Present: Type 1 Verbs | Finnish Grammar

Type 1 is the workhorse of the Finnish verb system — puhua (speak), asua (live), sanoa (say), lukea (read), antaa (give), ottaa (take). Its infinitives end in two vowels, the last of which is -a or -ä. To conjugate it in the present you do three things: drop the final -a/-ä to reach the stem, attach the personal ending, and — for the third person singular — double the stem's final vowel. This page drills the paradigm in full, including how consonant gradation splits it into strong and weak halves.

The plain paradigm: puhua

Start with a verb that has no gradating consonant, so nothing distracts from the endings. Drop the -a of puhua to get the stem puhu-, then add the six endings:

Person	Ending	Form	English
minä	-n	puhun	I speak
sinä	-t	puhut	you speak
hän	(vowel doubles)	puhuu	he/she speaks
me	-mme	puhumme	we speak
te	-tte	puhutte	you (pl.) speak
he	-vat	puhuvat	they speak

Puhun suomea töissä, mutta kotona puhumme vain englantia.

I speak Finnish at work, but at home we speak only English.

Missä te asutte nykyään — vielä keskustassako?

Where do you (pl.) live these days — still downtown?

The stem vowel decides the doubled letter and the endings never change: sano- gives sanon, sanot, sanoo, sanomme, sanotte, sanovat; asu- gives asun, asut, asuu, asumme, asutte, asuvat.

The third person doubles the vowel

This is the signature of Type 1 (shared with Type 3). The hän-form adds no consonant — it lengthens the final stem vowel instead. Leaving the bare stem (*hän puhu) is the single most common Type 1 error for English speakers, because English marks the third person with an -s and it feels like something should be added, not lengthened.

Verb	Stem	hän-form
puhua (speak)	puhu-	puhuu
asua (live)	asu-	asuu
sanoa (say)	sano-	sanoo
kysyä (ask)	kysy-	kysyy

Naapuri sanoo aina hyvää huomenta, vaikka on kiire.

The neighbour always says good morning, even when he's in a hurry.

Sisareni kysyy joka viikko, milloin tulen käymään.

My sister asks every week when I'm coming to visit.

When the stem already ends in -a or -ä, doubling produces -aa/-ää, which happens to look exactly like the infinitive. For ostaa (stem osta-) the hän-form is ostaa; for antaa it is antaa. These are homophones of the infinitive, and only context tells them apart.

💡

Do not conclude from ostaa = ostaa that the third person is "just the infinitive." It only looks that way when the stem already ends in -a/-ä. For puhu-, sano-, kysy- the hän-form is a visibly different word: puhuu, sanoo, kysyy.

Gradation splits the paradigm: antaa

Many Type 1 verbs carry a consonant that undergoes gradation. The pattern is strikingly regular: the third person singular and plural keep the strong grade (their vowel ending leaves the syllable open), while the other four persons weaken (their consonant ending -n, -t, -mme, -tte closes the syllable). Watch antaa (give), where nt weakens to nn:

Person	Form	Grade
minä	annan	weak (nn)
sinä	annat	weak (nn)
hän	antaa	strong (nt)
me	annamme	weak (nn)
te	annatte	weak (nn)
he	antavat	strong (nt)

Annan sinulle avaimet, kun hän antaa omansa takaisin.

I'll give you the keys once he gives his back.

Now ottaa (take), where the geminate tt shortens to a single t in the weak grade:

Person	Form	Grade
minä	otan	weak (t)
sinä	otat	weak (t)
hän	ottaa	strong (tt)
me	otamme	weak (t)
te	otatte	weak (t)
he	ottavat	strong (tt)

Otan aina kahvin mustana, mutta vaimo ottaa maidon kanssa.

I always take my coffee black, but my wife takes it with milk.

Otatteko te taksin vai kävelettekö asemalle?

Are you (pl.) taking a taxi or walking to the station?

💡

The whole gradation paradigm collapses into one slogan: third person strong, everyone else weak. If you know the hän-form (which matches the infinitive's consonant) and the minä-form (weakened), you can fill in the other four: otan, otat, ottaa, otamme, otatte, ottavat.

A special case worth flagging: lukea (read) has the consonant k, which in the weak grade disappears completely. So the stem luke- becomes lue- in the four weak persons, and "I read" is luen, never *lukean. The k resurfaces only in the strong third person: lukee, lukevat.

Person	Form	Grade
minä	luen	weak (k gone)
sinä	luet	weak (k gone)
hän	lukee	strong (k)
me	luemme	weak (k gone)
te	luette	weak (k gone)
he	lukevat	strong (k)

Luen lehteä aamiaisella, ja poika lukee sarjakuvia vieressä.

I read the paper at breakfast, and the boy reads comics next to me.

Harmony on the plural

The third-plural ending obeys vowel harmony: a back-vowel stem takes -vat (puhuvat, ostavat, antavat), a front-vowel stem takes -vät. For kysyä (stem kysy-) it is kysyvät, never *kysyvat, because y is a front vowel.

Toimittajat kysyvät ministeriltä samat kysymykset joka viikko.

The journalists ask the minister the same questions every week.

Common Mistakes

❌ Hän puhu suomea todella hyvin.

Incorrect — the 3sg doubles the stem vowel: puhuu.

✅ Hän puhuu suomea todella hyvin.

She speaks Finnish really well.

❌ Antan sinulle avaimet huomenna.

Incorrect — antaa weakens nt → nn in the first person: annan.

✅ Annan sinulle avaimet huomenna.

I'll give you the keys tomorrow.

❌ Lukean lehteä joka aamu.

Incorrect — lukea drops the k in the weak grade: luen.

✅ Luen lehteä joka aamu.

I read the paper every morning.

❌ He ottavät taksin asemalle.

Incorrect — otta- is a back-vowel stem, so the plural is -vat: ottavat.

✅ He ottavat taksin asemalle.

They're taking a taxi to the station.

Key Takeaways

Stem: drop the final -a/-ä (puhua → puhu-, antaa → anta-).
Third person singular: doubles the final stem vowel — puhuu, sanoo, kysyy; if the stem already ends in -a/-ä, the hän-form matches the infinitive (antaa, ostaa).
Gradation: third person strong, the other four persons weak — antaa but annan; ottaa but otan; lukee but luen.
The plural -vat/-vät always harmonises with the stem.

Now practice Finnish

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Finnish→