verbipohjassa

Verbipohja (literally "verb base") is a term used in Finnish grammar to describe the base form of a verb from which inflected forms are built. It is the stem that carries the core lexical content and serves as the anchoring point for conjugation and derivation. The verbipohja is not always identical to the lemma (the dictionary form); while the lemma is the standard reference form, the verbipohja is the form used when attaching endings in finite conjugation and in many derivational processes.

In Finnish, the verbipohja is typically identified by removing the person and mood endings from a finite form. For example, the verb puhua (to speak) has the verbipohja "puhu-"; this stem serves as the base for forms such as minä puhun, sinä puhut, hän puhuu, me puhumme, te puhutte, he puhuvat. The past forms and other tenses may involve stem changes or vowel gradation, but the underlying verbipohja provides a common base for analysis and derivation.

Beyond tense and mood, the verbipohja is used for participles and other derived forms. The present active participle attaches to the verbipohja with the suffix -va/-vä, while past participles use different suffixes but are still derived from the same base. The exact realization of the verbipohja can vary due to phonological changes and irregularities, yet the concept remains central to understanding Finnish verb morphology, making it a useful reference in dictionaries and grammars that catalog stems for conjugation.