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### The Imperative Mood

When you need to give a direct command, offer strong advice, or handle an emergency, use the **imperative mood**.

To form the imperative for one person (the *sinä* or second-person singular form), the rule is simple across Verb Types 1, 2, and 3: take the **minä** (I) form of the verb in the present tense and drop the final **-n**.

If the verb has consonant gradation, the imperative uses the same "weak" stem as the *minä* form (for example, *odottaa* -> *odotan* -> *odota!*).

| Verb Type | Infinitive | *minä* form | Imperative (*sinä*) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type 1 | **katsoa** (to look) | katson | **katso!** |
| Type 1 | **odottaa** (to wait) | odotan | **odota!** |
| Type 2 | **juoda** (to drink) | juon | **juo!** |
| Type 2 | **jäädä** (to stay) | jään | **jää!** |
| Type 3 | **mennä** (to go) | menen | **mene!** |
| Type 3 | **kävellä** (to walk) | kävelen | **kävele!** |

Let's see some imperatives in action to give advice and instructions:

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### Giving Directions and Warnings

Imperatives are especially useful for navigating or pointing out danger (**vaara**). You'll often use verbs like **kääntyä** (to turn), **katsoa** (to look), and **varoa** (to beware / watch out for).

{{item:899627}}

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When you tell someone to watch out for something specific with **varoa**, the thing they need to avoid takes the partitive case (e.g., *koira* -> *koiraa*, *jää* -> *jäätä*).

{{item:899613}}

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### Handling Emergencies

If you are dealing with a more urgent situation, you might need to involve the police (**poliisi**) or an ambulance (**ambulanssi**).

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

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 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)

Partitive plural (-ita / -itä)

Question	Answer
to beware	varoa
Watch out for the dog!	Varo koiraa!
Is this a problem?	Onko tämä ongelma?
to calm down	rauhoittua
to breathe	hengittää
carefully	varovasti
Calm down and breathe carefully.	Rauhoitu ja hengitä varovasti.
Drink water and calm down.	Juo vettä ja rauhoitu.
Breathe and wait here.	Hengitä ja odota täällä.
the police / police officer	poliisi
Call the police immediately!	Soita poliisille heti!
The police are coming quickly.	Poliisi tulee nopeasti.
Walk carefully.	Kävele varovasti.
to turn	kääntyä
right (direction)	oikea
Turn to the right.	Käänny oikealle.
left (direction)	vasen
Look to the left and to the right.	Katso vasemmalle ja oikealle.
the ambulance	ambulanssi
Turn to the left and go to the ambulance.	Käänny vasemmalle ja mene ambulanssille.
Wait for the ambulance here.	Odota ambulanssia täällä.
Watch out for the ice and go inside.	Varo jäätä ja mene sisään.
Stay here!	Jää tänne!
Eat bread and drink milk.	Syö leipää ja juo maitoa.
the danger	vaara
Watch out, there is a danger here!	Varo, täällä on vaara!
Go outside, there is a danger inside!	Mene ulos, sisällä on vaara!
don't (negative imperative)	älä
Don't go outside!	Älä mene ulos!
Don't cry!	Älä itke!
north	pohjoinen
We walk north.	Me kävelemme pohjoiseen.
The north is cold.	Pohjoinen on kylmä.
south	etelä
The south is warm.	Etelä on lämmin.
The train goes south.	Juna menee etelään.
east	itä
The sun rises in the east.	Aurinko nousee idässä.
We travel east.	Me matkustamme itään.
west	länsi
The west is over there.	Länsi on tuolla.
The bus goes west.	Bussi menee länteen.

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