Verbs: Imperative Mood — Finnish Grammar

The imperative is the command form: giving an order, instruction, invitation, or piece of advice. Which form you use depends on whether you are speaking to one familiar person or to a group - and the plural form doubles as the polite way to command a single person.

Singular - to One Familiar Person

The command to a friend or family member is the bare verb with no ending at all — whatever is left of once loses its -n is the command . Verbs whose k, p or t softens under an ending use the softened form here, the same one the I form uses.

Tule tänne!
Come here!
Syö!
Eat!
Odota hetki!
Wait a moment!
Katso tätä!
Look at this!

Plural - to a Group, or Politely to One

Add -kaa to that form if the verb contains a, o or u, and -kää if it does not. This is also the polite form used with a single stranger, and the form you hear in announcements and from service staff.

Tulkaa sisään!
Come in!
Odottakaa hetki.
Please wait a moment.
Olkaa hyvä.
Here you are. / Please. (an everyday courtesy phrase)
Istukaa, olkaa hyvä.
Please sit down.

Negative Commands

A negative command does not use the ordinary word for "not". It uses a dedicated one — to one person, to several — followed by the verb. After , the verb takes a -ko/-kö ending.

Älä mene!
Don't go!
Älä huoli.
Don't worry.
Älkää koskeko siihen.
Don't touch that. (to several)

Softening a Command

A bare imperative can sound abrupt. Finns often prefer the conditional for politeness, or add a softening word.

Voisitko sulkea oven?
Could you close the door? (gentler than "Sulje ovi!")

"Let's…"

For "let's", spoken Finnish does not use a first-person plural command at all. It borrows the form that states an action without naming who performs it, and that is what you will actually hear.

Mennään!
Let's go!
Syödään!
Let's eat!

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Finnish course

37 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 8. A few of them, with the words “Verbs: Imperative Mood” is about in bold:

Menkää ja katsokaa keittiötä. Se on niin pieni.
Go and check out (pl.) the kitchen. It is so small.
Lesson 322
Älä syö sitä! Se on porsaanlihaa!
Don't eat that! That's pork!
Lesson 366
Älkää unohtako juustoa yhteiselle piknikillemme.
Don't forget the cheese for our picnic.
Lesson 477

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