The active past participle
1. What are participles?
Participles are verbal adjectives which can be formed from all verbs. Like ordinary adjectives, they are declined in all cases and agree with the noun which the qualify. They can be in active and passive form, and have an 'agent' participle. On this page you find just the
active past participle.
2. Use
| pudonnut lehti = a fallen leaf |
| itkenyt lapsi = the child that has cried |
2.1. Denotes an action that is over
| Example: |
| Suomea opiskellut tyttö. |
| = Tyttö, joka opiskeli suomea. |
| = The girl who has studied Finnish. |
| Example: |
| Tampereella sattunut auto-onnettomuus |
| = auto-onnettomuus, joka sattui Tampereella |
| = the car accident that took place in Tampere |
2.2. Denotes a situation that started earlier and is still relevant
| Example: |
| Espanjassa 20 vuotta asunut ystäväni tulee Suomeen lomalle. |
| = Ystäväni, joka on asunut Espanjassa 20 vuotta (ja asuu siellä yhä), tulee Suomeen lomalle. |
| = My friend, who has been living in Spain for 20 years (and still lives there) is coming to Finland for the holidays. |
3. Formation
Verb types 1 and 2: find the infinitive's stem* and add -nut/-nyt.
| Infinitive |
Stem |
Participle |
Example |
English |
| puhua |
puhu- |
puhunut |
äsken puhunut mies |
the man who has just talked |
| syödä |
syö- |
syönyt |
syönyt omena |
the eaten apple |
| tehdä |
teh- |
tehnyt |
tehnyt tehtävä |
the done task |
| nukkua |
nukku- |
nukkunut |
nukkunut lapsi |
the child that has slept |
| saada |
saa- |
saanut |
saanut kirje |
the received letter |
Verb type 3: find the infinitive's stem* and add -nut/-nyt, -lut/-lyt, etc.
| Infinitive |
Stem |
Participle |
Example |
English |
| mennä |
men- |
mennyt |
mennyt loma |
the gone vacation |
| harjoitella |
harjoitel- |
harjoitellut |
harjoitellut poika |
the practised boy |
| kävellä |
kävel- |
kävellyt |
kävellyt mies |
the walked man |
| nousta |
nous- |
noussut |
noussut aikuinen |
the adult that has risen |
Verb types 4, 5 and 6: find the infinitive's stem* and add -nnut/-nnyt.
| Infinitive |
Stem |
Participle |
Example |
English |
| haluta |
halu- |
halunnut |
lelun halunnut lapsi |
the child that wanted a toy |
| maata |
maa- |
maannut |
maannut isoäiti |
the grandma that has been laying down |
| tarvita |
tarvi- |
tarvinnut |
ruokaa tarvinnut mies |
the man that needed food |
| häiritä |
häiri- |
häirinnyt |
rauhaa häirinnyt koira |
the dog that has disturbed the peace |
| rohjeta |
rohje- |
rohjennut |
rohjennut varas |
the thief that has become braver |
* The infinitive's stem is what you get when you remove the last (verb type 1) or two last letters (verb type 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) of the dictionary-form of the verb.
4. Rotation
If you want to make a participle sentence out of a "joka" sentence, you should "rotate" the information present in the sentence.
| Example: |
| Mies, joka kävi yksin Espanjassa. |
| = Yksin Espanjassa käynyt mies. |
| Example: |
| Lapsi joka nukkui 10 tuntia. |
| = 10 tuntia nukkunut lapsi. |
| Example: |
| Lapsi, joka sai lahjan äidiltä. |
| = Lahjan äidiltä saanut lapsi. |
5. Inflection
As said above, participles inflect freely. They will be put in the same form as the word they are connected to.
| Example: |
| Näin leikkineen lapsen pihalla . |
| = I saw a child that had been playing in the yard. |
| Example: |
| Itkeneellä lapsella oli lelu kädessä. |
| = The child that had been crying has a toy in his hand. |
| Example: |
| Nauraneen lapsen äiti oli lähellä. |
| = The mother of the child that had laughed was close-by. |
