Verbal nouns (-minen)

Verbal Nouns (-minen)

To talk about an activity as a broad concept—like "shopping" or "logging in"—Finnish uses the -minen suffix. This turns a verb into a noun, formed by attaching -minen to the verb's strong stem:

• vertailla (to compare) -> vertaileminen (comparing)
• kirjautua (to log in) -> kirjautuminen (logging in)

When these verbal nouns are the subject of a sentence, their describing adjective usually takes the partitive case (e.g., helppoa, vaivatonta).

Adding an Object

If you specify what you are interacting with—like "browsing the internet" or "clicking the link"—the object takes the genitive case (ending in -n). Because the action is now a noun, you can think of this literally as "the internet's browsing".

• netti (internet) -> netin selaaminen (browsing the internet)
• linkki (link) -> linkin klikkaaminen (clicking the link)

This rule also applies to pronouns. To say "clicking it", use the genitive pronoun sen.

Online Shopping Habits

These verbal nouns are often used alongside standard nouns like tilaus (order), toimitus (delivery), and ostoskori (shopping basket).

Whether you use a regular noun or a verbal noun, they can be listed together as the subject. If you list several things, the describing adjective becomes plural.