Some Finnish verbs cannot take an infinitive complement at all. You can say haluan uida ("I want to swim"), but not *pidän uida for "I like swimming" — pitää refuses infinitives. It demands instead the -minen verbal noun, put into a specific case: pidän uimisesta, literally "I like of swimming." This page is about that class of verbs — the ones that treat the activity as a noun and assign it a case, exactly as they would to any ordinary object. Where the infinitive-choice guide surveys the whole system, this page drills the -minen corner of it, because English speakers reach for a bare gerund and forget that the governing verb assigns the case.
Why -minen and not an infinitive
The fourth infinitive -minen is not really an infinitive at all — it is a full noun meaning "the act of X-ing." That is the point. A noun can go into any case, so a verb that governs its complement through a case or a postposition needs a noun, and the infinitive, which has no case slot, cannot fill the role. Pitää jostakin ("like something") governs the elative -sta/-stä; feed it uiminen and you get uimisesta.
Pidän uimisesta, mutta en osaa sukeltaa.
I like swimming, but I can't dive.
Haluan oppia uimaan ensi kesänä.
I want to learn to swim next summer.
Those two sit side by side deliberately. Pitää takes the -minen noun in the elative (uimisesta); haluta and oppia take infinitives (uimaan here, governed by oppia). The verb decides — not you.
How -minen declines
-minen inflects like any -nen noun (such as nainen "woman"): the -nen becomes the inflectional stem -mise-, and case endings attach to that. Learn this stem once and every governed form follows.
| Case (why) | tehdä → tekeminen | uida → uiminen |
|---|---|---|
| nominative (subject) | tekeminen | uiminen |
| partitive (object, fear) | tekemistä | uimista |
| elative (like, enjoy) | tekemisestä | uimisesta |
| illative (tire of, focus on) | tekemiseen | uimiseen |
| genitive (before a postposition) | tekemisen | uimisen |
The like / enjoy verbs: elative -misesta
The commonest case-governing verbs are the ones for liking and enjoying, and they take the elative -misesta/-misestä. Pitää ("like"), nauttia ("enjoy"), and colloquial tykätä ("like") all pattern together:
Nautin kirjoittamisesta, vaikka se on välillä raskasta.
I enjoy writing, even though it's hard work at times.
Tykkään enemmän lukemisesta kuin television katsomisesta.
I like reading more than watching television. (colloquial tykätä)
Isoäitini piti aina puutarhan hoitamisesta.
My grandmother always loved gardening.
Note nauttia has a second, more formal frame — nauttia jotakin (partitive) meaning "to partake of / consume," as in nauttia aamiaista ("to have breakfast") (formal). For "enjoy an activity," it is the elative.
Tire of, get used to, focus on: illative -miseen
A second family governs the illative -miseen. These are verbs of tiring of, getting used to, and turning one's attention to: kyllästyä ("get sick of"), väsyä ("get tired of"), tottua ("get used to"), keskittyä ("focus on"), ryhtyä ("set about"):
Kyllästyin odottamiseen ja lähdin kotiin.
I got sick of waiting and went home.
En ole vielä tottunut aikaisin heräämiseen.
I haven't got used to waking up early yet.
Yritän keskittyä opiskelemiseen, mutta puhelin häiritsee.
I'm trying to focus on studying, but my phone keeps distracting me.
Fear: pelätä + partitive -mistä
The verb pelätä ("fear, be afraid of") governs the partitive, so a feared activity goes into -mistä/-mista:
Monet pelkäävät lentämistä, vaikka se on turvallista.
Many people are afraid of flying, even though it's safe.
Lapsena pelkäsin pimeässä nukkumista.
As a child I was afraid of sleeping in the dark.
Before a postposition: genitive -misen
Because -minen is a real noun, it also heads a postpositional phrase — something no infinitive can do. The postposition then requires the genitive -misen in front of it: nukkumisen jälkeen ("after sleeping"), syömisen sijaan ("instead of eating"):
Harjaa hampaat aina syömisen jälkeen.
Always brush your teeth after eating.
Watch the adposition, though. True postpositions (which follow the noun) take the genitive, but a couple of common prepositions that come before the noun — ilman ("without") and ennen ("before") — govern the partitive -mistä instead:
Hän lähti ilman hyvästelemistä.
He left without saying goodbye.
Ennen nukkumaanmenoa luen aina hetken.
Before going to bed I always read for a while.
That last one uses the fixed compound nukkumaanmeno ("going to bed"), itself built on a -maan form — a reminder that these building blocks combine.
The whole contrast in one table
| Governing verb | Case on -minen | Example |
|---|---|---|
| pitää, nauttia, tykätä (like/enjoy) | elative -misesta | pidän uimisesta |
| kyllästyä, tottua, keskittyä (tire/used/focus) | illative -miseen | kyllästyin odottamiseen |
| pelätä (fear) | partitive -mistä | pelkään lentämistä |
| jälkeen, sijaan, takia (postpositions) | genitive -misen | syömisen jälkeen |
| ilman, ennen (prepositions) | partitive -mistä | ilman hyvästelemistä |
| haluta, osata, voida (want/can) | — (first infinitive instead) | haluan uida |
Common Mistakes
❌ Pidän uida.
Incorrect — pitää cannot take an infinitive; it wants the elative -minen noun.
✅ Pidän uimisesta.
I like swimming.
❌ Pidän uiminen.
Incorrect — the noun is there, but pitää governs the elative, not the nominative.
✅ Pidän uimisesta.
I like swimming.
❌ Kyllästyin odottamisesta.
Incorrect — kyllästyä governs the illative -miseen, not the elative.
✅ Kyllästyin odottamiseen.
I got sick of waiting.
❌ Pelkään lentämisestä.
Incorrect — pelätä governs the partitive: lentämistä.
✅ Pelkään lentämistä.
I'm afraid of flying.
❌ syömisessä jälkeen
Incorrect — a postposition takes the genitive of -minen: syömisen jälkeen.
✅ syömisen jälkeen
after eating
Key Takeaways
- Verbs that govern their complement through a case or postposition need the noun -minen, not an infinitive — the infinitive has no case slot.
- -minen declines on the stem -mise-: tekemisen, tekemistä, tekemisestä, tekemiseen.
- Like/enjoy → elative -misesta (pidän uimisesta); tire of / get used to / focus on → illative -miseen; fear → partitive -mistä; before a postposition → genitive -misen.
- Contrast with the want/can verbs, which take a plain first infinitive (haluan uida) — the governing verb, not the English "-ing," decides.
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Start learning Finnish→Related Topics
- The Fourth Infinitive -minenB1 — The -minen verbal noun turns any verb into a full noun (uiminen 'swimming') that declines like a -nen word: tekemisen, tekemistä, tekemiseen.
- Abstract Nouns: -us, -uus, -minenB2 — Deriving abstract and event nouns: -us/-ys names an act or result from a verb, -uus/-yys a quality from an adjective, and -minen a verbal noun from any verb.
- Which Infinitive? A GuideC1 — A decision guide to Finnish verb complementation: when to use the first infinitive, the -maan third infinitive, -minen, an että-clause, or the referative.
- The First Infinitive: the Dictionary FormA1 — The first infinitive is the form dictionaries list (puhua, syödä, tulla). It follows modal-like verbs and can be a subject — but it is not the verb's stem.