Understanding Suomi Third Person Plural Verb Conjugation
In Finnish, which is also called Suomi, verbs change their form depending on who is doing the action. This is called conjugation. Today, we will learn how to conjugate verbs when talking about more than one person or thing, like 'they' in English.
Important Points
- The basic rule is to add '-vat' or '-vät' to the verb stem.
- Use '-vat' if the stem ends with a vowel that is not 'ä' or 'ö'.
- Use '-vät' if the stem ends with the vowels 'ä' or 'ö'.
- Remember that the verb stem is the part of the verb you get when you remove the 'a' or 'ä' from the infinitive form.
Examples
- He syövät omenoita. (They eat apples.)
- Lapset leikkivät puistossa. (They play in the park.)
- Kissat juoksevat nopeasti. (They run fast.)
Let's break it down with some examples. If the verb is 'syödä' (to eat), you take away the 'ä' to find the stem 'syö'. Since 'ö' is one of the special vowels, you add '-vät', making it 'syövät' for 'they eat'.
For a verb like 'juosta' (to run), remove the 'a' to find the stem 'juokse'. Here, we add '-vat' because the stem ends with 'e', so it becomes 'juoksevat' for 'they run'.
Now you know how to talk about things that more than one person or thing does in Finnish. Keep practicing, and soon it will become easy!