_Indicative present._
Sing. 1. =me= _or_ =ime=—=luome=, =kaivaime=.
2. =tet=, =itet=, _or_ =te=—=pistätet=.
3. =kse=, =ikse=, _or_ =ksen=—=astuikse=, =istuikse=,
=astuiksen=, =katseleikse=.
_Imperfect._
Sing. 1. =ime=—=annoime=, =siirrime=, =siirräime=.
2. =ihet= _or_ =ihit=—=astelihet=, =suorihet=.
3. =ihe= _or_ =iin=—=ajoihe=, =loihe=, =vetihe=, =pistihe=,
=rikkoihe=, =heittiin=.
The termination =ime= is also found in the 1st pers. sing. of the
conditional and =ihe= in the 3rd sing. of the concessive and conditional.
The 2nd sing. of the Imper. often ends in =te= or =ite=—=veäite= (=vedä
itsesi=), =laskeite=, =paneite=. The inf. of such verbs generally ends
in =itä=; e.g. =vetäitä=. Rarely are found such forms as =kuolkosi=,
=kaotkosi= for =kuollos=, etc.
XII. The negative verb frequently follows instead of preceding the root
which it negatives; e.g. =oisi en paljo pitänyt, maha et lausua lapiksi=.
XIII. The style of the Kalevala is characterized by a general absence
of conjunctions and connecting particles, but on the other hand abounds
in syllables used merely to give emphasis or quite pleonastically. Such
are the suffixes =pa=, =pä=, =han=, =hän=, =kana=. The word =on= is used
in the same way; e.g. =juop’ on vanha Wäinämöinen.= =Tuop’ on Pohjolan
emäntä sanan virkkoi.= =Enpä anna tyttöäni.=
XIV. A number of other differences from the literary dialect occur, some
of which may be classified as follows:—
(1) Contracted essives, where the ordinary language prefers the full
form: =lasna= for =lapsena=; =nuorra= for =nuorena=; =suurra= for
=suurena=.
(2) In pronouns =ma=, =mä=, or =mie= for =minä=; =sa=, =sä=, =sie= for
=sinä=; =milma=, =silma= for =minua=, =sinua=; =miusta= for =minusta=;
=siulle= for =sinulle=, =ka= _or_ =ken= for =kuka=, =mi= for =mikä=.
(3) From the verb =olla= are found =oo= for =ole=; =oisi= for =olisi=;
=lie=, =liet= for =lienee=, =lienet=; =liekkö= for =lieneekö=.
(4) The imperf. ends in =ti= where in ordinary Finnish it is softened to
=si=: =kynti=, =löyti=, =kaati=, =pyyti= for =kynsi=, =löysi=, =kaasi=,
=pyysi=.
XV. The syntax of the Kalevala is marked by extreme simplicity in its
main features. This is natural in popular poetry, and, besides, the
system of versification (short lines of eight syllables generally
containing a complete sentence) and the tendency to parallelism and
repetition, were all unfavourable to the growth of long and involved
phrases. On the other hand, the sentences of the Kalevala are often
difficult to understand on account of their irregularity. Not only
are the boldest inversions and omissions permitted (e.g. =Emo tuosta
itkemähän= for =rupesi itkemähän=), but words are frequently strung
together in so loose a manner that, though the thought is plain, it is
almost impossible to analyse the sentence grammatically. For instance,
xl. 401, =Anna luoja, suo Jumala, Anna onni ollaksemme, Hyvin ain’
eleäksemme, kunnialla kuollaksemme=. This clearly means, _grant that
we may be prosperous, live well and die gloriously_, but it is almost
impossible to explain it grammatically. Such a tendency to be more
careful of the general sense than of the separate words and their correct
relation to one another, is very natural in a poem whose authors were
ignorant of grammar and had probably no written literature before them.
It is accompanied in the Kalevala by a habit of repeating the same idea
under numerous synonyms for the sake of emphasis and of creating new
words for the sake of parallelism or alliteration, which have sometimes
a meaning and bear testimony to the flexibility and fecundity of the
language, but sometimes are absolutely unmeaning. Thus in Kal. xi. 55 we
have =Enkä lähe Inkerelle, Penkerelle, pänkerelle=. Here =pänkerelle=
means nothing at all, but is simply a kind of repetition of =penkerelle=.
Similarly Kal. xlviii. 100, =Ihveniä, ahvenia, Tuimenia, taimenia=.
=Ihveniä= and =Tuimenia= are meaningless words.