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Finnish

### Expressing "To Like": Pitää and Tykätä

In Finnish, two common verbs express liking something: **pitää** (standard) and **tykätä** (colloquial).

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### The Elative Case Ending (-sta/-stä)

Certain verbs in Finnish dictate the case of their objects, a concept called *verb rection*. Both **pitää** and **tykätä** require their objects to be in the **elative case**.

To form the elative case, add **-sta** or **-stä** to the inflected stem of the noun, following vowel harmony. While this case often translates to "out of" or "from," with these verbs, it simply marks the target of your liking. 

Applying this ending triggers normal stem changes and consonant gradation.
- *taide* (art) -> *taiteesta*
- *historia* (history) -> *historiasta*

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### Negating Pitää and Tykätä

To say you do *not* like something, use the conjugated negative verb (**en**, **et**, **ei**, **emme**, **ette**, **eivät**) followed by the verb's negative stem (**pidä** or **tykkää**). The object still takes the **-sta/-stä** ending.

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### Consonant Gradation and Stem Changes in Action

Always apply consonant gradation and vowel changes when forming the elative case:
- *luonto* (nature) -> *luonnosta* (**nt** -> **nn**)
- *shakki* (chess) -> *shakista* (**kk** -> **k**)
- *kieli* (language) -> *kielestä* (final **i** -> **e**)

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### Using Both Verbs Together

You will hear both **pitää** and **tykätä** used frequently and interchangeably in everyday spoken Finnish.

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### Asking "What do you like?"

Because these verbs demand the elative case, the question word "what" (**mikä**) must also take the elative form: **mistä**.

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Liking things (pitää / tykätä + -sta/-stä)

adjective

adposition

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

postposition

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstrative pronouns (tämä, tuo, se)

Singular personal pronouns (minä, sinä, hän)

Plural personal pronouns (me, te, he)

Plural demonstratives (nämä, nuo, ne)

Coordinating conjunctions (ja, mutta, tai)

Yes/no questions (-ko / -kö)

Basic question words (kuka, mikä, missä)

Negation of to be (en ole, ei ole)

The inessive case (-ssa / -ssä)

Double consonant gradation (kk, pp, tt)

Consonant gradation (-ssa/-ssä)

Verb Type 1 (puhun, puhut, puhuu)

Verb Type 1 with consonant gradation

Negative verbs (en puhu, et lue)

External location (-lla/-llä)

There is / there are (kaupungissa on)

Possession (minulla on)

Numbers 1 to 10 (yksi, kaksi, kolme)

The partitive singular (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Quantities with numbers (kaksi autoa)

Negative possession (ei ole)

Numbers 11 to 100 and 1000

Partitive verbs

Partitive personal pronouns (minua, sinua)

Verb Type 2 (-da/-dä)

Partitive for mass nouns (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Partitive for negative objects

Adjective agreement

Verb Type 3

The elative case (-sta/-stä)

Negative possession (minulla ei ole…)

The illative case (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Numbers 21 to 99

Static vs. movement verbs

Verb Type 4 (-Vta / -Vtä)

Verb Type 5 (-ita / -itä)

Genitive singular for possession (-n)

Total object (-n)

Accusative personal pronouns (-t)

Obligation (täytyy)

Into places (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Postpositions with the genitive

My and your (-ni, -si)

Onto and to someone (-lle)

From someone or somewhere (-lta, -ltä)

Telling time (kello on...)

Months of the year (-ssa, -ssä)

Days of the week (-na, -nä)

When and why (milloin, miksi)

The illative case (mihin, -Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Past tense of to be (olin, olit, oli)

The seasons (kevät, kesä, syksy, talvi)

The imperative mood (lue!, syö!, mene!)

The past tense of to be (olin, oli)

The illative case (-hVn, -seen)

Greetings and goodbyes (hei, näkemiin)

Thank you and sorry (kiitos, anteeksi)

Temporary states and roles (-na/-nä)

Change of state (-ksi)

Ongoing actions (-massa/-mässä)

Going to do an action (-maan/-mään)

Returning from an action (-masta/-mästä)

Third-person possessives (-nsa/-nsä or -Vn)

Plural possessives (-mme, -nne)

Indefinite pronouns (joku, jokin, kaikki)

Negative indefinite pronouns (ei kukaan, ei mikään)

Commands for verb types 4 and 5

Adverb formation (-sti)

Past tense for verb type 1 (-i-)

Past tense vowel changes for verb type 1 (-o- / -i-)

Past tense for verb type 2 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 3 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 4 (-si-)

Past tense for verb type 5 (-itsi-)

Past tense consonant gradation

Past participles for verb types 1 and 2 (-nut / -nyt)

Past participle singular for verb types 3-5 (-nnut, -llut)

Active past participle plural (-neet)

Past tense negative (en mennyt, emme olleet)

The perfect tense (olen ollut)

The perfect tense negative (en ole nähnyt)

Total plural objects (-t)

Partitive plural (-ia / -iä)

Partitive plural (-ja / -jä)

Partitive plural (-ita / -itä)

Question	Answer
art	taide
I like art.	Minä pidän taiteesta.
to like (colloquial)	tykätä
He likes old art.	Hän tykkää vanhasta taiteesta.
history	historia
Do you like history?	Tykkäätkö sinä historiasta?
The teacher likes history.	Opettaja pitää historiasta.
sports	urheilu
He does not like sports.	Hän ei pidä urheilusta.
Do you like sports?	Pidättekö te urheilusta?
nature	luonto
We like nature.	Me tykkäämme luonnosta.
This student does not like nature.	Tämä opiskelija ei pidä luonnosta.
football	jalkapallo
Do you like football?	Pidätkö jalkapallosta?
dance	tanssi
The boy likes football, but the girl likes dance.	Poika pitää jalkapallosta, mutta tyttö tykkää tanssista.
We like music and dance.	Me pidämme musiikista ja tanssista.
ice hockey	jääkiekko
They do not like ice hockey.	He eivät tykkää jääkiekosta.
A Finnish man likes ice hockey.	Suomalainen mies pitää jääkiekosta.
chess	shakki
Do you like chess?	Tykkäätkö shakista?
I do not like chess, because it is a difficult game.	Minä en pidä shakista, koska se on vaikea peli.
language	kieli
I like the Finnish language.	Minä tykkään suomen kielestä.
Do you like the new language?	Pidätkö uudesta kielestä?
What do you like?	Mistä sinä tykkäät?