The Act of Doing (-minen)
To talk about an activity as a concept—such as "planning" or "onboarding"—Finnish uses the Fourth Infinitive. You build this by finding the strong verb stem and adding -minen. This turns the verb into a noun, meaning it can be conjugated into different cases.
When you specify what is being acted upon (the object of the activity), that word takes the genitive case (ending in -n). For example, "planning the task allocation" becomes työnjaon suunnitteleminen (literally: the task allocation's planning).
Focusing and Investing (-miseen)
In Finnish, certain verbs "demand" that the word attached to them is written in a specific case. This rule is called verb rection.
Verbs that express directing your energy or focus towards an activity require that activity to take the illative case, which means the -minen ending changes to -miseen.
Common verbs that require -miseen include:
- keskittyä (to focus on)
- panostaa (to invest in)
- sitoutua (to commit to)
- johtaa (to lead to)
- suostua (to agree to)
| In this fast-paced company, we focus on planning the task allocation. | Tässä tiivistahtisessa yrityksessä keskitymme työnjaon suunnittelemiseen. |
| We must invest in onboarding the new coder. | Meidän pitää panostaa uuden koodarin perehdyttämiseen. |
| The agile coder focuses on speeding up product development. | Ketterä koodari keskittyy tuotekehityksen nopeuttamiseen. |
Succeeding and Helping (-misessa)
Other verbs treat the activity as a sort of "location" where the action takes place. These verbs require the inessive case, changing the ending to -misessa (in/inside).
Common verbs that require -misessa include:
- onnistua (to succeed in)
- auttaa (to help in)
| An agile group succeeds well in prioritizing tasks. | Ketterä ryhmä onnistuu hyvin tehtävien priorisoimisessa. |
| The new program helps in outsourcing the marketing. | Uusi ohjelma auttaa markkinoinnin ulkoistamisessa. |