Passive Voice in Finnish

Overview

The Finnish passive voice is quite different from the English passive. In English, the passive identifies a specific agent ("The book was read by me"). In Finnish, the passive is truly impersonal — it never identifies who performs the action. It is often translated as "one does," "it is done," or "people do," and in spoken Finnish, it widely replaces the 1st person plural ("we").

At the B1 level, understanding the passive is essential because it appears constantly in both written and spoken Finnish. In everyday conversation, Finns routinely say mennään (let's go, literally "it is gone") instead of menemme (we go). In formal writing, the passive creates an impersonal, objective tone.

The passive has its own distinct forms for present, past, perfect, and past perfect tenses. Learning the present passive is the foundation — the other tenses follow predictable patterns.

How It Works

Present passive

Formation varies by verb type:

Type	Infinitive	Passive present	English
1	puhua	puhutaan	is spoken / one speaks
1	lukea	luetaan	is read / one reads
2	syödä	syödään	is eaten / one eats
3	tulla	tullaan	is come / one comes
3	mennä	mennään	is gone / one goes
4	haluta	halutaan	is wanted / one wants
5	tarvita	tarvitaan	is needed / one needs
6	vanheta	vanhetaan	—

Negative passive

ei + passive stem (without -an/-än)

Affirmative	Negative
puhutaan	ei puhuta
syödään	ei syödä
mennään	ei mennä
tullaan	ei tulla

Past passive

Passive stem + -tiin/-ttiin

Verb	Past passive	English
puhua	puhuttiin	was spoken
syödä	syötiin	was eaten
mennä	mentiin	was gone
lukea	luettiin	was read

Object case in passive sentences

In passive sentences, the total object takes nominative (not genitive):

Active	Passive
Ostan kirjan. (I buy the book.)	Kirja ostetaan. (The book is bought.)
Syön omenan.	Omena syödään.

Spoken Finnish: passive = "we"

Standard	Spoken (passive = we)
Me menemme kauppaan.	Mennään kauppaan.
Me syömme illallista.	Syödään illallista.
Me lähdemme nyt.	Lähdetään nyt.

Examples in Context

Finnish	English	Note
Suomessa puhutaan suomea.	In Finland, Finnish is spoken.	General statement
Mennään kauppaan!	Let's go to the store!	Spoken "we"
Täällä ei saa tupakoida.	Smoking is not allowed here.	Impersonal prohibition
Talo rakennettiin vuonna 1950.	The house was built in 1950.	Past passive
Syödään yhdessä!	Let's eat together!	Spoken "we"
Suomea opiskellaan paljon.	Finnish is studied a lot.	General statement
Kokouksessa päätettiin asiasta.	The matter was decided in the meeting.	Formal/written
Ei tiedetä vielä.	It is not known yet.	Impersonal
Kahvia juodaan paljon Suomessa.	Coffee is drunk a lot in Finland.	Cultural fact
Lähdetään huomenna aikaisin.	Let's leave early tomorrow.	Spoken "we"
Ruoka valmistetaan tuoreista raaka-aineista.	The food is prepared from fresh ingredients.	Formal description
Asiasta keskusteltiin pitkään.	The matter was discussed at length.	Past passive, formal

Common Mistakes

Trying to add an agent

• Wrong: Talo rakennettiin miehen toimesta. (calque from English)
• Right: Talo rakennettiin. (no agent) or Mies rakensi talon. (active voice)
• Why: The Finnish passive is agentless. If you need to name the agent, use the active voice instead.

Using genitive object in passive

• Wrong: Kirjan luetaan.
• Right: Kirja luetaan.
• Why: In passive sentences, the total object takes nominative form (no -n ending).

Confusing passive and imperative "let's"

• Wrong: Thinking mennään is the imperative
• Right: Mennään is technically passive, but it functions as "let's go" in spoken Finnish
• Why: This dual function is a key feature of Finnish. The passive form has been adopted as the standard "let's" construction.

Using passive with a visible subject

• Wrong: Me puhutaan suomea. (adding "me" is technically non-standard)
• Right: In spoken Finnish, me puhutaan is universally used; in writing, use puhumme
• Why: Adding the pronoun me to the passive is one of the most distinctive features of spoken Finnish, but it is not standard in formal writing.

Usage Notes

The use of passive as "we" (me mennään, me syödään) is perhaps the most important spoken Finnish feature for a learner to understand. It is so pervasive that standard 1st person plural forms (menemme, syömme) can sound stiff or overly formal in casual conversation. At the B1 level, you should be comfortable both producing and understanding this pattern.

In formal and written Finnish, the passive maintains its traditional impersonal function and is used to create objective, neutral statements — common in academic writing, news, and official communication.

Practice Tips

1. Spoken "we" conversion: Take standard sentences with me + verb and convert to passive: Me menemme → Mennään. Me syömme → Syödään. Me lähdemme → Lähdetään.
2. General statements: Practice making general statements about Finland using passive: Suomessa juodaan paljon kahvia. Suomessa puhutaan suomea ja ruotsia. Suomessa käydään saunassa.
3. Passive tense practice: Take one verb and form all passive tenses: puhutaan (present), puhuttiin (past), on puhuttu (perfect), oli puhuttu (past perfect).

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Present Tense — verb stems are the basis for passive formation
• Next steps: Passive in Past Tenses — passive perfect and past perfect