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Finnish

When giving a formal speech, you will often need to thank or congratulate people. In Finnish, these verbs require their objects to be in specific cases. This is called **verb rection**.

### Congratulating (Onnitella)

The verb **onnitella** (to congratulate) requires two cases:
- The person you are congratulating takes the **partitive** case.
- The reason for congratulating takes the **elative** case (`-sta` / `-stä`).

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### Thanking (Kiittää)

The verb **kiittää** (to thank) behaves exactly the same way. The person being thanked takes the **partitive**, and the reason takes the **elative**. Modifiers like adjectives and demonstrative pronouns (e.g., *tämä*) must also match the elative ending.

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If the reason includes a possessive suffix (like "your presence"), the suffix attaches directly to the end of the elative case ending.

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### Raising a Toast

A formal speech often ends with a toast (**nostaa malja**). Unlike thanking or congratulating, when you dedicate a toast *to* someone or something, the recipient takes the **allative** case (`-lle`).

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### Putting It All Together

No matter who is speaking or how long the sentence is, *kiittää* and *onnitella* always demand the elative case for the reason.

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Verbs of thanking and congratulating (kiittää, onnitella)

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 imperative mood (lue!, syö!, mene!)

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)

Question	Answer
to congratulate	onnitella
wedding couple	hääpari
marriage	avioliitto
We want to congratulate the wedding couple on this marriage.	Haluamme onnitella hääparia tästä avioliitosta.
presence	läsnäolo
I thank you for your presence today.	Kiitän teitä läsnäolostanne tänään.
maid of honor	kaaso
wonderful (magnificent, gorgeous)	upea
speech	puhe
We thank the maid of honor for this wonderful speech.	Kiitämme kaasoa tästä upeasta puheesta.
arrangement	järjestely
The guests congratulate the wedding couple on the wonderful arrangements.	Vieraat onnittelevat hääparia upeista järjestelyistä.
to raise, to lift	nostaa
toast	malja
Let us raise a toast to this new marriage, shall we!	Nostetaanhan malja tälle uudelle avioliitolle!
I will not forget this wonderful speech.	En unohda tätä upeaa puhetta.
support	tuki
The wedding couple thanks everyone for this important support.	Hääpari kiittää kaikkia tästä tärkeästä tuesta.
I will give a speech and thank you for your support.	Pidän puheen ja kiitän teitä tuestanne.
The maid of honor raises a toast and thanks everyone for the arrangements.	Kaaso nostaa maljan ja kiittää kaikkia järjestelyistä.
Did you congratulate him on this fine speech?	Onnittelitko häntä tästä hienosta puheesta?
I must thank you for your wonderful presence.	Minun täytyy kiittää teitä upeasta läsnäolostanne.