kieltomuodon

Kieltomuoto is Finnish grammar’s form used to express negation in a sentence. It is constructed with the negation word ei (or the negative imperative form Älä in commands) together with the main verb in its negative present form. The kieltomuoto is applied to negate predicates in statements as well as questions and exclamations, and it inflects for the subject through the negative verb forms en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät.

In the present tense, the negation is formed by combining ei with the main verb in its bare present form (the form without the personal ending). Examples: Minä en mene (I do not go). Sinä et mene (You do not go). Hän ei mene (He/She does not go). Me emme mene (We do not go). Te ette mene (You do not go). He eivät mene (They do not go). The bare present form after ei often corresponds to the verb’s stem with the -n ending removed.

The negative imperative is formed with Älä plus the verb in its basic imperative form, as in Älä mene! (Don’t go!). This usage is also part of kieltomuoto, describing negative commands rather than declarative negation.

Finnish kieltomuoto can express negation across tenses. For example, past negation uses ei with the verb in past tense: En nähnyt (I did not see). The general principle remains: ei governs the clause, the main verb appears in the appropriate bare or finite form, and the sentence’s subject becomes part of the negative structure.