Understanding the First Person Plural in Finnish Verb Conjugation
In Finnish, verbs change their form depending on who is doing the action. When we talk about 'we' doing something, we use the first person plural form. This is like saying 'we run' or 'we eat' in English.
Important Points
- Identify the verb stem by removing the infinitive ending '-a' or '-ä'.
- Add '-mme' to the verb stem to form the first person plural.
- Remember that vowel harmony is important in Finnish, so the vowels in '-mme' will match the vowels in the verb stem.
Vowel harmony means that certain vowels can only be used with each other. So, if a verb stem has back vowels like 'a', 'o', or 'u', the ending will also have back vowels. If it has front vowels like 'ä', 'ö', or 'y', the ending will match with front vowels.
Examples
- Me juoksemme puistossa. (We run in the park.)
- Me syömme aamiaista. (We eat breakfast.)
- Me menemme kouluun. (We go to school.)
Let's look at some examples to see how this works. The verb 'juosta' (to run) becomes 'juoksemme' when we say 'we run'. The verb stem is 'juoks-', and we add '-mme' to make it 'juoksemme'.
Similarly, 'syödä' (to eat) becomes 'syömme', and 'mennä' (to go) becomes 'menemme'. Notice how the endings match the vowel harmony of the verb stems.