Resultative States
When you want to describe the current status of something—like a door that is locked or a flight that is cancelled—Finnish uses a structure called a resultative state. This describes a state that is the result of a past action (for example, someone locked the door, and now it remains locked).
To form this, use the verb olla (usually on for "is") followed by a passive past participle.
The passive past participle is formed from a verb and typically ends in -ttu, -tty, -tu, or -ty.
Closures and Access
This structure is extremely common when talking about the status of facilities, doors, and roads. Look for the endings in words like lukittu (locked), suljettu (closed), and avattu (opened).
Reservations and Cancellations
You will also see these participles constantly when dealing with services, travel, and accommodation. Common status words here include peruttu (cancelled), vuokrattu (rented), and varattu (booked).
Maintenance and Rules
Resultative states are used to explain facility maintenance and official rules, such as remontoitu (renovated) or kielletty (prohibited).
When talking about painting things (maalata becomes maalattu), Finnish uses the translative case to describe the resulting color. You add the ending -ksi to the color adjective to express that the object was changed "into" that state (for example, valkoinen becomes valkoiseksi).