/r/conlangs Chat Network Relay Game - Discord Inauguration Any-Lang-Goes Relay

#2Finnish by Gwaur
FinnishEnglish

Surulla ei ole kohtaloa. Niin, sillä on vain räsy,
räsy pohjalla ja huipulla; toivon lippu
joka repeää ja rikkoontuu kun usko puhkeaa.

Grief has no fate. Yes, it merely has a rag,
a rag at the bottom and on the top; a flag of hope
that tears and breaks when faith sprouts.

  • ei – v. does not
  • huippu – n. top, peak
  • ja – conj. and
  • joka – prn. which, that
  • kohtalo – n. fate, destiny
  • kun – conj/adv. when (indicative)
  • lippu – n. flag, ticket
  • niin – part. yes, so, affirmative
  • olla – v. to be
  • pohja – n. bottom
  • puhjeta – v. to burst, sprout (intrans.)
  • revetä – v. to tear (intrans.)
  • rikkoontua – v. to break (intrans.)
  • räsy – n. rag
  • se – prn. it
  • suru – n. grief, sorrow, mourning
  • toivo – n. hope, wish
  • usko – n. trust, faith
  • vain – adv. only, merely

CONSONANT GRADATION

Consonant gradation pairs:

StrongWeak
ppp
pv
ntnn
hkhj

Consonant gradation occurs with certain forms when a member of a gradation pair occurs at the boundary of the stem's last two syllables.

VERB GRAMMAR

GENERIC

Personal suffixes for verbs are mostly the same across verb types:

SingularPlural
1-n-mme
2-t-tte
3*-vat/vät

*) The 3S affix varies slightly.

Basic structure of a conjugated verb is STEM-TM-P where stem is the stem, TM is a tense/mood affix, and P is a personal affix.

VERB TYPE I: -Va/Vä infinitives

Infinitive is stem + strong grade + -a/ä. Stem alone is infinitive suffix removed and strong grade.

The consonant grades for the present indicative are:

PersonGrade
1Weak
2Weak
3Strong

In the -oa/öä/ua/yä subclasses of this verb type, the tense/mood affix for present indicative is zero.

The third person singular affix is an elongation of the preceding vowel.

VERB TYPE IV: -ta/tä infinitives

Infinitive is stem + weak grade + -ta/tä. Stem alone is infinitive suffix removed and strong grade.

The consonant grade for the present indicative is strong for all persons in active voice.

The tense/mood affix for present indicative is -a/ä-.

The third person singular affix is an elongation of the preceding vowel.

IRREGULAR VERB: olla

In present indicative, olla "to be" conjugates accordingly.

SingularPlural
1olenolemme
2oletolette
3onovat

Besides basic copula function, the verb is also used to indicate possession; the adessive case is used to mark the possessor. In a positive clause, the possessed thing is in the nominative case and in a negative clause, the possessed thing is in the partitive case.

NEGATION VERB: ei

Negation verb is placed before the negated verb. The negation verb doesn't have an infinitive form, and the dictionary form is the 3S form.

SingularPlural
1enemme
2etette
3eieivät

When used, the negation verb triggers a connegative ("with negative") form on the negated verb. The connegative form is the STEM-TM-P pattern only with the personal affix removed, as it is moved over to the negation verb.

NOUN GRAMMAR

The cases present in this text are:

CaseAffixFunctions
Nominativezero1. Mention of the noun.
2. Subject of an active clause.
3. Possessed in positive clause.
Partitive-a/äPossessed in negative clause.
Genitive-nOwner/concern of something.
Adessive-lla/llä1. Spatial location of on the top of or near/at something.
2. Marker of a possessor when using the verb "olla".

The consonant grade switches from the nominative grade with the genitive and adessive cases with the exception of the nouns "pohja" and "toivo", for whatever silly reason.