Uusi kielemme - Finnish for Busy People

The passive conditional

1. Use

The passive conditional is the form of the verb which means that something would be done. There is no specific subject - in other words, we don't know who is doing, but we know what is being done.

This tense has a second meaning, just like the present passive. The passive conditional gets also used when talking in the 1st person plural, e.g. "Lähdettäisiinkö elokuviin?" means "would we go to the movies?" and not "would one go to the movies?" like you would expect.

2. Formation

You get the passive conditional by adding -taisiin/-täisiin or -ttaisiin/-ttäisiin to the passive stem. Notice the -isi- like in the active conditional. The passive stem is the stem you get when putting the verb in the passive tense. Add the same number of t's as you would use in the passive imperfect

2.1. Verb types 1, 4, 5 and 6: add -ttaisiin/-ttäisiin

Verb	Passive imperfect	Passive conditional	Meaning
sanoa	sanottiin	sanottaisiin	would be said
lukea	luettiin	luettaisiin	would be read
antaa	annettiin*	annettaisiin*	would be given
ymmärtää	ymmärrettiin*	ymmärrettäisiin*	would be understood
tavata	tavattiin	tavattaisiin	would be met
valita	valittiin	valittaisiin	would be chosen
vaaleta	vaalettiin	vaalettaisiin	would be whitened

* When the infinitive of a verb ends in -aa, -a- changes to -e- when making the verb passive.

2.2. Verb types 2 and 3: add -taisiin/-täisiin

Verb	Passive imperfect	Passive conditional	Meaning
tuoda	tuotiin	tuotaisiin	would be brought
tehdä	tehtiin	tehtäisiin	would be done
ajatella	ajateltiin	ajateltaisiin	would be thought
panna	pantiin	pantaisiin	would be put
surra	surtiin	surtaisiin	would be mourned

3. Negative passive conditional

For the negative form, you take the positive form and remove its last two letters. Follow this rule for every verb type.

Since this is the negative passive conditional, you use the negative verb in the third person (the "ei" form) like you do in other passive tenses and moods as well.