Aikamuodot <> The Tenses
The Finnish language contains 4 tenses. They are:
The present > preesens
The past > imperfekti
The perfect > perfekti
The past-perfect > pluskvamperfekti
If you still remember your early school years, or if you've studied a foreign language before, you'll know that these are the same 4 tenses that we have in English. They are used in exactly the same way.
The only one that's slightly different is the present. This is because in Finnish we don't often say "I will..." or "I'm going to...", to mean we're going to do something in the future. We just use the normal present tense.
For example: Minä puhun.
This can either mean "I speak" or "I am speaking" or "I will speak". It depends on the context.
Minä puhun suomea. > I speak Finnish.
Minä puhun töistä. > I'm talking about work.
Minä puhun hänelle huomenna. > I'll talk to him tomorrow.
You can also use the verb aikoa if you really want to stress that something is a plan for the future.
Which tense do you want to study?
The present > preesens
The past > imperfekti
The perfect > perfekti
The past-perfect > pluskvamperfekti
If you still remember your early school years, or if you've studied a foreign language before, you'll know that these are the same 4 tenses that we have in English. They are used in exactly the same way.
The only one that's slightly different is the present. This is because in Finnish we don't often say "I will..." or "I'm going to...", to mean we're going to do something in the future. We just use the normal present tense.
For example: Minä puhun.
This can either mean "I speak" or "I am speaking" or "I will speak". It depends on the context.
Minä puhun suomea. > I speak Finnish.
Minä puhun töistä. > I'm talking about work.
Minä puhun hänelle huomenna. > I'll talk to him tomorrow.
You can also use the verb aikoa if you really want to stress that something is a plan for the future.
Which tense do you want to study?
