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### Negative Plural Commands (Älkää)

To tell a group of people (or a single person you are addressing formally) *not* to do something, use the negative plural imperative.

Start with the negative command word **älkää** (do not). For the main verb, take its affirmative plural command form (which ends in **-kaa** or **-kää**) and simply change that ending to **-ko** or **-kö**.

- **kuvata** (to photograph) -> kuvatkaa -> **älkää kuvatko**
- **poistua** (to exit) -> poistukaa -> **älkää poistuko**
- **kävellä** (to walk) -> kävelkää -> **älkää kävelkö**

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When announcing rules to a group, you will often start by calling for their attention (**huomio**).

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### Public Rules

This negative command structure is highly common for public signage, museum rules, and guided tours. You will frequently hear it used to restrict photography, such as forbidding a flash (**salama**), or to protect nature and local wildlife.

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### Safety and Instructions

To manage a crowd safely, tour guides and staff use these commands to keep people from wandering off or running in a corridor (**käytävä**).

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Whenever you are given an important instruction (**ohje**), make sure to remember it!

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Negative plural and formal commands (älkää)

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)

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

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)

Question	Answer
attention	huomio
do not (plural/formal)	älkää
to photograph	kuvata
Attention, do not photograph here.	Huomio, älkää kuvatko täällä.
flash / lightning	salama
Do not use a flash, because the animals are afraid of it.	Älkää käyttäkö salamaa, koska eläimet pelkäävät sitä.
to feed	ruokkia
Do not feed the birds or the other animals.	Älkää ruokkiko lintuja tai muita eläimiä.
to litter	roskata
Attention, do not litter in the park!	Huomio, älkää roskatko puistossa!
to exit	poistua
Do not leave the group.	Älkää poistuko ryhmästä.
corridor	käytävä
Do not run in the corridor.	Älkää juosko käytävällä.
instruction	ohje
Do not forget these important instructions.	Älkää unohtako näitä tärkeitä ohjeita.
lawn	nurmikko
Do not walk on the lawn.	Älkää kävelkö nurmikolla.
The guide says that the animals are dangerous. Do not feed them.	Opas sanoo, että eläimet ovat vaarallisia. Älkää ruokkiko niitä.
This is an important instruction: do not exit the building.	Tämä on tärkeä ohje: älkää poistuko rakennuksesta.
Do not litter in the corridor or on the lawn.	Älkää roskatko käytävällä tai nurmikolla.
Do not photograph with a flash.	Älkää kuvatko salamalla.