Preesensmuodot

Preesensmuodot are the present tense forms of Finnish verbs. They express actions happening now, general truths, and, in Finnish, they also commonly serve to indicate near future when accompanied by time expressions. There is no separate future tense in standard Finnish; the present tense is used for both present and near-future references.

Finnish present tense is formed by taking the verb stem and adding person endings for six subject categories: minä, sinä, hän, me, te, he. The typical endings are -n for 1st person singular, -t for 2nd person singular, and the 3rd person singular form usually shows the stem with no additional suffix or with a stem change, while 1st person plural takes -mme, 2nd person plural -tte, and 3rd person plural -vat/-vät. Consonant gradation and vowel harmony often cause changes to the stem, so the exact form varies by verb type.

Examples illustrate the pattern. Puhua (to speak) in present tense: minä puhun, sinä puhDat, hän puhuu, me puhumme, te puhutte, he puhuvat. Ota (to take) in present tense: minä otan, sinä otat, hän ottaa, me otamme, te otatte, he ottavat. Negative forms use ei: en puhu, et puhu, ei puhu, emme puhu, ette puhu, eivät puhu.

In use, the preesensmuodot cover both current actions and statements of general fact, with future meaning arising from context. For more precision, Finnish verb types and stem changes influence the exact endings and alternations found in the present tense.