Ajatella ("to think, to reflect") is a Type 3 verb, and it is the classic showcase for inverse consonant gradation. In most verb types the dictionary form carries the strong grade and the personal endings weaken it; Type 3 runs the other way. Here the infinitive ajatella has the weak grade — a single t — while every personal form pulls out the strong grade with a double tt: ajattelen ("I think"). Get that flip wrong and you produce the single most common error with this verb, *ajatelen.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | 1sg present | 3sg past | Past participle | Passive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ajatella | ajattelen | ajatteli | ajatellut | ajatellaan |
The stem is ajattele-: drop the infinitive -la and add the linking -e-, and the t strengthens to tt at the same time. Notice where the double tt lives (all personal forms, the past, the conditional) versus where the single t returns (the infinitive, the participle, the passive) — that split is the whole story of this verb.
Present and past (indicative)
| Person | Present | Past (imperfect) |
|---|---|---|
| minä | ajattelen | ajattelin |
| sinä | ajattelet | ajattelit |
| hän | ajattelee | ajatteli |
| me | ajattelemme | ajattelimme |
| te | ajattelette | ajattelitte |
| he | ajattelevat | ajattelivat |
| negative | en ajattele | en ajatellut / emme ajatelleet |
Mitä sinä oikein ajattelet?
What on earth are you thinking?
Ajattelin juuri samaa — mennäänkö kahville?
I was just thinking the same thing — shall we go for a coffee?
Ajattelen usein lapsuuttani ja vanhaa kotitaloamme.
I often think about my childhood and our old family house.
Perfect and moods
The perfect and pluperfect use olla plus the participle ajatellut (plural ajatelleet): olen ajatellut ("I have thought"), olin ajatellut ("I had thought"). Both drop back to the weak single t.
| Person | Conditional | Imperative |
|---|---|---|
| minä | ajattelisin | — |
| sinä | ajattelisit | ajattele! |
| hän | ajattelisi | ajatelkoon (formal) |
| me | ajattelisimme | ajatelkaamme (formal) |
| te | ajattelisitte | ajatelkaa |
| he | ajattelisivat | ajatelkoot (formal) |
| negative | en ajattelisi | älä ajattele / älkää ajatelko |
The conditional keeps the strong tt (ajattelisin), but the plural imperative swings back to the weak grade: ajatelkaa ("think!"), not *ajattelkaa. The potential ajatellee ("may think", literary) is rarely met outside formal prose.
Ajattele nyt vähän ennen kuin sanot mitään.
Think a little before you say anything.
Ajattelisin asiaa vielä yön yli, jos olisin sinä.
I'd sleep on it another night, if I were you.
Passive
| Form | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| present | ajatellaan | ei ajatella |
| past | ajateltiin | ei ajateltu |
| perfect | on ajateltu | ei ole ajateltu |
| conditional | ajateltaisiin | ei ajateltaisi |
Ennen ajateltiin, että maa on litteä.
People used to think the earth was flat.
Rection: what ajatella governs
Ajatella takes the partitive for the thing held in mind: ajatella jotakin / jotakuta. This matches English "think of/about someone" but not the case: Finnish never uses an illative "into" here, so *ajattelen sinuun is wrong.
Ajattelen sinua koko ajan, kun olet reissussa.
I think about you all the time when you're away travelling.
En ollut ajatellut asiaa lainkaan siltä kannalta.
I hadn't thought about the matter from that angle at all.
A very frequent frame is ajatella, että… ("to think that…") introducing a clause, and the idiom ajatella ääneen ("to think aloud").
Ajattelin, että voisimme lähteä jo aamulla.
I was thinking we could leave already in the morning.
Anteeksi, ajattelin vain ääneen.
Sorry, I was just thinking aloud.
Common Mistakes
❌ Minä ajatelen sinua joka päivä.
Incorrect — the personal forms take strong grade: ajattelen (double t).
✅ Minä ajattelen sinua joka päivä.
I think of you every day.
❌ Ajattelen sinuun koko ajan.
Incorrect — ajatella takes the partitive object, never the illative.
✅ Ajattelen sinua koko ajan.
I think about you all the time.
❌ En ole ajattellut sitä ollenkaan.
Incorrect — the participle drops to weak grade: ajatellut (single t, double l).
✅ En ole ajatellut sitä ollenkaan.
I haven't thought about it at all.
❌ Ajattelen, että huomenna sataa.
Incorrect for a guess — a supposition/belief takes luulla, not ajatella.
✅ Luulen, että huomenna sataa.
I think (suppose) it'll rain tomorrow.
Key Takeaways
- Inverse gradation: weak t in ajatella / ajatellut / ajatellaan, strong tt in every personal form (ajattelen, ajattelin, ajattelisin).
- Stem ajattele-: the 3rd person lengthens to ajattelee; the past drops the -e- (ajatteli).
- Rection: partitive for the thing in mind (ajattelen sinua) — never an illative.
- Word choice: ajatella (reflect) vs miettiä (ponder) vs luulla (suppose).
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- Direct vs Inverse GradationB1 — Which grade lives in the dictionary form: direct words are strong and weaken (kukka→kukan); inverse are weak and strengthen (opas→oppaan, sade→sateen).
- Verbs Governing the Partitive: rakastaa, odottaaB1 — The verbs whose complement is partitive by government — rakastaa, odottaa, auttaa, etsiä, pelätä, ajatella, muistuttaa — plus the aspectual borderline (katsoa, kuunnella, tarvita).
- Model Verb Type 3: tulla — Full ConjugationA2 — The complete paradigm of tulla (to come), the model for Type 3 -la/-na/-ra/-sta verbs: the stem gains -e- (tule-) and the participle assimilates to tullut.
- Quantitative Gradation: kk→k, pp→p, tt→tA2 — The easy half of gradation: a doubled stop shortens to a single one — kukka→kukan, kauppa→kaupan, katto→katon — with no change in sound quality.