purra ('to bite') | Finnish Grammar

Purra ("to bite") is a rare and instructive Type 3 verb ending in -rra, sharing that pattern with only a handful of verbs such as surra ("to mourn"). Its signature is a double-r seesaw: the infinitive's -rr- collapses to a single -r- in the personal stem pure-, and then the past participle restores the double r as purrut. There is no consonant gradation — the rr↔r alternation is stem shape, not gradation — so once you know where the double r appears, the whole paradigm is regular.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present 1sg	Present 3sg	Past 1sg	Past participle
purra	puren	puree	purin	purrut

Personal stem pure- (single r): the 3sg lengthens it to puree, the past drops the -e- before -i- (puri). The participle purrut (plural purreet) rebuilds the double r: consonant stem pur- + -nut, where r + n fuses to rr.

Present and past

Person	Present	Past (imperfect)
minä	puren	purin
sinä	puret	purit
hän	puree	puri
me	puremme	purimme
te	purette	puritte
he	purevat	purivat
negative	en pure	en purrut / emme purreet

Varo koiraa — se puree vieraita, jos ne tulevat liian lähelle.

Watch out for the dog — it bites strangers if they come too close.

Hyttyset purivat minua koko yön, enkä saanut unta.

The mosquitoes bit me all night, and I couldn't sleep.

💡

The present and past use a singler (puren, puree, purin, puri), even though the infinitive purra shows a double one. Don't carry the rr into the finite forms — *purren, *purree, *purri are all wrong. The double r comes back only in the participle purrut.

Perfect, conditional, imperative

Compound tenses use olla + purrut (plural purreet). The conditional purisi keeps the single r. The imperative pure! (2sg) uses the personal stem; the plural purkaa! drops back to the consonant stem pur-.

Person	Perfect	Conditional	Imperative
minä	olen purrut	purisin	—
sinä	olet purrut	purisit	pure!
hän	on purrut	purisi	purkoon (formal)
me	olemme purreet	purisimme	purkaamme (formal)
te	olette purreet	purisitte	purkaa
he	ovat purreet	purisivat	purkoot (formal)

Käärme on purrut häntä nilkkaan, soittakaa heti hätänumeroon!

A snake has bitten him on the ankle, call the emergency number right away!

Tuo hevonen purisi sinua, jos menisit sen selän taakse.

That horse would bite you if you went behind its back.

Passive

The passive of purra is uncommon — bites are usually reported with an active clause naming the animal — but it exists and follows the Type 3 pattern.

Tense	Affirmative	Negative
present	purraan	ei purra
past	purtiin	ei purtu
perfect	on purtu	ei ole purtu

Rection: partitive object, and biting into

A bite affects its target only partly and momentarily, so purra takes a partitive object: koira puree minua ("the dog is biting me"). To express biting into something — sinking your teeth in — Finnish uses the illative instead: purra omenaan ("bite into an apple"), where the -Vn frames the teeth going into the object.

Lapsi puri omenaan niin innokkaasti, että mehu valui leualle.

The child bit into the apple so eagerly that juice ran down her chin.

Älä laita sormia häkkiin — papukaija puree kipeästi.

Don't put your fingers in the cage — the parrot bites hard.

💡

Two everyday idioms are built on purra. Purra hammasta ("to grit one's teeth", literally "bite a tooth") means to endure something unpleasant without complaint — puremme hammasta ja jatkamme. And with cold weather, pakkanen puree ("the frost bites"): ulkona pakkanen puree poskia. Both keep the partitive object.

Nyt vain puremme hammasta ja saatamme projektin loppuun.

Now we just grit our teeth and see the project through.

Ulkona pakkanen puree poskia, ota villapipo mukaan.

Outside the frost is biting your cheeks, take a wool hat with you.

Common Mistakes

❌ Koira purree lapsia.

Incorrect — the present has a single r: puree, not the double r of the infinitive.

✅ Koira puree lapsia.

The dog bites children.

❌ Hyttynen purri minua kaksi kertaa.

Incorrect — the past also has a single r: puri, not *purri.

✅ Hyttynen puri minua kaksi kertaa.

A mosquito bit me twice.

❌ Koira on purnut minua.

Incorrect — the participle restores the double r: purrut.

✅ Koira on purrut minua.

The dog has bitten me.

❌ Käärme puri minut jalkaan.

Incorrect — the object of a bite is partitive: minua.

✅ Käärme puri minua jalkaan.

A snake bit me on the leg.

Key Takeaways

Double-r seesaw: infinitive purra → single-r personal stem pure- (puren, puree, purin, purisi) → double-r participle purrut (pl. purreet).
No gradation; the rr↔r is stem shape. Present puree, past puri — both single r.
Object is partitive: koira puree minua. To bite into something, use the illative: purra omenaan.
Idioms: purra hammasta ("grit one's teeth"), pakkanen puree ("the frost bites").

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