Consonant changes occur in the inlection of both nouns and verbs and they are very characteristic of the Finnish language. These changes are quite regular with the consonants k, p, and t, both when they are alone and occurring in combination with certain other consonants (l, m, n, r).

There are two types of verbs undergoing k, p, t changes :

I Verbs that end in two vowels. This is the more common type and its characteristics are:

* the 3rd person forms have the same consonant(s) as the infinitive.

* the 1st and 2nd person forms have different consonants.

II Verbs that end in a vowel followed by -ta or -tä or verbs that end in -lla:

* all inflected verb forms have the strong form but the infinitive has the weak form

Type II	pakata 'to pack' kk-k	tavata 'to meet' p-v	ajatella 'to think' tt-t	suudella 'to kiss' t-d
1st p. sing. 2nd p. sing. 3rd p. sing. 1st p. pl. 2nd p. pl. 3rd p. pl.	minä pakkaan sinä pakkaat hän/se pakkaa me pakkaamme te pakkaatte he/ne pakkaavat	minä tapaan sinä tapaat hän/se tapaa me tapaamme te tapaatte he/ne tapaavat	minä ajattelen sinä ajattelet hän/se ajattelee me ajattelemme te ajattelette he/ne ajattelevat	minä suutelen sinä suutelet hän/se suutelee me suutelemme te suutelette he/ne suutelevat

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Last reviewed: December 13, 1997.