Finnish

Finnish: A Comprehensive Grammar presents a fresh, accessible and thorough description of the language, concentrating on the real patterns of use in modern Finnish. The book moves from the sound system through morphology and word classes to a detailed analysis of sentence structures and semantic features. Key features include: particular focus on examples from spoken Finnish reflecting current usage, grammatic phenomena classified as common or rare, appendices distinguishing base forms from final letter combinations, English-Finnish contrasts highlighted throughout. This Comprehensive Grammar is an essential reference for the intermediatre and advanced learner and user of Finnish.

Fred Karlsson

Preface, Notational conventions and abbreviations, Chapter 1. Introduction, Chapter 2. Pronunciation and sound structure, Chapter 3. Word structure, Chapter 4 Two important sound alternations, Chapter 5. The declension of nominals, Chapter 6. The conjugation of verbs, Chapter 7. Interplay between Finnish morphology and syntax, Chapter 8. Phrases, Chapter 9. Simple clauses, Chapter 10. Complex sentences, Chapter 11. The nominative case, Chapter 12. The partitive case, Chapter 13. The genitive case and total objects, Chapter 14. Possessive endings, Chapter 15. The six local cases, Chapter 16. Other cases, Chapter 17. Numbers and numerals, Chapter 18. Pronouns, Chapter 19. Tenses, Chapter 20. Moods and modality, Chapter 21. Passive constructions, Chapter 22. Infinitive-based constructions, Chapter 23 Participle-based constructions, Chapter 24. Comparison of adjectives, Chapter 25. Other word classes and clitics, Chapter 26. Word formation, Chapter 27. The colloquial spoken language, Appendix 1: Detecting word structure, Appendix 2: Definitions of key concepts, Appendix 3: Material for studying Finnish as a foreign language, Index