When speculating about the future, you will often need to express that an event is unlikely to happen. To say that something "probably won't" take place, Finnish uses the negative potential mood.
The negative potential consists of the conjugated negative verb (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät) and the main verb in the potential connegative form.
To build the connegative, add the potential marker -ne to the strong verb stem. Unlike the positive third-person singular (-nee), the negative form ends in a short -ne.
| Verb | Positive Potential (3rd Person) | Negative Potential (3rd Person) |
|---|
| toteutua | toteutunee | ei toteutune |
| irtisanoa | irtisanonee | ei irtisanone |
| maksaa | maksanee | ei maksane |
Assimilated Stems in the Negative
Consonant assimilation rules from the positive potential mood also apply here. If the verb's stem causes the -n- in the marker to assimilate (-sse-, -llee-, -rre-, -nne-), this carries over to the negative. For example, mennä (to go) becomes ei menne.
Using the Negative Potential in Context
You will frequently encounter these structures in business news and journalism where outcomes are uncertain, such as when predicting the decisions of companies or authorities.