I. The present indicates—
(1) An habitual action, or an action which is going on at the present time. Joka päivä hän lukee sanomalehden alusta loppuun saakka, every day he reads the newspaper through from one end to the other. Mihin menette? Menemme metsään, where are you going? we are going to the wood. When it is desired to emphasise the fact that some one is engaged in an action at the present time, such phrases as he ovat kalastamassa, they are fishing, may be used (v. p. [191]).
(2) A future action, as we say ‘he comes to-morrow.’ Some distinction is made between these two uses by the fact that while a verb representing an action as going on always takes an object in the partitive, a verb which represents an action as to be completed in the future takes an object in the genitive. Kirjoitan kirjettä, I am writing a letter; huomenna kirjoitan kirjeen, I shall write a letter to-morrow. Kun saan tietää missä asuu, niin menen hänen luo, when I know where he lives I shall go and see him.
(3) In a few expressions the present indicative is used in a concessive sense. Maksaa mitä maksaa, cost what it may. Sano mitä sanot, say what you will.
II. The imperfect is used in two senses:—
(1) It denotes an action in past time, either habitual or isolated, either continuous or momentary; it thus corresponds to several past tenses in other languages. Seuraavana päivänä tuli nuori rouva aamiais-pöytään, kun muut olivat lopettaneet, next day the young lady came down to breakfast when the rest had finished. Tapasitko sisartani? did you meet my sister? En tavannut, I did not meet her. Joka päivä lähti hän kävelemään pääkadulle, every day he took a walk in the principal street. Lohi loimahti merehen, the salmon jumped into the sea. Itki yötä kaksi kolme, he wept two or three nights.
(2) It is also used like the present in a concessive sense, but much more frequently than that tense. Kävi miten kävi, asiaan on ryhtyttävä, come what may, the business must be begun. Oli kumpi hyvänsä, whichever of the two it is. Cf. such expressions as kuka niitä kaikkia muisti? Lempo niitä ymmärsi.
It is noticeable that in the narrative portions of the Kalevala and other poems the present and imperfect are used almost indifferently (v. extracts at end of book). Perhaps the sound of the terminations pi and vi, which, like the imperfect, end in i, made the confusion easier.
III. The perfect corresponds pretty nearly to the tense formed with the auxiliary have in English. Olemme maanneet vähän aikaa niin lähdemme järvelle koko yöksi, we have slept a little and are going out on the lake for the whole night. Oletteko ennen kuulleet sitä laulua? have you heard that song before? En ole nähnyt häntä moneen aikaan, I have not seen him for a long time.
IV. The pluperfect expresses an action finished in past time, and may be rendered by had in English. Kun hän sen sanonut oli, meni hän taas ulos, when he had said this he went out again. Oliko hän ehkä saanut tiedon asiasta? had he by any chance heard of the matter?