What is the Finnish Passive?

The Finnish passive is one of the most common verb forms in everyday Finnish. Although it is usually translated as a ”passive form”, it is not exactly the same as the passive voice in English.

In English, a passive sentence often focuses on the object:

The door is opened.

In Finnish, the passive usually means:

People do something.

Someone does something.

Things are generally done this way.

The person performing the action is unknown, unspecified, or simply unimportant.

The focus is on the action itself rather than the person doing it.

Basic Idea

Compare these two sentences:

Active

Italiassa ihmiset syövät paljon spagettia.

People eat a lot of spaghetti in Italy.

Passive

Italiassa syödään paljon spagettia.

People eat a lot of spaghetti in Italy.

Literally:

In Italy, a lot of spaghetti is eaten.

Notice that the meaning is almost the same.

The passive simply removes the subject ihmiset (people).

How to Form the Present Passive

Verb Type 1

• Start with the minä-form stem.
• Remove -n.
• Add -taan / -tään.

Infinitive	Minä Form	Passive
sanoa	sano-n	sano-taan
puhua	puhu-n	puhu-taan
kysyä	kysy-n	kysy-tään
leikkiä	leiki-n	leiki-tään
kertoa	kerro-n	kerro-taan

Consonant Gradation

If the stem changes in the minä-form, use that weakened stem.

Infinitive	Minä Form	Passive
antaa	anna-n	anne– taan
tietää	tiedä-n	tiede– tään
ottaa	ota-n	ote-taan
lentää	lennä-n	lenne-tään
soittaa	soita-n	soite-taan

Verb Types 2–6

• For other verb types, add:

• -an / -än

• to the infinitive stem.

Infinitive	Passive
juoda	juoda-an
syödä	syödä-än
kävellä	kävellä-än
kuunnella	kuunnella-an
juosta	juosta-an
mennä	mennä-än
surra	surra-an
haluta	haluta-an
pudota	pudota-an
häiritä	häiritä-än
lämmetä	lämmetä-än

Negative Passive

The negative form is simple.

Use:

ei + passive stem

Examples:

Positive	Negative
puhuta-an	ei puhuta
sanota-an	ei sanota
mennä-än	ei mennä
syödä-än	ei syödä
juoda-an	ei juoda

Examples:

Suomessa puhutaan suomea.
Finnish is spoken in Finland.

Suomessa ei puhuta pelkästään suomea.
Only Finnish is not spoken in Finland.

When Is the Passive Used?

1. General Statements

The most common use.

The speaker talks about what people generally do.

Examples

• Kesällä syödään paljon jäätelöä.

People eat a lot of ice cream in summer.

• Torilla myydään mansikoita.

Strawberries are sold at the market.

• Suomessa juodaan paljon kahvia.

People drink a lot of coffee in Finland.

2. The Person Is Unknown

The action is important, not the person.

Example

Pieksämäelle rakennetaan uusi pesula.

A new laundry facility is being built in Pieksämäki.

Who is building it? We don’t know. Or it doesn’t matter.

3. Suggestions (”Let’s…”)

This is one of the most useful everyday uses.

Examples

• Mennään puistoon!

Let’s go to the park!

• Syödään yhdessä!

Let’s eat together!

• Katsotaan elokuva!

Let’s watch a movie!

This use is extremely common in spoken Finnish.

4. Spoken Finnish: ”We”

In everyday speech, Finns often use the passive instead of the first-person plural form.

Formal Finnish	Spoken Finnish
Me asumme kerrostalossa. We live in an apartment building. Me menemme museoon. We go to the museum.	Me asutaan kerrostalossa. We live in an apartment building. Me mennään museoon. We go to the museum.

This is one of the first spoken Finnish patterns learners should recognize.

Passive Questions

To form a passive question with yes/no question, use the passive form with -ko/-kö.

Or we can use also question word depends on the purpose of your speech.

Examples

Puhutaanko Suomessa ruotsia?

Is Swedish spoken in Finland?

Milloin Suomessa syödään mämmiä?

When do people eat mämmi in Finland?

Mennäänkö kahville?

Shall we go for coffee?

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Passive Object (A1-A2)

The object behaves differently in passive sentences. This is one of the more advanced topics, but these patterns are useful to know.

Nominative Objects

In passive sentences, completed objects often appear in the nominative.

Active

Minä avaan oven.

I open the door.

Passive

Ovi avataan avaimella.

The door is opened with a key.

More Examples

Minä ostan uuden television.

I buy a new television.

↓

Ostetaan uusi televisio.

Let’s buy a new television.

Plural Objects

Active

Minä ostan aurinkolasit.

I buy sunglasses.

Passive

Aurinkolasit ostetaan optikolta.

Sunglasses are bought from an optician.

Partitive Objects Stay Partitive

If the object is naturally partitive, it remains partitive.

Examples

Suomessa juodaan paljon kahvia.

People drink a lot of coffee in Finland.

Kurssilla luetaan historiankirjaa.

People read a history book on the course.

Yliopistossa opetetaan japania.

Japanese is taught at the university.

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Key Takeaways

✅ Finnish passive usually means:

• people
• someone
• they
• we (in spoken Finnish)

rather than a true English passive.

✅ It is used when the doer is unknown, unimportant, or obvious.

✅ It is extremely common in everyday Finnish.

✅ In spoken Finnish, the passive often replaces the first-person plural (”we”).

Learn These Useful Everyday Expressions

• Mennään! → Let’s go!
• Katsotaan! → Let’s see!
• Syödään! → Let’s eat!
• Juodaan kahvia! → Let’s have coffee!
• Puhutaanko suomea? → Shall we speak Finnish?

If you master the passive, you’ll immediately understand a huge amount of real spoken Finnish.

PRACTICE TIME!