The past passive participle ends in -tu / -ttu (front-harmony -ty / -tty) and means "X-ed" in the sense of having had the action done to it: puhuttu "spoken," tehty "done," rikottu "broken," syöty "eaten," suljettu "closed," otettu "taken." It is Finnish's exact counterpart of the English past participle in "a broken window, a stolen car." It does three jobs: it builds the passive perfect (on tehty "it has been done"), it stands attributively like an adjective (rikottu ikkuna "a broken window"), and it feeds the passive "that"-clause. It is built on the passive stem, so — like the present passive participle — it inherits the passive's consonant and vowel pattern.
How it is built: the passive stem + -tu/-ty
Take the passive present, strip -an/-än, and swap the final -a for -u (or the front-harmony -y). The -t- versus -tt- and the vowel changes are already fixed by the passive stem.
| Verb | Passive present | Participle | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| puhua (speak) | puhutaan | puhuttu | spoken |
| tehdä (do) | tehdään | tehty | done |
| ottaa (take) | otetaan | otettu | taken |
| syödä (eat) | syödään | syöty | eaten |
| rikkoa (break) | rikotaan | rikottu | broken |
| sulkea (close) | suljetaan | suljettu | closed |
| avata (open) | avataan | avattu | opened |
| keittää (boil) | keitetään | keitetty | boiled |
Type-1 verbs take the geminate -tt- (puhuttu, otettu, rikottu, suljettu, keitetty); the -da/-dä and -sta/-stä verbs take a single -t- (tehty, syöty). Harmony sets the vowel: -tu after a back-vowel stem, -ty after a front-vowel stem. Keep the vowel length exact — it is syöty (from syö-), never *syotty.
Ikkunassa oli rikottu lasi.
There was a broken pane in the window.
Hyvin tehty työ tuntuu palkitsevalta.
Work well done feels rewarding.
Job 1: the passive perfect (on tehty)
Combine olla in the third person with this participle and you get the passive perfect: on tehty "it has been done / people have done it," on puhuttu "it has been spoken." Crucially, the participle does not agree in number — the passive has no grammatical subject to agree with, so it stays -tu/-ttu even when the topic is plural.
Tästä asiasta on jo puhuttu monta kertaa.
This matter has already been discussed many times.
Kaikki laskut on maksettu ajallaan.
All the bills have been paid on time.
Talo on myyty, joten muutamme ensi kuussa.
The house has been sold, so we're moving next month.
Note laskut on maksettu, not *ovat maksetut: the auxiliary stays singular on and the participle stays maksettu. The full paradigm and the pluperfect passive live on the passive perfect page.
Job 2: an attributive adjective
Standing in front of a noun, the participle marks that the noun has had something done to it: rikottu ikkuna "a broken window," avattu ovi "an opened door," keitetty muna "a boiled egg," varastettu auto "a stolen car." Like every participle it agrees with its noun, and when it declines it gradates — the t softens to d, or the geminate tt weakens to t, in the closed syllable.
| Nominative | Genitive | Inessive |
|---|---|---|
| tehty työ | tehdyn työn | tehdyssä työssä |
| rikottu ikkuna | rikotun ikkunan | rikotussa ikkunassa |
Poliisi löysi varastetun auton metsästä.
The police found the stolen car in the forest.
Söin aamiaiseksi kaksi keitettyä munaa.
I had two boiled eggs for breakfast.
Suljetun oven takaa kuului musiikkia.
Music could be heard from behind the closed door.
Job 3: the passive referatiivi
Fitted with the genitive/oblique stem, the participle can replace a passive että-clause after verbs of saying, hearing and believing — the passive referatiivi: myyty → myydyn "that it had been sold."
Kuulin talon jo myydyn.
I heard that the house had already been sold.
Keep it apart from tehty vs tehtävä and tehnyt
Two neighbours cause trouble. The present passive tehtävä means "to be done" (still ahead); this tehty means "done" (already behind). And the past active tehnyt means "having done" — an active doer — whereas tehty is passive, the thing done. Hän on tehnyt työn = "he has done the work"; työ on tehty = "the work has been done."
Common Mistakes
❌ Kaikki karkit oli jo syötty.
Incorrect — syödä is a -da verb, so single -t-: syöty, not syötty.
✅ Kaikki karkit oli jo syöty.
All the sweets had already been eaten.
❌ Hän korjasi rikottun ikkunan.
Incorrect — the geminate weakens in the closed syllable: rikotun ikkunan.
✅ Hän korjasi rikotun ikkunan.
He fixed the broken window.
❌ Olen tehty läksyt jo.
Incorrect — an active doer needs the past active participle: olen tehnyt läksyt.
✅ Olen tehnyt läksyt jo.
I've done the homework already.
❌ Työ on vielä tehty huomiseksi.
Incorrect if you mean 'still to be done' — that is the present passive: on vielä tehtävä.
✅ Työ on vielä tehtävä huomiseksi.
The work still has to be done by tomorrow.
Key Takeaways
- Formation: passive stem + -tu/-ty; -t-/-tt- and vowel mirror the passive (tehdään → tehty, otetaan → otettu).
- Keep vowel length exact: syöty, never *syotty; harmony gives -tu (back) vs -ty (front).
- Passive perfect: on/oli
- participle, which stays invariant — laskut on maksettu, never *ovat maksetut.
- Attributive and agreeing, it gradates when it declines: tehty → tehdyn, rikottu → rikotun.
- Its agent is unnamed; to name the doer, switch to the agent participle (poikien rikkoma ikkuna).
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- Perfect and Pluperfect Passive: on puhuttuB1 — The compound passive tenses: on + past passive participle -ttu/-tu (on puhuttu 'has been done') and the pluperfect oli puhuttu — with an invariant auxiliary.
- Present Passive Participle -tava/-ttavaB2 — The -tava/-ttava participle: 'to be X-ed / X-able', or in the on-frame 'must be X-ed' — syötävä 'edible', tehtävä 'a task', auto on pestävä 'must be washed'.
- The Agent Participle: isän rakentama taloC1 — The -ma/-mä participle with a genitive agent compresses 'the X that Y made' — äidin tekemä ruoka, isän rakentama talo — naming a doer the plain passive cannot.
- Referative with Passive and Past: sanoi tehneensäC1 — Two extensions of the referative: reporting a completed prior event (sanoi tehneensä) and reporting something done to a thing (Luulin asian tehdyn), including passive matrix verbs.
- Participles: An OverviewB1 — The map of Finnish participles — verbal adjectives that decline and agree: present/past active, present/past passive, agent (-ma) and negative (-maton).