sta or ista is added generally to dissyllabic stems, whose final vowel is lost before i, though a sometimes becomes o. Metsästää, to hunt; kärjestää, to sharpen; kalastaa, to fish; ylistää, to extol; yhdistää, to unite; äänestää, to express an opinion, to vote.
Another class of verbs are called translative, and express a change to the state denoted by the noun from which the verb is formed.
Such are formed with the following terminations:—
(1) ne is added chiefly to dissyllables, also to trisyllables in ea (eä), whose final a (ä), and sometimes o, changes to e. The verb so formed is conjugated according to the third conjugation, and the syllable ne altogether disappears in the infinitive, which ends in eta. Aleta (present alenen) to sink down; musteta, to become black; lähetä, to draw near; pimetä, to grow dark.
(2) a or ä is added mostly to dissyllabic roots ending in i, which changes to e; if added to roots ending in a, this vowel generally becomes o. It is also added to trisyllables in ea (eä). Soeta, to become blind (sokea).
A small number of verbs are formed from adjectives by the addition of the suffix ksi or ksu, before which a and ä are often changed to e. These verbs, sometimes called censitive, express the light in which something is regarded. Halveksia, to hold cheap (halpa); hyveksiä or hyväksyä, to find good, to approve; pahaksua or paheksia, to find bad, to be angry at; väheksiä or vähäksyä, to find small or despise.
POSTPOSITIONS.
The place of prepositions in other languages is supplied by postpositions, that is to say, by words which follow a substantive (mostly in the genitive or partitive case). These words are not, however, really analogous to the indeclinable prepositions of other languages; they are cases of substantives, some of which are found used in the nominative case. For instance, ali (not used as a substantive) means a place under something else. From this are formed the cases alla, alle, alta, etc., which are used as prepositions, e.g. kissa on pöydän alla, the cat is in the place under the table, that is, under the table; kissa meni pöydän alle, the cat went to the place under the table, that is, under the table; kissa tuli pöydän alta, the cat came from the place under the table, or from under the table. A list of these substantives, which are mostly fragmentary in their declensions, is given in the Syntax. A few of them precede the substantive which they govern and can hence be called prepositions. Such words mostly require that the substantive which they govern should be in the partitive, whereas postpositions follow a word in the genitive.
In these words we may distinguish two classes:—