The Past Passive Negative
To say that something "was not done" by an unspecified person, use the negative word ei followed by the past passive participle.
To form the past passive participle, take the affirmative past passive form (ending in -tiin or -ttiin) and replace -iin with -u or -y (depending on vowel harmony):
- tehtiin (was done) → ei tehty (was not done)
- noudettiin (was picked up) → ei noudettu (was not picked up)
- selvitettiin (was solved) → ei selvitetty (was not solved)
The Object in Negative Sentences
While the object of an affirmative passive sentence is usually in the nominative case, the object of a negative sentence must always be in the partitive case.
Notice how the objects in the following examples (löytötavaraa, sitä, tapausta) are in the partitive:
| The valuable lost property was not picked up. | Arvokasta löytötavaraa ei noudettu. |
| Where is the report? It was not made yesterday. | Missä ilmoitus on? Sitä ei tehty eilen. |
| The old case was not solved. | Vanhaa tapausta ei selvitetty. |
| This lost property was not claimed. | Tätä löytötavaraa ei vaadittu. |
Verbs Requiring Other Cases
Some verbs require their target to be in a specific case, like the elative (-sta / -stä). Because these aren't direct objects, their case does not change in negative sentences.
For example, ilmoittaa (to report) takes the elative case for the thing being reported:
| The disappearance was not reported to the police. | Katoamisesta ei ilmoitettu poliisille. |
| To whom was the disappearance not reported? | Kenelle katoamisesta ei ilmoitettu? |
Questions and Complex Sentences
The past passive negative works exactly the same way in questions and complex sentences:
| Why were these old bags not picked up? | Miksi näitä vanhoja laukkuja ei noudettu? |
| I do not know why the disappearance was not investigated. | En tiedä, miksi katoamista ei tutkittu. |
| What case is this? The disappearance was not described well. | Mikä tapaus tämä on? Katoamista ei kuvailtu hyvin. |
