Nousta means "to rise, to get up, to go up, to board." It is a Type 3 verb ending in -sta, so it patterns exactly with pestä ("wash") and juosta ("run"): drop -ta, add a linking -e- for the personal stem (nouse-), and — the form to watch — build the past participle on the bare stem nous-, where s + n assimilates to a double ss → noussut. There is no gradation in the paradigm.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present 1sg | Present 3sg | Past 1sg | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nousta | nousen | nousee | nousin | noussut |
Personal stem nouse-; the 3sg lengthens it to nousee, the past drops the -e- before -i- (nousi). The participle noussut (plural nousseet) is the flag of this verb — compare pessyt, juossut, päässyt: whenever a Type 3 stem ends in s, the participle doubles it.
Present and past
| Person | Present | Past (imperfect) |
|---|---|---|
| minä | nousen | nousin |
| sinä | nouset | nousit |
| hän | nousee | nousi |
| me | nousemme | nousimme |
| te | nousette | nousitte |
| he | nousevat | nousivat |
| negative | en nouse | en noussut / emme nousseet |
Nousen arkisin kuudelta, mutta viikonloppuisin nukun pidempään.
On weekdays I get up at six, but at weekends I sleep in.
Aurinko nousi tänä aamuna vasta yhdeksän jälkeen.
The sun rose only after nine this morning.
Perfect, conditional, imperative
Compound tenses use olla + noussut (plural nousseet). The imperative 2sg is the bare stem nouse!; the plural is the consonant stem nous- + -kaa → nouskaa!
| Person | Perfect | Conditional | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|
| minä | olen noussut | nousisin | — |
| sinä | olet noussut | nousisit | nouse! |
| hän | on noussut | nousisi | nouskoon (formal) |
| me | olemme nousseet | nousisimme | nouskaamme (formal) |
| te | olette nousseet | nousisitte | nouskaa |
| he | ovat nousseet | nousisivat | nouskoot (formal) |
Nouse jo ylös, kello on melkein kymmenen!
Get up already, it's almost ten o'clock!
Hinnat ovat nousseet rajusti viimeisen vuoden aikana.
Prices have risen sharply over the past year.
Passive
| Tense | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Present | noustaan | ei nousta |
| Past | noustiin | ei noustu |
| Perfect | on noustu | ei ole noustu |
The passive keeps the -t- on the s stem: noustaan, noustiin, noustu. In speech the present passive often serves as the "we / let's" form: Nyt noustaan! ("Up we get now!").
Vuorelle noustaan yleensä aamuvarhaisella, ennen helteitä.
People climb the mountain usually early in the morning, before the heat.
Rection: boarding vs. rising from
Direction picks the case. Getting onto / into something takes the illative (-Vn): nousta bussiin, junaan, koneeseen. Getting up from / out of something takes the elative (-sta/-stä): nousta sängystä, tuolista. English uses "get on" versus "get out of / up from" — Finnish makes you choose the matching case.
Nousin bussiin väärällä pysäkillä ja jouduin kävelemään takaisin.
I got on the bus at the wrong stop and had to walk back.
Nouse varovasti sängystä, lattia on kylmä.
Get out of bed carefully, the floor is cold.
High-frequency idioms
Nousta ylös ("get up, stand up"), nousta lentoon ("take off," of a plane), nousta pystyyn ("stand up straight"), nousta puheenaiheeksi ("come up as a topic"), and figuratively tuuli nousee ("the wind is picking up"), kuume nousee ("the fever is rising").
Lento nousi ilmaan tunnin myöhässä lumimyrskyn takia.
The flight took off an hour late because of the snowstorm.
Asia nousi puheeksi vasta illallisen loppupuolella.
The matter came up only towards the end of the dinner.
Common Mistakes
❌ Olen jo nousnut sängystä.
Incorrect — the participle assimilates s + n to double s: noussut.
✅ Olen jo noussut sängystä.
I've already got out of bed.
❌ Nousin bussista väärällä pysäkillä.
Wrong direction — boarding takes the illative: bussiin (bussista = 'off the bus').
✅ Nousin bussiin väärällä pysäkillä.
I got on the bus at the wrong stop.
❌ Nouskaa nyt sänkyyn, on jo myöhä!
Confusing sense — to get UP FROM bed use the elative sängystä; sänkyyn = 'into bed'.
✅ Nouskaa nyt sängystä, on jo myöhä!
Get up out of bed now, it's already late!
❌ Hinnat on nousnut tänä vuonna.
Incorrect — plural subject + participle: ovat nousseet.
✅ Hinnat ovat nousseet tänä vuonna.
Prices have risen this year.
Key Takeaways
- Two stems: personal nouse- (nousen, nousee, nousin, nousisin), consonant nous- (participle noussut, imperative nouskaa, passive noustaan).
- Assimilated participle noussut (pl. nousseet) — s + n → ss. Never *nousnut or *noustnut.
- Direction is meaning: illative to board (nousta bussiin), elative to rise from (nousta sängystä).
- Figurative "rise": prices, fever, wind, and topics all nousevat.
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- pestä ('to wash')A2 — Full conjugation of pestä — a Type 3 -stä verb whose participle assimilates to pessyt — plus its object rection and why 'wash oneself' is peseytyä.
- juosta ('to run')A2 — Full conjugation of juosta — a Type 3 verb whose hidden -ks- stem surfaces (juoksen) yet vanishes in the participle juossut — plus the cases of the path.
- Verb Type 3: -la/-na/-ra/-sta Verbs (tulla, mennä)A2 — Drop the -la/-na/-ra/-sta ending and add a linking -e- for the stem: tulla → tule-. The third person doubles the -e- to -ee (tulee).
- The Past Active Participle -nut/-nyt/-neetA2 — Build the participle behind the perfect: -nut/-nyt in the singular, -neet in the plural, with the -n- assimilating to a stem consonant (tullut, noussut, pessyt).
- Illative -Vn / -hVn / -seen: 'into'B1 — The illative means 'into' in three shapes: -Vn (taloon), -hVn (maahan), -seen (huoneeseen); it pairs with motion verbs and keeps the strong grade.