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Finnish grammar

6. Verbs

6.3 Rection

  • Introduction

  • 1. Vowel harmony
  • 1.1 Vowel harmony

  • 2. KPT change
  • 2.1 Regular KPT change

  • 2.2 Reverse KPT change

  • 3. Cases
  • 3.1 Nominative / T-plural

  • 3.2 Genitive

  • 3.3 Partitive

  • 3.4 Locative cases – Missä? Mistä? Mihin?

  • 3.5 Use of locative cases

  • 3.6 Essive (-na/-nä) vs. translative (-ksi)

  • 4. Object
  • 4.1 Object formation and use

  • 5. Word types
  • 5.1 Word types ending in vowels

  • 5.2 Word types ending in consonants

  • 6. Verbs
  • 6.1 Personal conjugation of verbs

  • 6.2 Verb types

  • 6.3 Rection

  • 6.4 Verb + verb

  • 6.5 Past simple tense

  • 7. Plural partitive
  • 7.1 Use and formation of plural partitive

  • 8. Pronouns
  • 8.1 Personal pronouns

  • 8.2 Demonstrative pronouns

  • 9. Sentence types
  • 9.1 Sentence types

  • 10. Spoken language
  • 10.1 Vowel and consonant changes

  • 10.2 Verbs in spoken language

  • 10.3 Me passive

  • Introduction

  • 1. Vowel harmony

  • 1.1 Vowel harmony

  • 2. KPT change

  • 2.1 Regular KPT change

  • 2.2 Reverse KPT change

  • 3. Cases

  • 3.1 Nominative / T-plural

  • 3.2 Genitive

  • 3.3 Partitive

  • 3.4 Locative cases – Missä? Mistä? Mihin?

  • 3.5 Use of locative cases

  • 3.6 Essive (-na/-nä) vs. translative (-ksi)

  • 4. Object

  • 4.1 Object formation and use

  • 5. Word types

  • 5.1 Word types ending in vowels

  • 5.2 Word types ending in consonants

  • 6. Verbs

  • 6.1 Personal conjugation of verbs

  • 6.2 Verb types

  • 6.3 Rection

  • 6.4 Verb + verb

  • 6.5 Past simple tense

  • 7. Plural partitive

  • 7.1 Use and formation of plural partitive

  • 8. Pronouns

  • 8.1 Personal pronouns

  • 8.2 Demonstrative pronouns

  • 9. Sentence types

  • 9.1 Sentence types

  • 10. Spoken language

  • 10.1 Vowel and consonant changes

  • 10.2 Verbs in spoken language

  • 10.3 Me passive

Rection (rektio) means that the word (e.g. a verb) needs to be accompanied by another word in a specific case. This is a typical phenomenon in Finnish.

pitää + -sta/-stä → Minä pidän kesästä.
I like summer.

käydä + -ssa/-ssä → Hän ei käy suihkussa.
He does not go to shower.

vastata + mihin → Miksi et vastaa puhelimeen?
Why don’t you answer the phone?

 

If there is an adjective before the word, it gets the same ending, too:

pitää + -sta/-stä → Minä pidän kiinalaisesta ruoasta.
I like Chinese food.

 

The rection also affects the question word.

maistua + -lta/-ltä → Miltä keitto maistuu? Keitto maistuu hyvältä.
What does the soup taste like? The soup tastes good.

 

A verb can have more than one rection, depending on the word it is connected to.

opiskella + partitiivi: Minä opiskelen suomea.
opiskella + partitive: I study Finnish.

opiskella + ksi: Minä opiskelen lääkäriksi.
opiskella + ksi: I study to become a doctor.

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Beginning 6.4 Verb + verb
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