In other words, a subordinate sentence which in English begins with the word that (and some others), and which might in Finnish be represented by a similar sentence beginning with että, can be put in a shorter and more idiomatic form by: (1) omitting the word että; (2) replacing the finite verb by the genitive singular of the participle; (3) representing the subject by a genitive, partitive, or pronominal affix. Thus se luulee että hän tekee Jumalalle palveluksen, he thinketh that he doeth God service becomes se luulee tekevänsä Jumalalle palveluksen.
The participle present is used in this construction when the action of the subordinate sentence is coincident with that of the principal sentence or future to it, and the past participle when the action of the subordinate sentence is anterior. He thinks he will receive the book, luulee kirjan saavansa. He thinks he has received the book, luulee kirjan saaneensa. Notice that a past tense does not require necessarily the past participle. Hän luuli lintuja olevan metsässä, he thought there were birds in the wood. Here the present participle is used because the action of the two verbs is contemporaneous.
The noun or pronoun which is the subject in the expanded sentence is put in the genitive when total, in the partitive when partial, and represented by the pronominal suffix when the subjects of the two sentences are the same. The participle remains in the genitive sing. whatever be the case or number of the subject.
This use is more frequent in affirmative than in negative sentences, but there is no objection to such sentences as En luule voivani tulla, I do not think I can come, where the principal verb is negatived. It is however very rarely used when the verb of the subordinate sentence is negatived (vide p. [220] for some curious irregularities in this respect).
Examples:—Kuin hän siis kuuli hänen sairastavan, when he heard he was ill. Luuletteko olevan mitä vaaraa? do you think there is any danger? Minä päivänä toivotte saapuvanne perille? on what day do you expect to arrive? En usko häntä näkeväni, I don’t believe I shall see him. Minä luulen sotamiesten jo saapuneen leiriin, I think the soldiers have already gone to the camp. En usko palvelijan varastaneen rahoja, I do not believe that the servant has stolen the money. Tiedän vieraita tulevan, I know that some strangers have come. Näin vettä satavan, I see that it is raining. Kuulin laivoja tulleen, I heard that some ships had arrived. When the verb olla is used in this construction, its complement remains in the same case as it would be in an expanded sentence, if it is in any case but the nominative singular.
| Luulen että { | vesi on hyvää, |
| poika on terveenä, | |
| syytetyt ovat tuomitut kuolemaan. |
become
| Luulen { | veden olevan hyvää |
| pojan olevan terveenä | |
| syytettyjen olevan tuomitut kuolemaan. |
But if the complement is a nominative singular it appears as a genitive singular when the subject is put in that case.