Persoonamuodot

Persoonamuodot, Finnish for “person forms,” are the finite verb forms that encode the person and number of the subject. They are a central part of Finnish verb conjugation and are used across tenses and moods. In standard Finnish, verbs inflect for six grammatical persons: first, second, and third person singular and plural.

The person information is carried by characteristic endings and, in many verbs, by stem changes. A typical present-tense paradigm with the verb kirjoittaa (to write) shows the pattern: minä kirjoitan, sinä kirjoitat, hän kirjoittaa, me kirjoitamme, te kirjoitatte, he kirjoittavat. This illustrates common endings: 1st person singular often ends in -n or -en; 2nd person singular in -t; 3rd person singular frequently uses a stem with -a/-ä; 1st person plural ends with -mme; 2nd person plural with -tte; 3rd person plural with -vat/-vät. However, endings vary by verb class, and stem alternations and vowel harmony can influence the exact form.

Because the verb form itself signals the person, Finnish commonly omits subject pronouns; for example, kirjoitan means “I am writing,” without needing minä. The same principle applies across tenses; other verbs, such as olla (to be), provide a clear six-form paradigm: olen, olet, on, olemme, olette, ovat.

Persoonamuodot interact with other grammatical categories such as tense, mood, and voice, and they form the basis for finite verb construction in Finnish. They are distinct from non-finite forms and from pronoun forms, which are separate lexical items.