Level: B1–B2

What Is a Participle?

You already know that Finnish has nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

A participle (partisiippi) is a word made from a verb — but it works like an adjective.

In English, we do this too:

a running dog → the dog that runs a broken window → the window that was broken

Finnish does the same thing, but in a much more systematic way. Finnish has six participle forms, and the VA-partisiippi is the most common one you’ll meet at B1–B2 level.

The Big Idea

The VA-partisiippi replaces a joka-clause (a relative clause).

Instead of saying:

Mies, joka ajaa autoa, on väsynyt.

= The man who is driving the car is tired.

You can say:

Autoa ajava mies on väsynyt.

= The car-driving man is tired.

Same meaning. One sentence instead of two. More natural-sounding Finnish.

This is the whole point of participles: they make sentences shorter and smoother.

When Do You Use It?

The VA-partisiippi describes the person or thing doing the action, right now or in the future.

It answers the question: millainen? (what kind of?)

Some everyday examples:

Kadulla juokseva koira on naapurin.

= The dog running on the street belongs to the neighbour.

Kahvilassa istuva nainen on minun opettajani.

= The woman sitting in the café is my teacher.

Suomea opiskelevat ihmiset ovat motivoituneita.

= People studying Finnish are motivated.

Notice: the VA-participle agrees with the noun it describes — it changes form to match the case, number, and so on. More on this below.

How to Form It

The rule is simple:

1. Take the he-form of the verb (they form).
2. Remove -vat / -vät.
3. Add -va / -vä.

Verb	Hän form	VA-partisiippi
juosta	juoksevat	juokseva
asua	asuvat	asuva
opiskella	opiskelevat	opiskeleva
tehdä	tekevät	tekevä
syödä	syövät	syövä
mennä	menevät	menevä
tulla	tulevat	tuleva

Tip: ”tuleva” (the upcoming / future) is one of the most common VA-participles in everyday Finnish. You’ll see it everywhere: tuleva viikko (next week), tulevat muutokset (upcoming changes).

Word Order in the Noun Phrase

This is where learners get confused. The participle phrase sits before the main noun, not after.

The order is:

[pronoun / genitive / number] + [place/time] + [object] + participle + adjective + main noun

In practice, the key thing to remember is:

object + participle + main noun

Examples:

kahvia juova mies → the man drinking coffee

suomea opiskeleva nainen → the woman studying Finnish

Helsingissä asuva perhe → the family living in Helsinki

ensi viikolla tuleva kirje → the letter arriving next week

Compare with the joka-version:

Participle	Joka-clause
kahvia juova mies	mies, joka juo kahvia
suomea opiskeleva nainen	nainen, joka opiskelee suomea
Helsingissä asuva perhe	perhe, joka asuu Helsingissä

Timing: When Does the Action Happen?

The VA-partisiippi describes an action that happens at the same time as the main verb of the sentence.

Lentoa odottava matkustaja luki kirjaa.

= The passenger waiting for the flight was reading a book.

The waiting and the reading happened at the same time.

Kaupassa työskentelevä nainen auttoi minua.

= The woman working in the shop helped me.

She was working there when she helped me — same time.

This is different from other participles (like NUT-partisiippi), which describe things that already happened.

Declension: The Participle Changes Form

Because the VA-partisiippi is an adjective, it agrees with the noun it modifies. This means it changes form depending on which case the noun phrase is in.

Don’t panic — this comes naturally with exposure. But here are a few common forms:

Case	Example
Nominative	suomea puhuva mies — the man speaking Finnish
Genitive	suomea puhuvan miehen takki
Partitive	En nähnyt suomea puhuvaa miestä
Illative	Annoin kirjan suomea puhuvalle miehelle.
Inessive	Suomea puhuvassa talossa asuu monta perhettä.

The stem is always puhuva- — you just add the regular case endings.

Sometimes the Main Noun Is Dropped

In real Finnish, you’ll often see the main noun left out entirely when it’s obvious from context.

Flunssaa sairastava saa jäädä kotiin.

= A person who is sick with the flu can stay home.

Kahvila-alalla työskentelevät tietävät sen hyvin.

= Those who work in the café industry know this well.

The ”person” or ”people” is implied. This is very common in written Finnish and news texts.

VA-partisiippi in Real Finnish

Once you know this form, you’ll start seeing it everywhere.

Here are some real-life patterns you’ll meet:

Hakijoilta edellytetään suomea puhuvilta hakijoilta… (job ads)

Tänään saapuva paketti… The package arriving today… (delivery notifications)

Suomessa asuvilla ulkomaalaisilla… Foreign nationals living in Finland… (official texts, news)

Ensi viikolla alkava kurssi on täynnä. The course starting next week is full.

Quick Summary

✅ VA-partisiippi = verb → adjective (describes the doer of an action)

✅ Formed from the he-form: remove ending, add -va / -vä

✅ Replaces a joka-clause

✅ The action happens at the same time as the main verb

✅ Comes before the main noun

✅ Agrees with the noun (changes form by case and number)

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PRACTICE TIME!

Try turning these joka-clauses into participle phrases:

1. koira, joka juoksee → __________ koira
2. nainen, joka opiskelee suomea → __________ nainen
3. lapsi, joka syö puuroa → __________ lapsi
4. mies, joka asuu Tampereella → __________ mies
5. bussit, jotka menevät keskustaan → __________ bussit

MORE PRACTICE!!