Present Passive Participle -tava/-ttava | Finnish Grammar

The present passive participle ends in -tava / -ttava (front-harmony -tävä / -ttävä) and describes a noun as something that is to be, can be, or must be acted upon: luettava "to be read / readable," syötävä "edible," tehtävä "to be done" (also the noun "task, exercise"), maksettava "to be paid." It is built on the passive stem, so it inherits the passive's -t- versus -tt- split and its vowel changes. English has no single word that covers all of this — it reaches for "-able," for "to be done," or for a whole relative clause — so this participle repays careful study.

How it is built: the passive stem + -va/-vä

Take the verb's passive present, strip the -an/-än, and add -va/-vä. Because the base is the passive stem, the -t-/-tt- choice is decided for you — it simply mirrors the passive.

Verb	Passive present	Participle	Meaning
puhua (speak)	puhutaan	puhuttava	to be spoken
lukea (read)	luetaan	luettava	to be read / readable
ottaa (take)	otetaan	otettava	to be taken
maksaa (pay)	maksetaan	maksettava	to be paid
tehdä (do)	tehdään	tehtävä	to be done / a task
syödä (eat)	syödään	syötävä	edible / to be eaten
pestä (wash)	pestään	pestävä	to be washed

The pattern is: type-1 verbs (puhua, lukea, ottaa, maksaa) take a geminate -tt- — puhuttava, luettava, otettava, maksettava — because their passive has -tt- (puhutaan comes from puhut-ta-an). The -da/-dä and -sta/-stä verbs (tehdä, syödä, pestä) take a single -t- — tehtävä, syötävä, pestävä — mirroring tehdään, syödään, pestään. Get the passive right and the participle falls out automatically.

Pöydällä oli iso pino luettavia papereita.

There was a big pile of papers to be read on the desk.

Tämä on syötävä sieni, tuo on myrkyllinen.

This is an edible mushroom; that one is poisonous.

Two readings: potentiality and necessity

Left to itself, the participle leans on the potentiality reading — "that can be X-ed," which English usually renders with "-able": syötävä "edible," juotava "drinkable," luettava "legible/readable," nähtävä "worth seeing."

Onko tämä vesi juotavaa?

Is this water drinkable?

Hänen käsialansa on tuskin luettavaa.

His handwriting is barely legible.

Placed after olla in the frame on + -tava/-tävä, the same participle flips to a necessity reading — "must be X-ed." This is the necessive construction, and it is one of the commonest ways Finnish says "must." The subject stays in the nominative; there is no expressed agent.

Auto on pestävä ennen matkaa.

The car must be washed before the trip.

Tämä lasku on maksettava heti.

This bill must be paid immediately.

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Context alone separates the two readings. Syötävä sieni = "an edible mushroom" (can be eaten); Sieni on syötävä can mean "the mushroom is edible" or, with strong obligation in the air, "the mushroom must be eaten." The predicative on + -tava frame is where the "must" meaning lives — the necessive construction, which builds directly on this participle.

It is an adjective: it declines and agrees

Like every Finnish participle, -tava/-tävä is a full adjective. Attributively it agrees with its noun in case and number, and it has produced a small family of everyday nouns: tehtävä "task, exercise," syötävää "something to eat, food," juotavaa "something to drink," nähtävää "sights."

Opettaja jakoi tehtävän jokaiselle oppilaalle.

The teacher handed out the exercise to every pupil.

Vielä tehtävä työ on iso, mutta ehdimme kyllä.

The work still to be done is big, but we'll manage.

Ostitko mitään syötävää?

Did you buy anything to eat?

In the first example tehtävän takes the genitive/accusative -n (as the noun "task"); in the second, attributive tehtävä agrees with työ; in the third, syötävää is partitive. The oblique stem is -tava- → -tavaa- etc., so partitive tehtävää, inessive tehtävässä, partitive plural tehtäviä all behave regularly.

Keep it apart from the past passive -tu/-ttu

The one confusion to guard against is between this participle and the past passive participle -tu/-ttu. They are near-opposites in time and modality:

Present passive -tava	Past passive -tu
tehtävä = to be done / a task	tehty = done
syötävä = edible / to be eaten	syöty = eaten (up)
maksettava = to be paid	maksettu = paid

Tehtävä työ is work still ahead of you; tehty työ is work behind you. Swap the two and you say the opposite of what you mean.

Common Mistakes

❌ Tämä lasku on maksettu heti.

Incorrect if you mean 'must be paid' — that is the past passive 'paid'; the necessity form is maksettava.

✅ Tämä lasku on maksettava heti.

This bill must be paid immediately.

❌ Tämä on syötava sieni.

Incorrect — syödä is a front-vowel verb, so harmony gives -tävä: syötävä.

✅ Tämä on syötävä sieni.

This is an edible mushroom.

❌ Pöydällä on paljon luetavaa.

Incorrect — lukea's passive has a geminate (luetaan → luettava): luettavaa.

✅ Pöydällä on paljon luettavaa.

There's a lot to read on the desk.

❌ Iso pino luettava papereita.

Incorrect — the attributive participle must agree in the partitive plural: luettavia papereita.

✅ Iso pino luettavia papereita.

A big pile of papers to be read.

Key Takeaways

Formation: passive stem + -va/-vä; the -t-/-tt- choice mirrors the passive (tehdään → tehtävä, luetaan → luettava).
Harmony gives -tava/-ttava (back) vs -tävä/-ttävä (front): puhuttava but syötävä.
Two readings: potentiality ("-able," syötävä "edible") and, in the on + -tava frame, necessity ("must be X-ed," auto on pestävä).
It declines and agrees like any adjective, and has spawned nouns: tehtävä "task," syötävää "food."
Do not confuse it with the past passive -tu/-ttu: tehtävä "to be done" versus tehty "done."

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