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Consonant gradation

Astevaihtelu

Basics

Consonant gradation is usually presented as:

Consonant gradation
vahva (strong) heikko (weak)
kk k
pp p
tt t
k
p v
t d
nk ng
mp mm
nt nn
lt ll
rt rr

If we rewrite it in IPA we get:

Consonant gradation (IPA)
vahva heikko
/kː/ /k/
/pː/ /p/
/tː/ /t/
/k/
/p/ /ʋ/
/t/ /d/
/ŋk/ /ŋː/
/mp/ /mː/
/nt/ /nː/
/lt/ /lː/
/rt/ /rː/

We can generalise some patterns to make this easier to remember:

  • A long stop in the strong grade changes to a short stop in the weak grade.
  • A short stop in the strong grade changes to a weaker consonant (nothing, "v", or "d") in the weak grade.
  • A nasal consonant followed by a stop changes to a long version of that nasal consonant.
  • An approximant/trill (?) changes to a long approximant/trill.

(This is missing exceptions etc)

Consonant gradation in nouns

The nominative, partitive, illative, and essive cases use the strong grade. Most other inflections use the weak grade.

  • kakku NOM / kakun GEN / kakkua PTV
  • kakkuun ILL / kakussa INE / kakusta ELA
  • kakulle ALL / kakulla ADE / kakulta ABL
  • kakuksi TRANSL / kakkuna ESS

Consonant gradation in verbs

(See Verb types.)

N.B. only looking at personal forms in the indicative present.

Verb type 1

The infinitive is in the strong grade. The first- and second-person conjugations are in the weak grade, while the third-person conjugations are in the strong grade.

  • soittaa (verb type 1 ) : soitan / soitat / soittaa / soitamme / soitatte / soittavat

Verb type 2

There are only two verbs which undergo consonant gradation: tehdä and nähdä. Like verb type 1, the conjugations are weak/weak/strong for first-/second-/third-person respectively.

However, these infinitives are irregular. The stems are teke- / tee- and näke- / näe- respectively.

  • tehdä (verb type 2 ) : teen / teet / tekee / teemme / teette / tekevät
  • nähdä (verb type 2 ) : näen / näet / näkee / näemme / näette / näkevät

Verb type 3

The infinitive is in the weak grade. All the personal conjugations are in the strong grade.

Note that the changing consonants are further back in the word, as there is already a consonant pair at the end which changes for the personal suffixes.

  • kuunnella (verb type 3 ) : kuuntelen / kuuntelet / kuuntelee / kuuntelemme / kuuntelette / kuuntelevat

Verb type 4

Only some verbs can undergo consonant gradation – many do not, even though they have consonants which are compatible with gradation.

As with verb type 3, the infinitive is in the weak grade and the personal conjugations are in the strong grade.

  • luvata (verb type 4 ) : lupaan / lupaat / lupaa / lupaamme / lupaatte / lupaavat

Verb type 5

No verbs undergo consonant gradation.