Editing Finnish grammar (section)

===[[Grammatical mood|Moods]]===

====Indicative====
The indicative is the form of the verb used for making statements or asking simple questions. In the verb morphology sections, the mood referred to will be the indicative unless otherwise stated.

====Conditional====
The [[conditional mood]] expresses the idea that the action or state expressed by the verb may or may not actually happen. As in English, the Finnish conditional is used in conditional sentences  (for example "I would tell you if I knew") and in polite requests (for example "I would like some coffee").

In the former case, and unlike in English, the conditional must be used in both halves of the Finnish sentence:

: {{lang|fi|ymmärtäisin jos puhuisit hitaammin}} = *"I would understand if you would speak more slowly".

The characteristic morphology of the Finnish conditional is 'isi' inserted between the verb stem and the personal ending. This can result in a closed syllable becoming open and so trigger [[consonant gradation]]:

:{{lang|fi|tiedän}} = 'I know', {{lang|fi|tietäisin}} = 'I would know'.
:{{lang|fi|haluan}} = 'I want', {{lang|fi|haluaisin}} = 'I would like'.

Conditional forms exist for both active and passive voices, and for present tense and perfect.

The conditional can be used for added politeness when offering, requesting, or pleading: {{lang|fi|Ottaisitko kahvia?}} 'Would you like some coffee?'; {{lang|fi|Saisinko tuon punaisen?}} 'May I have that red one?'; {{lang|fi|Kertoisit nyt}} 'I do wish you would tell me'.

====Imperative====
The imperative mood is used to express commands. In Finnish, there is only one tense form (the present-future). The possible variants of Finnish imperatives are:
* 1st, 2nd or 3rd person
* singular or plural
* active or passive
* positive or negative

=====Active, 2nd-person imperatives=====
These are the most common forms of the imperative: "Do this", "Don't do that".

The singular imperative is simply the verb's present tense without any personal ending (that is, remove the {{lang|fi|-n}} from the first-person-singular form):

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Active, 2nd-person imperatives
|-
! Finnish !! English
|-
| {{lang|fi|tule!}} || 'come!'
|-
| {{lang|fi|syö!}} || 'eat!'
|-
| {{lang|fi|huomaa!}} || 'note!'
|}

To make this negative, {{lang|fi|älä}} (which is the active imperative singular 2nd person of the negative verb) is placed before the positive form:

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Finnish !! English
|-
| {{lang|fi|älä sano!}} || 'don't say!'
|-
| {{lang|fi|älä mene!}} || 'don't go!'
|-
| {{lang|fi|älä valehtele!}} || 'don't lie!'<br />(from {{lang|fi|valehdella}} "to lie", type II)
|}

To form the plural, add {{lang|fi|-kaa}} or {{lang|fi|-kää}} to the verb's stem:

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Finnish !! English
|-
| {{lang|fi|tulkaa!}} || 'come!'
|-
| {{lang|fi|juokaa!}} || 'drink!'
|-
| {{lang|fi|mitatkaa!}} || 'measure!'<br />(from {{lang|fi|mitata}} "to measure", type IV)
|}

To make this negative, {{lang|fi|älkää}} (which is the active imperative present plural 2nd person of the negative verb) is placed before the positive form and the suffix {{lang|fi|-ko}} or {{lang|fi|-kö}} is added to the verb stem:

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Finnish !! English
|-
| {{lang|fi|älkää sanoko!}} || 'don't say!'
|-
| {{lang|fi|älkää menkö!}} || 'don't go!'
|-
| {{lang|fi|älkää tarjotko!}} || 'don't offer!'
|}

Note that 2nd-person-plural imperatives can also be used as polite imperatives when referring to one person.

The Finnish language has no simple equivalent to the English "please". The Finnish equivalent is to use either {{lang|fi|ole hyvä}} or {{lang|fi|olkaa hyvä}} = 'be good', but it is generally omitted. Politeness is normally conveyed by tone of voice, facial expression, and use of conditional verbs and partitive nouns. For example, {{lang|fi|voisitteko}} means "could you", in the polite plural, and is used much like English "Could you..." sentences: {{lang|fi|voisitteko auttaa}} "could you help me, please?"

Also, familiar (and not necessarily so polite) expressions can be added to imperatives, e.g. {{lang|fi|menes}}, {{lang|fi|menepä}}, {{lang|fi|menehän}}. These are hard to translate exactly, but extensively used by Finnish speakers themselves. {{lang|fi|Menes}} implies expectation, that is, it has been settled already and requires no discussion; {{lang|fi|menepä}} has the {{lang|fi|-pa}} which indicates insistence, and {{lang|fi|-hän}} means approximated "indeed".

=====Passive imperatives=====
:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Passive imperatives
|-
! Finnish !! English
|-
| {{lang|fi|tehtäköön}} ||  let (something) be done
|-
| {{lang|fi|älköön tehtäkö}} ||  let (something) not be done
|-
| {{lang|fi|olkoon tehty}} ||  let (something) have been done
|-
| {{lang|fi|älköön olko tehty}} ||  let (something) not have been done
|}

=====3rd-person imperatives=====
The 3rd-person imperatives behave as if they were [[jussive mood|jussive]]; besides being used for commands, they can also be used to express permission. In colloquial language, they are most often used to express disregard to what one might or might not do, and the singular and plural forms are often confused.

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ 3rd-person imperatives
|-
! Finnish !! English
|-
| {{lang|fi|olkoon}} || 'let it (him, her) be'
|-
| {{lang|fi|tehkööt}} || 'let them do'
|-
| {{lang|fi|älköön unohtako}} || 'let him not forget', 'he'd better not forget'
|-
| {{lang|fi|älkööt unohtako}} || 'let them not forget'
|}

=====1st-person-plural imperatives=====
:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ 1st-person-plural imperatives
|-
! Finnish !! English
|-
| {{lang|fi|menkäämme}} || 'let's go'
|-
| {{lang|fi|älkäämme tehkö}} || 'let us not do', 'we better not do'
|}

The 1st-person imperative sounds archaic, and a form resembling the passive indicative is often used instead: {{lang|fi|mennään!}} = 'let's go!'

====Optative====
The optative mood is an archaic or poetic variant of the imperative mood that expresses hopes or wishes. It is not used in normal language. Although it in principle has all forms, it is encountered mainly in the 2nd person singular forms ''-:os''/''-:ös'' (replacement of /k/ with the [[gemination]] of the previous consonant).

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Optative
|-
! Finnish !! English
|-
| {{lang|fi|ollos}} || if only/that/would you were
|-
| {{lang|fi|ollos tervehditty}} || may you be greeted
|-
| {{lang|fi|juossos}} || may you run
|-
| {{lang|fi|käyttäös}} || may you use
|}

Optatives are rare even in original archaic poems, and the forms used to express the optative are different from standard Finnish. An example of a true optative is ''ruvetkommas tappelohon'' "let's go and start fighting". However, when compiling the [[Kalevala]], Elias Lönnrot tripled the number of optatives, by changing these dialectal forms in the original poems to the standard optative.<ref>https://journal.fi/virittaja/article/download/36182/31643/91848</ref>

====Potential====
The potential mood is used to express that the action or state expressed by the verb is possible but not certain. It is relatively rare in modern Finnish, especially in speech. Most commonly it is used in news reports and in official written proposals in meetings. It has only the present tense and perfect. The potential has no specific counterpart in English, but can be translated by adding "possibly" (or occasionally "probably") to the verb.

The characteristic morphology of the Finnish potential is {{lang|fi|-ne-}}, inserted between the verb stem and the personal ending. Before this affix, continuants assimilate progressively ({{lang|fi|pes+ne-}} → {{lang|fi|pesse-}}) and stops regressively ({{lang|fi|korjat+ne-}} → {{lang|fi|korjanne-}}). The verb {{lang|fi|olla}} 'to be' in the potential has the special suppletive form {{lang|fi|lie-}}, e.g. the potential of {{lang|fi|on haettu}} 'has been fetched' is {{lang|fi|lienee haettu}} 'may have been fetched'.

Potential forms exists for both active and passive voices, and for present tense and perfect:

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Potential
|-
! Finnish !! English
|-
| {{lang|fi|lienen}} || I may be/it's possible that I am
|-
| {{lang|fi|pessee}} || she may wash/she is [likely] to wash
|-
| {{lang|fi|korjannee}} || she may fix/she is [likely] to fix
|-
| {{lang|fi|surrevat}} || it is possible that they are mourning/will mourn
|-
| {{lang|fi|se pestäneen}} || it will probably be washed (by someone)
|-
| {{lang|fi|lienette nähneet}} || you may have seen
|-
| {{lang|fi|ei liene annettu}} || possibly may not have been given (by someone)
|}

In some dialects {{lang|fi|tullee}} ('may come') is an indicative form verb ({{lang|fi|tulee}} 'comes'). This is not a potential form, but rather due to [[Gemination#Finnish|secondary gemination]].

====Eventive====
No longer used in modern Finnish, the eventive mood is used in the ''[[Kalevala]]''. It is a combination of the potential and the conditional. It is also used in some dialects of [[Estonian language|Estonian]].

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Eventive
|-
! Finnish !! English
|-
| {{lang|fi|kävelleisin}} || 'I probably would walk'
|}