Partisiipeillä

Partisiipeillä is a term used in Finnish linguistics to refer to participles (partisiipit) and their use in the language. A participle (partisiippi) is a non-finite verb form that can modify a noun or act as part of a larger expression, and it often conveys aspect or a relation to time without forming a full finite clause.

Finnish participles are typically grouped into several categories, among which the main ones are present active participles and past participles. Present active participles are formed from the verb stem with the endings -va or -vä and describe an ongoing action connected to a noun, for example lukeva poika, meaning “the boy who is reading.” Past participles describe actions that have already been completed and include forms used as adjectives, such as tehty tuote (“a product made”) or kirjoitettu kirja (“a written book”). In Finnish, participles are inflected for number and case, so they can agree with the nouns they modify.

Usage: Partisiiipit can function directly as adjectives, describing nouns, or they can form part of compound expressions to convey attributes. They are also used in adverbial or descriptive phrases, where a participle replaces a relative clause for conciseness. In everyday spoken Finnish, relative clauses are more common, while participial forms are frequent in written, official, and headline text for compact expression.

History and resources: The concept of participles has long been part of Finnish grammar, with terminology and analysis developed in traditional language grammars and modern reference works. For further reading, consult standard Finnish grammar handbooks and linguistic descriptions of participles.