Hakija is the usual word for an applicant, but forms such as osallistuva may be nominalized in suitable contexts, and passive forms such as kirjoitettava can mean “something to write.” When an adjective-like participle stands without an expressed noun, its case ending still reflects its role: Valitse sopiva (“Choose a suitable one”).

Practice Tips

1. Build four-form sets. For one familiar verb each day, write the present active, past active, present passive, and past passive: lukeva – lukenut – luettava – luettu. Add a short noun phrase for each.
2. Expand and compress. Turn nainen, joka puhuu suomea into suomea puhuva nainen, then reverse the process. This trains meaning, word order, and agreement together.
3. Decline whole phrases. Practise three cases at a time: rakennettu talo – rakennetun talon – rakennetussa talossa. Saying both words prevents the common habit of adding the case ending only to the noun.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Perfect Tense — introduces the past active participle in forms such as olen puhunut.
• Next step: Indirect Speech (Referatiivi) — uses participial forms to compress reported statements, thoughts, and perceptions.
• Next step: Agent Participle — expresses a named doer in phrases such as äidin tekemä kakku.
• Advanced connection: Sequence of Tenses — contrasts simultaneous and earlier actions in complex participial constructions.