Finiittiverbiin

Finiittiverbiin, often translated as finite verbs, are a fundamental concept in linguistics, particularly in the study of grammar. A finite verb is a verb that has been inflected to show tense, mood, and person. This means it is marked to indicate when an action took place (past, present, future), the speaker's attitude towards the action (indicative, imperative, subjunctive), and who is performing the action (first, second, or third person).

Finite verbs are contrasted with non-finite verbs, which include infinitives, participles, and gerunds. Non-finite verbs do not show tense, mood, or person in the same way. For example, in English, "runs" is a finite verb in the sentence "He runs fast" (third person singular, present tense), while "to run" is an infinitive and "running" can be a participle or gerund. The presence of a finite verb is often a key indicator of a complete clause or sentence. The grammatical rules governing the inflection of finite verbs vary significantly across languages, forming a core part of their syntactic structure. Understanding finite verbs is crucial for analyzing sentence structure and meaning in any given language.