Construction work bothering you?

And the dogs tipped the garbage pails over last night
And there's always construction work bothering you
In the neighborhood - Tom Waits

The participial, temporal and agent constructions in Finnish seem to have particularly complicated grammar rules. Do I need a possessive suffix or not? Which verb form should I use?

I wrote this post in the hope that I could come across a clear and simple way of representing the rules. A couple of charts, some tables, and all would be clear. Unfortunately, after much work, the only conclusion I can draw is that yes, the rules really are that complicated.

What are they?

• The participial construction is the "että" expression, which refers to the fact of an action, eg He thinks that I eat too much cheese.
• The temporal construction is the "kun" expression, which refers to the time of an action, eg I eat cheese when we go to France.
• The agent construction refers to an action performed by a particular agent, eg "He ate the cheese that I bought"

In each case there is a subject in the construction clause that may (or may not) be different to the subject in the main sentence. In the case of the first two we also need to consider the relative times of the main sentence and subclause - did the eating happen before or at the same time as the thinking?

It is important to know:

• Does the sub-clause happen before or at the same time as the main clause? The tense of the sub-clause depends is relative to the time of the main clause:
• If it happens before then the sub-clause is in the past (even if the main clause is in the present). e.g., “I leave when I have eaten breakfast” or “I left when I had eaten breakfast”
• If it happens at the same time, then the sub-clause is in the present (even if the main clause is in the past). e.g., “He talked when he ate” Both actions are simultaneous (the talking and eating happened at the same time) so the sub-clause is in the present even though the whole sentence is in the past. The fact that the main clause is in the past may trick you into putting the sub-clause into the past.

We don’t need to worry about tense in the agent construction.

• Is the subject of the sub-clause the same as the main clause? e.g.: “I laugh when he runs” vs “I sing when I walk”; “He hates the food that I eat” vs “I love the food that I eat”; etc.
• If the same then you just put a possessive suffix on the relevant verb form e.g. syövani
• If different then you’ll have a word in the genitive indicating the subject (e.g. hänen or Matin below) and you may need to add a possessive suffix.
• If it’s a kun (temporal) clause or an agent construction and the subject is a pronoun, then add a suffix
• Otherwise, no suffix.

Once you’ve answered these questions you are in a position to choose the verb form, and add a suffix to it.

The following table sums up the verb forms.

Tense	Clause	Form	Same subject	Different subject
				Pronoun	Noun/name
Present	Participial	Pres ppl active Syövä/n	syövä/ni +	hänen syövän *	Matin syövän *
	Temporal	2nd inf inessive Syöde/ssä	syödessä/ni +	hänen syödessä/nsä +	Matin syödessä *
	Agent	3rd inf stem Syömä	Syömä/ni +	hänen syömä/nsä +	Matin syömä *
Past	Participial	past ppl pl./gen syönee/n	syönee/ni +	hänen syöneen *	Matin syöneen *
	Temporal	past ppl pasv/partitive syöty/ä	syötyä/ni +	hänen syötyä/nsä +	Matin syötyä *
				+ Pos suffix * No pos suffix

So, if the kun/että clause has

· the same subject as the main clause then you always add a posessive suffix (and that’s the only way you identify the subject of the kun/etta clause)

· a different subject to the main clause, you only ever need to add a posessive suffix if (a) it’s a kun clause and also (b) it is a pronoun (not a name or a noun)

It’s also possible to have these constructions in the passive. As if things weren’t already difficult enough. The following table sums up the passive forms.

Tense	Clause	Form
Present	Että	pres ppl pasv/genitive syötävä/n
	Kun	2nd inf passive/inessive syötäe/ssä
Past	Etta	past ppl pasv/genitive syödy/n
	Kun

There’s no subject for a passive clause, so no worrying about subjects and possessive suffices.

It’s worth noting that the present participle passive is often a word in its own right – e.g. syötävä: edible, kuultava: audible – which can make life even more confusing.

Road Map

This seems to be a random rag-bag of verb forms - the passive past participle passive? Really?

The following diagram attempts to make some sense of this.

Examples

The following tables show examples taken from the internet of the participial (että), temporal (kun) and agent clauses using syödä for all of the different conditions considered at the start:

· Does it happen simultaneously with the main clause (present) or before (past)?;

· is the subject the same as, or different to the subject of the main clause?;

· if different is the subject a pronoun or a noun?

Present

Finnish	English	Clause	Subj	Pronoun/ Noun
Ajettelin syöväni [että mina syön] liikaa jäätelöä	I thought that I ate too much ice cream. (Thinking and eating at the same time … so use present)	Että	Same
Nykyään uskon syöväni [että mina syön] ekologisemmin ja terveellisemmin kuin yksikään tämän viestin lukevista.	These days I believe that I eat more ecologically and healthily than any one reading this message.	Että	Same
Milloin olet nähnyt hänen syövän [että hän syö] muuta kuin salaattia	When have you seen that he eats anything other than salad?	Että	Diff	Pron
joku saattaa ajatella, että on liioittelua pelätä koiran syövän [että koira syö] joulukoristeita	Someone might think it an exaggeration to be afraid that the dog is eating the Christmas decorations	Että	Diff	Noun
Luen melkein aina syödessäni [kun minä syön]	I often read while I am eating	Kun	Same
Syödessäni [kun minä söin] siinä hampurilaista, ajattelin ...	While I was eating the hamburger I thought ... (Thinking and eating at the same time )	Kun	Same
Kysyin hänen syödessään [kun hän söi] keittoa, mitä hän ajatteli sopanjaosta	I asked him while he was eating soup, what he thought of the service (of the soup)	Kun	Diff	Pron
ehdin rauhassa tehdä kolttosiani eli tällä kertaa kiivetä ruokahuoneen pöydälle äidin syödessä [kun äiti söi] keittiössä	I had time to quietly play tricks – namely that time to climb on to the dining room table while mother was eating in the kitchen. (Climbing and eating at the same)	Kun	Diff	Noun

Past

Finnish	English	Clause	Subj	Pronoun/ Noun
Kyseisiä karkkeja muistan syöneeni [että minä söin] nuorempana	I remember those particular sweets that I ate as a youngster (eating happened before remembering)	Että	Same
Jos joku söi ahneesti, sanoi äitini hänen syöneen [että hän söi] kuin anaski. Kuka tai mikä oli Anaski? Hauskoja vanhoja sanontoja on paljon.	If someone ate greedily mother would say that he ate like anaski. Who or what was anaski? There are a lot of strange old sayings.	Että	Diff	Pron
Jos tiedät tai epäilet koiran syöneen [että koira on syönyt] rotanmyrkkyä ...	If you know or suspect that the dog has eaten rat poison ...	Että	Diff	Noun
Vie lautanen pois syötyäsi [kun olet syönyt] ...	Take your plate away after you have eaten	Kun	Same
Minulla on vakava maapähkinäallergia. Syötyäni [kun olen syönyt] maapähkinää minun on päästävä sairaalaan!	I have a severe peanut allergy. After eating / when I have eaten peanuts I must get to hospital!	Kun	Same
Muistan liian hyvin, kuinka siskoa vietiin sairaalaan hänen syötyään [kun hän oli syönyt] kolmivuotiaana vaaleanpunaisia sieviä hiirenmyrkkyjyviä.	I remember only too well how my sister was taken to hospital aged three when she had eaten some cute pink mouse poison grains.	Kun	Diff	Pron
Monissa tapauksissa koiran syötyä [kun koira on syönyt] jotakin sopimatonta ...	In many cases, when the dog has eaten something unsuitable, ...	Kun	Diff	Noun
Amerikkalaismiestä vastaan on nostettu syyte tapauksessa, jossa miehen vaimo kuoli matojen syötyä [kun matot söivät] tämän kirjaimellisesti hengiltä.	Charges have been brought against an American man in a case where the man’s wife died when worms ate her literally to death.	Kun	Diff	Noun

Passive

Finnish	English	Clause	Tense
Leipä pysyy tuoreena muovissa, josta on syytä ottaa esiin vain syötävä [etta syötään] määrä	Bread stays fresh in plastic, from which there is reason take out only the amount that one eats.	Että	Pres
Hän on todennut, että syötäessä [kun syödään] liharuokaa on virtsa huomattavasti happamamapaa kuin kasvi.	He has advised that when one eats meat, urine is significantly more acidic than [when one eats] vegetables.	Kun	Pres
Maitorasvaa syötäessä [kun syödään] ne kertyvät ihmisen rasvavarantoon	When one eats milk fats they accumulate in a person’s fat reserves.	Kun	Pres
Ensimmäinen estää syödyn [etta syötiin] rasvan imeytymistä suolistosta	The first prevents the intestinal absorbtion of fat that one ate	Että	Past
Ongelma ei taaskaan ole, että rasvaa syödään, vaan syödyn [etta on syöty] rasvan määrä ja laatu	The problem is not necessarily that one eats fat, rather the quality and quantity of fat that one has eaten.	Että	Past

Agent

The agent construction is more tricky because the ma/mä verb form functions as an adjective so it needs to be inflected to agree with the noun in the agent phrase.

Finnish	English	Clause	Subj	Pronoun/ Noun
Aloin voimaan pahoin ja oksensin kaiken syömäni [kaiken jonka minä olin syönyt] (Syömä in genitive plus pos suffix kaiken is the object of oksentaa)	I began to feel bad and threw up everything that I had eaten.	Agent	Same
Mikä on erikoisin syömäsi [että sina olet syönyt] hampurilainen?	What is the most unusual hamburger that you have eaten.	Agent	Same
Mikä on kurjempaa kuin löytää syömästään omenasta [omenasta jota syö] mato? Löytää syömästään omenasta [omenasta jota syö] puolikas mato. (Syömä in the elative, find something from somewhere) Not sure why this is in the 3rd person throughout.	What’s worse than finding a worm in the apple that one is eating? To find half a worm!	Agent	Same
Toukkien syömä sieni [sieni jota toukkat olvat syöneet] kelpaa värjäyspataan (Syömä in nominative – sieni is the subject)	A mushroom that grubs have eaten (a grub-eaten mushroom) is suitable for use in the dying process .	Agent	Diff	Noun
Vähemmän sitä kertyy, jos kissan syömässä ruuassakin [ruuassa jota kissa syö] on sitä vähemmän. (syömä in the inessive – it’s in the food)	Less of it accumulates, if there is less of it in the food that the cat eats. (So don’t feed fat to your cat if you don’t want a fat cat)	Agent	Diff	Noun
Kaunis nainen ei saa syödä mitään ilman, että joku ei arvostelisi hänen syömäänsä ruokaa [ruokaa jota hän syö] ja ruokailutottumuksia. (Syömä in the partitive, it’s the object of arvostella)	A beautiful woman cannot eat anything without somebody criticising the food that she eats and her eating habits.	Agent	Diff	Pron
Parasiitit ja bakteerit olivat peräisin mitä varmimmin hänen koirastaan, luontoretkiltä sekä hänen syömästään tuorepuurosta [tuorepuurosta jota hän söi]	Parasites and bacteria were certanly from his dog, from nature walks and from the fresh porridge that he ate. (Yuk! watch out for that parasite-ridden porridge!)	Agent	Diff	Pron
paljon hänen syömässä tonnikala-makaroonisalaatissa [tonnikala-makaroonisalaatissa jota hän syö] on kaloreita	A lot of calories are in the tuna pasta salad that he eats.	Agent	Diff	Pron