Verbs: Past Tense (Imperfect) — Finnish Grammar

The past tense reports events that took place and finished at some point in the past - what you did yesterday, last year, or at any specific earlier moment. Finnish grammar books call it the imperfect, but it is simply the everyday past tense, matching English "I lived", "I bought", "she came". It is the tense you reach for whenever you tell a story or say what happened.

Its signal is an -i- inserted between the verb stem and the personal ending. Where the present has (I live), the past has (I lived). The person endings themselves (-n, -t, -mme, -tte, -vat) are identical to the present, so once you can recognise the -i-, you already know who the subject is.

How the Past Is Formed

Take the stem, add -i-, then add the personal ending.

asua → minä asuin
to live → I lived
puhua → hän puhui
to speak → he/she spoke
Ostin uuden auton.
I bought a new car.

ost- the stem of , buy — its a drops out
-i- the past marker, the whole of what English does with "-ed"
-n the same I ending the present tense uses

Mitä sinä sanoit?
What did you say?
He tulivat eilen.
They came yesterday.

How the -i- Changes the Stem

The -i- often reacts with the last vowel of the stem, and the result depends on the verb type. These patterns are regular and quickly become familiar:

A single final -a/-ä usually disappears before the -i-: (I said), (I remembered).
In many two-syllable verbs a stem a becomes o: (I paid).
Verbs in -taa/-tää often turn the t into s before the i: (I knew), (I understood).

saada → sain
to get → I got
nähdä → näin
to see → I saw
käydä → kävin
to visit → I visited

The Verb "to be" in the Past

is extremely common in the past and worth knowing fully:

(I was), (you were), (he/she was)
(we were), (you were), (they were)

Hän oli väsynyt.
He/she was tired.
Olimme eilen kotona.
We were at home yesterday.

Past Tense vs. Perfect Tense

Use the past tense for an event tied to a definite past time ("yesterday", "in 2020"). When the time is unspecified or the result still matters now, Finnish uses the perfect tense instead, just as English does with "have done".

Kävin Suomessa viime vuonna.
I visited Finland last year. (definite time → past)
Olen käynyt Suomessa.
I have been to Finland. (experience → perfect)

The Negative Past

The negative past does not use the -i- at all. Instead it combines the negative verb (…) with a special past form of the main verb ending in -nut/-nyt for one person and -neet for several - the same form used in the perfect tense.

En mennyt töihin.
I didn't go to work.
Emme nähneet häntä.
We didn't see him/her.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Finnish course

48 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 47. A few of them, with the words “Verbs: Past Tense (Imperfect)” is about in bold:

Ostin tusinan munia ja suklaapatukan myös sinulle.
I bought a dozen eggs and a candy bar for you too.
Lesson 47
Kävin ostoskeskuksessa.
I went to the shopping mall.
Lesson 172
Isäni osti lahjan äidilleni.
My father bought a present for my mother.
Lesson 225

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