Nykytaivutusmuoto

Nykytaivutusmuoto is a term used in Finnish grammar to refer to the present tense inflected forms of a Finnish verb in the indicative mood. It describes how verbs are conjugated to show present time across the six grammatical persons (1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, each in singular and plural) and is formed by attaching personal endings to the verb stem. The exact shape of the stem can vary due to phenomena such as consonant gradation and vowel harmony.

In general, present tense forms are built from the verb stem with characteristic endings: -n for 1st person singular, -t for 2nd person singular, no separate ending or a stem change for 3rd person singular, -mme for 1st person plural, -tte for 2nd person plural, and -vat/-vät for 3rd person plural. Because stems differ between verbs, the appearance of the present tense can vary, and some verbs exhibit irregularities or stem changes.

Example: the verb kirjoittaa (to write) in the present tense yields: minä kirjoitan, sinä kirjoitat, hän kirjoittaa, me kirjoitamme, te kirjoitatte, he kirjoittavat. This illustrates typical person endings across the six forms.

Nykytaivutusmuoto is used to express actions occurring now, habitual actions, and near-future events in Finnish. It is the default finite tense in everyday usage, with other tense forms (such as past tenses and perfects) used for time distinctions and aspect. Irregular verbs, notably olla (to be), have distinct present-tense forms (olen, olet, on, olemme, olette, ovat).