Imperatiivien

Imperatiivien is a Finnish term referring to the imperative mood, the grammatical category used to express commands, requests, or prohibitions. It is directed at the listener and is a direct way to influence someone’s actions. The imperative is distinct from the indicative, which states facts, and from other moods such as the conditional or potential.

In Finnish, imperatives are primarily used in second person, with separate forms for singular and plural. Positive forms include singular Tule! (Come!), Syö! (Eat!), Mene! (Go!). Plural forms used to address a group include Tulkaa! (Come here, you all), Syökää! (Eat, you all), Menkää! (Go, you all). The formation typically uses the verb stem without additional personal endings in the singular, and specialized plural forms in the plural.

Negative imperatives are formed with the negative particle älä for singular and älkää for plural, preceding the verb. Common examples are Älä tule (Don’t come), Älä mene (Don’t go), Älä syö (Don’t eat), and Älkää tulko (Don’t come, you all). For plural prohibitions, Älkää menkö is also used in practice to mean “Don’t go.”

Finnish also has hortative or “let’s” constructions, which are not true imperatives of the second person. A typical example is Mennään! (Let’s go). This form uses a different mechanism (often considered a passive or volitional construction) to express inclusive action.

Overview notes: the imperative is central to giving direct instructions and is common in everyday conversation, signs, and manuals. Its morphology varies by verb class, and politeness or softer requests are often achieved with phrases like olkaa hyvä (please) or indirect formulations rather than a direct imperative.