Pestä means "to wash." It is a Type 3 verb ending in -stä, which puts it in the same small family as nousta ("to rise") and juosta ("to run"): drop the -tä, add a linking -e- for the personal stem (pese-), and — the one form to watch — build the past participle on the bare stem pes-, where s + n fuses into a double ss: pessyt. There is no gradation anywhere in the paradigm.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present 1sg | Present 3sg | Past 1sg | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pestä | pesen | pesee | pesin | pessyt |
Personal stem pese-; the 3sg lengthens it to pesee, the past drops the -e- before -i- (pesi). The participle pessyt (plural pesseet) is the assimilated form — exactly parallel to nousta → noussut and juosta → juossut.
Present and past
| Person | Present | Past (imperfect) |
|---|---|---|
| minä | pesen | pesin |
| sinä | peset | pesit |
| hän | pesee | pesi |
| me | pesemme | pesimme |
| te | pesette | pesitte |
| he | pesevät | pesivät |
| negative | en pese | en pessyt / emme pesseet |
Pesen pyykkiä joka lauantai, muuten sitä kertyy liikaa.
I do laundry every Saturday, otherwise it piles up too much.
Kuka pesi astiat eilen illalla? Ne olivat aamulla kuivumassa.
Who washed the dishes last night? They were drying in the morning.
Perfect, conditional, imperative
Compound tenses use olla + pessyt (plural pesseet). The imperative 2sg is the bare stem pese!; the plural is peskää! (pes- + -kää). This is the everyday verb of instructions — "wash your hands" is heard constantly.
| Person | Perfect | Conditional | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|
| minä | olen pessyt | pesisin | — |
| sinä | olet pessyt | pesisit | pese! |
| hän | on pessyt | pesisi | pesköön (formal) |
| me | olemme pesseet | pesisimme | peskäämme (formal) |
| te | olette pesseet | pesisitte | peskää |
| he | ovat pesseet | pesisivät | peskööt (formal) |
Oletko jo pessyt hiuksesi, vai menetkö vasta suihkuun?
Have you already washed your hair, or are you only now going to shower?
Pese kätesi kunnolla ennen ruokailua.
Wash your hands properly before eating.
Passive
| Tense | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Present | pestään | ei pestä |
| Past | pestiin | ei pesty |
| Perfect | on pesty | ei ole pesty |
Because the stem already ends in s, the passive -t- stays audible throughout (pestään, pestiin, pesty) — no double consonant here, unlike panna → pannaan.
Auto pestään kerran kuussa, tavallisesti sunnuntaisin.
The car gets washed once a month, usually on Sundays.
Rection: a plain object — and washing yourself
Pestä takes an ordinary object: pesen astiat ("I wash the dishes," total), pesen ikkunoita ("I'm washing windows," partitive/ongoing). To say you wash yourself, Finnish does not add a reflexive pronoun — it uses the derived verb peseytyä ("to wash up, get washed"). Pesen itseni is possible but marked; peseydyn is the natural everyday form.
Peseytyisin mielelläni, mutta suihku on juuri nyt rikki.
I'd gladly wash up, but the shower is broken right now.
Älä pese värillisiä vaatteita kuumalla vedellä — ne haalistuvat.
Don't wash coloured clothes in hot water — they'll fade.
Sinä tiskaat tänään, minä pesin astiat eilen.
You're doing the dishes today, I washed them yesterday.
Common Mistakes
❌ Olen jo pesnyt kädet.
Incorrect — the participle assimilates s + n to double s: pessyt.
✅ Olen jo pessyt kädet.
I've already washed my hands.
❌ Minä pesen itseäni joka aamu.
Marked — 'wash oneself' is normally the derived verb peseytyä.
✅ Peseydyn joka aamu.
I wash up every morning.
❌ Auto pestiin nyt joka viikko.
Incorrect tense — pestiin is the past; the habitual present passive is pestään.
✅ Auto pestään joka viikko.
The car gets washed every week.
❌ Pes kätesi!
Incorrect — the 2sg imperative keeps the linking -e-: pese!
✅ Pese kätesi!
Wash your hands!
Key Takeaways
- Two stems: personal pese- (pesen, pesee, pesin, pesisin), consonant pes- (participle pessyt, imperative peskää, passive pestään).
- Assimilated participle pessyt (pl. pesseet) — s + n → ss, like noussut and juossut. Never *pesnyt.
- Passive keeps the -t-: pestään, pestiin, pesty.
- Reflexive "wash oneself" = peseytyä (peseydyn), not pestä with a reflexive object. Idiom: pestä pyykkiä ("do laundry").
Now practice Finnish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Finnish→Related Topics
- 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).
- nousta ('to rise / get up')A2 — Conjugation of nousta ('to rise, get up, board'), a Type 3 -sta verb with the assimilated participle noussut, and the case split for boarding vs. rising from.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.