# Ingrian grammar

The Ingrian language is a highly endangered language spoken in Ingria, Russia. Ingrian is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, along with, among others, Finnish and Estonian. Ingrian is an agglutinative language and exhibits both vowel harmony and consonant gradation.
In the late 1930s, a written standard of the Ingrian language (referred to as kirjakeeli, "book language") was developed by the Ingrian linguist Väinö Junus [fi]. Following the Soviet Union's 1937 politics regarding minority languages, the Ingrian written language has been forbidden and Ingrian remains unstandardised ever since. This article describes the grammar of kirjakeeli with references to (modern) dialectal nuances.

## Morphological processes
### Consonant gradation

Many words in Ingrian display consonant gradation, a grammatical process where the final consonant of a root may change in some inflected forms. Gradated words have two forms, called the strong grade and the weak grade. Follows a list of consonant gradations present in Ingrian, with examples:
    Strong Weak Example Translation NOM.SG GEN.SG k∅jalkajalan"foot, leg" nkngkenkäkengän"shoe" t∅vahtivahin"guard" ltlliltaillan"evening" rtrrmertamerran"basket" ntnnrantarannan"shore" stssriistariissan"thing" pvapuavun"help" mpmmkumpakumman"which" pppleppälepän"alder" uut, yyt oot, öötuuvv, yyvv oovv, öövvsuutosuuvvon"court" VutVvvrautaravvan"iron" VukVvvleukalevvan"jaw, chin" VitVijmaitomaijon"milk" VikVjpoikapojan"boy, son" eik, iikeij, iijreikäreijän"hole"

### Consonant gemination

In nominals and verbs alike, consonant gemination is an active process where a consonant following a light, uneven syllable, if followed by an (underlyingly) open syllable with a long vowel or a diphthong, is geminated. This process can be seen in the following examples:
    sana ("word") → kaks sannaa ("two words")
    käkö ("cuckoo") → kaks käkköä ("two cuckoos")
This gemination should not be confused with consonant gradation: Both can occur in one word. For instance, pittää ("to keep") has both consonant gradation and gemination:
    pittää ("to keep"); miä piän ("I keep"); höö pitävät ("they keep")
Consonant gemination does not affect consonants that start an uneven syllable:
    literatura ("literature"); literaturaa ("into the literature")
Some (recent) loanwords aren't affected by gemination either:
    inženera ("engineer"); kaks inženeraa ("two engineers")
In the Soikkola dialect, there is a phonological distinction between primary geminates (those that were originally present in Proto-Finnic) and secondary geminates (those formed as a result of gemination). Primary geminates are realised as long, while secondary geminates are short. In the other dialects of Ingrian, both types of geminates are equally long.

### Vowel elongation

In contrast with consonant gemination, nouns that do not have an even number of syllables or do not have a penultimate light syllable, experience vowel elongation in the inessive and adessive endings, where the final vowel becomes long:
    paikka ("area") → paikaas ("in the area"), koira ("dog") → koiraal ("on the dog")
    orava ("squirrel") → oravaal ("on the squirrel"), Soikkola ("Soikinsky Peninsula") → Soikkolaas ("on the Soikinsky Peninsula")
If the noun has consonant gradation, the weak grade determines the vowel length of the inflectional ending:
    poika ("boy") → pojal ("on the boy")
In the Soikkola dialect, this rule also holds true for the elative, ablative and translative cases:
    paikka ("area") → paigaast ("from the area")
    orraava ("squirrel") → oravaalt ("off the squirrel")
    soomi ("Finnish") → soomeeks ("in Finnish")

## Nouns

The Ingrian language does not distinguish gender in nouns, nor is there a definiteness distinction. Nouns can be declined for both case and number.

### Cases

Ingrian nouns have thirteen noun cases. Unlike some plural pronouns, nouns don't have the accusative case and its function is taken over by either the genitive in the singular or the nominative in the plural.
    CaseSuffixEnglish PREPExampleTranslation nominative (nominativa)-∅—taloa house genitive (genitiva)-nof/'stalona house's partitive (partitiva)-(t)a / -(t)äa bit oftalloaa bit of a house illative (illativa)-Vintotalloointo a house inessive (inessiva)-sinsidetalosinside a house elative (elativa)-stout oftalostout of a house allative (allativa)-lleontotalolleonto a house adessive (adessiva)-lon top oftalolon top of a house ablative (ablativa)-ltout oftaloltout of a house translative (translativa)-ksinto (being)taloksinto (being) a house essive (essiiva)-nna / -nnäastalonnaas a house exessive (eksessiva)-ntout of (being)talontout of (being) a house comitative (komitativa)-nka / -nkäwithtalonkawith a house
In the modern (spoken) language, the exessive case has grown to be obsolete. Furthermore, the comitative is only present in the Ala-Laukaa dialect of the Ingrian language, although it was adopted into the written language as well.
Some of the endings differ among dialects. In the Soikkola dialect, for instance, the essive ending is -Vn rather than -nna, yielding talloon. On the other hand, many cases in the Ala-Laukaa dialect contain a final vowel: talossa, talosta, talolla, talolta, talokse, talonta.

#### Nominative

The nominative case is used primarily to mark the subject of a verb:
    Kana kaakattaa ("The chicken cackles")
    Kana muni munan ("The chicken laid an egg")
Furthermore, it can be used as a form of address:
    Mama, miä tahon söövvä ("Mum, I want to eat")

#### Accusative

As mentioned above, the accusative isn't morphologically distinct from the genitive in the singular and the nominative in the plural. The accusative case is used to mark a direct object of an affirmative telic verb:
    Poika sööp lihan ("The boy will eat the meat")
    Tyttö näki koirat ("The girl saw the dogs")
The accusative is identical to the nominative when a direct object of an impersonal verb or a verb in the imperative mood:
    Söö liha! ("Eat the meat!")
    Söövvää liha ("The meat is eaten")

#### Partitive

The partitive is used in a number of functions. First of all, it is used to mark a direct object of an affirmative atelic verb or any negative verb:
    Poika sööp lihhaa ("The boy is eating the meat")
    Tyttö näki koiria ("The girl was seeing the dogs")
    Elä söö lihhaa! ("Do not eat the meat!")
    Ämmä ei nää koiraa ("Grandma doesn't see the dog")
Secondly, the partitive case is used with numerals (other than yks, "one") and determiners to designate amounts of an object:
    Miul on kaks silmää ("I have two eyes")
    Miä näin paljo koiria ("I saw a lot of dogs")
The partitive can be used to designate indefinite amounts:
    Miul on rahhaa ("I have money")
The partitive is used in comparative constructions to mark the object of comparison:
    Miä oon paremp häntä ("I am better than him")
Finally, the partitive is used as an indirect object of some postpositions:
    Tämä ono podarka miun lapsia vart. ("This is a present for my children")

#### Genitive

The genitive is used primarily to mark a possession by the inflected noun:
    Miä näin pojan koiran. ("I saw the boy's dog.")
    Lapsiin pere on suur. ("The children's family is big.")
Furthermore, it is used as an indirect object of many prepositions and postpositions:
    Talon al ei oo mittä. ("Under the house there isn't anything.")
    Möö elämmä talon sises. ("We live inside the house.")

#### Illative

The illative is primarily used to describe a direction into something:
    Miä mänin talloo. ("I went into the house.")
    Miä tokuin merree. ("I fell into the sea.")
It is also used to mark the designation of an object:
    Tämä poika tööhö ei kelpaa. ("This boy isn't fit for work.")
Furthermore, the illative is used to indicate a cause:
    Miun emä kooli lässyy. ("My mother died of a sickness.")
Finally, the illative is used to denote a timespan during which something didn't happen:
    En miä joont kahtee päivää. ("I haven't had a drink in two days.")

#### Inessive

The inessive is primarily used to describe a location inside something:
    Miä oon talos. ("I am inside the house.")
    Miä ujun meres. ("I am swimming in the sea.")
It is also used to describe a duration during which something has happened:
    Ei stroitettu Rim yhes päivääs. ("Rome wasn't built in one day.")

#### Elative

The elative is primarily used to describe a movement out of something:
    Miä tulin talost. ("I came out of the house.")
    Miä hyppäisin merest. ("I jumped out of the sea.")
It is furthermore used to describe the subject of some kind of information:
    Miä luen lehmilöist. ("I am reading about cows.")
    Miä kirjutan meijen maast. ("I am writing about our country.")
The elative is used to denote a domain to which an object belongs:
    Miä oon paremp kaikist lapsist. ("I am the best of all the children.")
    Kaikest miun perreest, miä suvvaan vaa miun emmää. ("Out of all my family, I only love my mother")
Finally, the elative is used to denote a material from which something is made:
    Miä tein pöksyt täst kankaast. ("I made trousers from this fabric.")
    Laps teki samoljotan paperist. ("The child made an airplane from paper.")

#### Allative

The allative is primarily used to describe motion onto something:
    Miä hyppäisin kannelle. ("I jumped onto the table.")
    Kolja pani koiran stoolille. ("Kolja put the dog on the chair.")
It is furthermore used in a dative function to mark an indirect object:
    Miä annoin hänelle omenan. ("I gave him an apple.")
    Mitä hää siulle saoi? ("What did he say to you?")

#### Adessive

The adessive is primarily used to describe a location on top of something:
    Miä issun kanneel. ("I am sitting on the table.")
    Koljan koira ležžii stooliil. ("Kolja's dog is lying on the chair.")
It is also commonly used in a construction with the verb olla ("to be") to denote a possession:
    Miul ono kirja. ("I have a book.")
    Lapseel ovat pöksyt. ("The child has trousers.")
In the Soikkola dialect, the adessive is used instead of the comitative to denote an instrument of an action:
    Miä kirjutan krandoššiil. ("I am writing with a pencil.")
    Miä kuuntelen korviil. ("I am listening with [my] ears.")
Finally, the adessive is used to denote a location in time:
    Ööl suet jahtiijaat. ("At night, the wolves hunt.")
    Kesäl ilma ono lämmää. ("In summer, the weather is warm.")

#### Ablative

The primary function of the ablative is to describe a motion off of something:
    Miä hyppäisin kanelt. ("I jumped off the table.")
    Kolja nosti koiran stolilt. ("Kolja picked the dog up from the table.")
It is furthermore used to mark a source of an action:
    Miä sain hänelt omenan. ("I got an apple from him.")
    Mitä hää siult kuuli? ("What did he hear from you?")

#### Translative

The primary function of the translative is to describe one's change of state towards being something:
    Miä tahon noissa siun ystäväks. ("I want to become your friend.")
    I konna muuttui käppiäks tytöks. ("And the frog turned into a beautiful lass.")
It is also used to denote that an action was or will be done by a specific point in time:
    Hää noisen sinnua unohtamaa voovven lopuks. ("He will forget you by the end of the year.")
    Pittää meille ostaa podarkoja hänen nimipäiväks. ("We need to buy birthday presents for her birthday.")
Finally, the translative is used in many fixed impressions:
    Miä läkkään ižoraks. ("I speak Ingrian")
    Tämä poika näyttiijää oikiin käppiäks. ("This boy is (lit. seems) very pretty.")

#### Essive

The primary function of the essive is to describe one's current state of being:
    Miun isä tekköö töötä kalastajanna. ("My father works as a fisherman.")
    Miun emä ompelianna jaksaa laatia siun pöksylöjä. ("As a tailor, my mother can fix your trousers.")
It is also used to denote the point of time when an action occurs:
    Pyhännä möö määmmä kirkkoo. ("On sunday we will go to church.")
    Nimipäivännä miä sain paljo podarkoja. ("On my birthday I received a lot of presents.")

#### Exessive

The exessive is a rare case, and is practically not used outside of the literary language. It's used only to describe a change of state out of being something:
    Miä tulin pois ompelijant. ("I stopped being a tailor.")

### Stem types

A stem is the part of a word that can be changed by adding inflectional endings, and in most nominals corresponds to the nominative singular.

#### Vowel stems

Ingrian has several paradigms that involve a vowel that all endings are added onto. When pluralised, however, this vowel might change:
    stem vowel English NOM.SG GEN.SG PTV.SG ILL.SG NOM.PL GEN.PL PTV.PL ILL.PL Notes -achickenkanakanankannaakannaakanatkannoinkanojakannoiFollowed by nominals ending in -a when following a syllable with a, e or i and recent loanwords. -adogkoirakoirankoiraakoiraakoiratkoiriinkoiriakoiriiFollowed by native nominals ending in -a when following a syllable with o or u. -äsummerkesäkesänkessääkessääkesätkessiinkessiäkessii -a/-äparentvanhemp (<*vanhempa)vanhemmanvanhempaavanhempaavanhemmatvanhempiinvanhempiavanhempiiFollowed by nominals with historically an underlying final -a or -ä that underwent full vowel reduction. -eleaflehti (<*lešte)lehenlehtiälehteelehetlehtilöinlehtilöjälehtilöiheFollowed by nominals where (pre-)Proto-Finnic *-e regularly changed to -i. -iguardvahtivahinvahtiavahtiivahitvahtiloinvahtilojavahtiloiheFollowed by relatively recent borrowings, from after the Proto-Finnic period, ending in -i. -o/-ö, -u/-ybirchkoivukoivunkoivuakoivuukoivutkoivuin, koivuloinkoivuja, koivulojakoivuihe, koivuloihe -VVearthmaamaanmaatamaahamaatmaijenmaitamaiheFollowed by nouns ending in long vowels and diphthongs. The illative takes on the final vowel, unless it's i, in which case the ending is -e. -oi/-öislaughterhouseboinoiboinoinboinoitaboinoiheboinoitboinoinboinoitaboinoiheOnly used in Russian loanwords. In the Ala-Laukaa dialect, where the final -oi, -öi is pronounced as a monophthong, these nominals inflect as others ending in -o, -ö. In the Soikkola dialect, the plural cases are suppleted from the paradigm of nouns ending in -o, -ö.
In the Soikkola dialect, a separate paradigm exists for nouns ending in -oi (< Proto-Finnic -oi), which in the Ala-Laukaa dialect and Literary Ingrian have lost their final component of the diphthong:
    stem vowel English NOM.SG GEN.SG PTV.SG ILL.SG NOM.PL GEN.PL PTV.PL ILL.PL Notes [-oi-] (-o-)fox[reboi] (repo)[revoin] (revon)[reppooja] (reppoa)[reppoi] (reppoo)[revoid] (revot)[reboloin] (reppoin, repoloin)[reboloja] (repoja, repoloja)[reboloihe] (reppoi, repoloihe)Forms given in square brackets represent (approximate) pronunciation of the Soikkola form, the forms given below represent the Literary Ingrian form.

#### Consonant stems

Other nouns have their endings attached on a consonant base.
The largest group of these are nouns ending (underlyingly) in a -i, which resemble e-stems like lehti. The only difference between this paradigm and that of e-stems is the partitive singular, where the ending is added onto the consonant and is -ta (-tä), rather than -a (-ä).
The final consonant of these nouns must be either h, l, m, n, r, s or t:
    English NOM.SG GEN.SG PTV.SG ILL.SG NOM.PL GEN.PL PTV.PL ILL.PL tonguekeelikeelenkeeltäkeeleekeeletkeeliinkeeliäkeelii bigsuur (<*suuri)suurensuurtasuureesuuretsuuriinsuuriasuurii
Due to historical reasons, some nouns in this class have an irregular change of the stem:
    English NOM.SG GEN.SG PTV.SG Notes knifeveitsiveitsenveistäIn a cluster -Cs, the partitive singular stem is -s. childlapslapsenlasta watervesiveenvettäWord-final *-ti regularly became -si. fiveviisviijenviittä snowlumilumenluntam assimilates to the following t. oneyksyhenyhtäIn the nominative singular and in the plural, *-kt became -ks, while in the singular and nominative plural it became -ht (~ -h)
Some nouns historically ended on a consonant. In these nouns, the consonant before the final vowel is gradated:
    English NOM.SG GEN.SG PTV.SG daughtertytär (<*tüt'är)tyttärentytärtä
A final subclass of such nouns are those ending in -ut (-yt). These exhibit an irregular illative ending and form the plural differently from e-stem nouns:
    English NOM.SG GEN.SG PTV.SG ILL.SG NOM.PL GEN.PL PTV.PL ILL.PL Sunpäivytpäivyenpäivyttäpäivyessepäivyetpäivyeinpäivyeitäpäivyeisse beerolutolluenoluttaolluesseolluetollueinollueitaollueisse
Another large group of nouns in Ingrian end in the consonant -s. These, again, come in various inflection types:
    stem consonant(s) English NOM.SG GEN.SG PTV.SG ILL.SG NOM.PL GEN.PL PTV.PL ILL.PL Notes -nt-thirdkolmaskolmannenkolmattakolmanteekolmannetkolmansiinkolmansiakolmansiiBefore -i, the stem consonants change to -ns-. In the partitive singular, the stem extends to -tt-. -h-manmeesmeehenmeestämeeheemeehetmeehiinmeehiämeehii -∅-columnpatsaspatsaanpatsastapatsaassepatsaatpatsainpatsaitapatsaisseIn the Soikkola dialect, the stem consonant -h- is retained (for instance, the genitive singular is patsahan) -ks-treasonpetospetoksenpetostapetokseepetoksetpetoksiinpetoksiapetoksii -ks-lawoikehusoikehuenoikehuttaoikehueeoikehuetoikehuksiinoikehuksiaoikehuksiiThe stem consonants only appears in the plural; In the singular, the stem-final -s is elided, while in the partitive, the stem extends to -tt-. -m-orphanarmatoinarmattomanarmatointaarmattommaaarmattomatarmattommiinarmattommiaarmattommiiNote that in the nominative and partitive singular, the root ends in -in-, rather than the expected -n-.
A third group includes nouns ending in the consonant -n:
    stem consonant(s) English NOM.SG GEN.SG PTV.SG ILL.SG NOM.PL GEN.PL PTV.PL ILL.PL Notes -s-flykärpäinkärpäisenkärpäistäkärpäiseekärpäisetkärpäisiinkärpäisiäkärpäisiiIn some words, like ihmiin ("human"), the vowel preceding -n is shortened in inflected forms. In the Soikkola dialect, the partitive singular retains a weak grade of the stem: kärpäin - kärväist.
Finally, some nouns ending in -e have an underlying stem consonant -∅-:
    stem consonant(s) English NOM.SG GEN.SG PTV.SG ILL.SG NOM.PL GEN.PL PTV.PL ILL.PL Notes -∅-boatvenevenneenvenettävenneessevenneetvenneinvenneitäveneisseeCompare this noun class to nouns like patsas ("column"). The Soikkola dialect splits this class in two, namely those that retain the Proto-Finnic consonant -h (vene - venneehen; "boat"; < Proto-Finnic *veneh), and those that reflect the Proto-Finnic consonant -k (lähe - lähteen; "spring, source"; < Proto-Finnic *lähdek).

## Adjectives

Ingrian adjectives are inflected identically to nouns, and agree in number to the modified noun. In all cases but the comitative, the case of the adjectives also agrees with the case of the noun. A noun in the comitative is modified by an adjective in the genitive:
    IngrianEnglish suur poika"a big boy" suuren pojan"of the big boy" kaks suurta poikaa"two big boys" suuren pojanka"with the big boy" suuret pojat"big boys"

### Comparative

The comparative degree of Ingrian adjectives is generally formed by adding the suffix -mp to the adjective:
    Positive degreeEnglishComparative degreeEnglish korkia"high"korkiamp"higher" noori (noore-)"young"nooremp"younger"
In some cases, a stem-final -a, -ä is transformed into an -e- in the comparative:
    Positive degreeEnglishComparative degreeEnglish vanha"old"vanhemp"older" pitkä (pitä-)"long"pitemp"longer"
The comparative degree of the adjective inflects just like any other nominal:
    IngrianEnglish suuremp poika"the bigger boy" suuremman pojan"of the bigger boy"
Note that comparative endings have an underlying final vowel -a (or -ä in front-vocalic words).

### Superlative

Unlike Finnish and Estonian, Ingrian doesn't have a superlative degree morphologically distinct from the comparative. Instead, a form of the indefinite pronoun kaik ("all") is used together with the comparative:
    IngrianEnglish kaikkia suuremp poika"the biggest boy" (literally: "the boy bigger than all") kaikkiin suuremp poika"the biggest boy" (literally: "the boy biggest of all") kaikkiis suuremp poika"the biggest boy" (literally: "the boy biggest among all")
Furthermore, the adverb samoi (borrowed from the Russian самый) can be used together with either the positive or comparative form of the adjective to express a superlative:
    IngrianEnglish samoi suur poika"the biggest boy" (literally: "the most big boy") samoi suuremp poika"the biggest boy" (literally: "the most biggest boy")

## Pronouns

Ingrian pronouns are inflected similarly to their referent nouns. A major difference is the existence of the accusative (plural) in personal and some demonstrative pronouns, which is absent in all nouns and adjectives.

### Personal pronouns

Unlike in Finnish, personal pronouns can be used to refer to both animate and inanimate nouns alike. Follows a table of personal pronouns:
    1st person2nd person3rd person singularpluralsingularpluralsingularplural Nominative miä ("I")möö ("we")siä ("you")töö ("you")hää ("he, she, it")höö ("they") Accusative miunmeijetsiunteijethänenheijet Genitive miunmeijensiunteijenhänenheijen Partitive minnuameitäsinnuateitähäntäheitä Illative miuhumeihesiuhuteihehänneeheihe Inessive miusmeissiusseishänesheis Essive miunnameinnäsiunnateinnähänennäheinnä Comitative miunkameijenkäsiunkateijenkähänenkäheijenkä
Other locative cases are formed using the appropriate nominal case endings to the inessive stem.
As seen above, Ingrian does not have grammatical gender, so the pronoun hää can be used for both male, female and inanimate referents alike. However, inanimate nouns are often referred to using the demonstrative pronoun se ("this") instead.
Some variation occurs among different dialects of Ingrian in regards to the personal pronouns. First of all, dialects with mid vowel raising exhibit the plural pronouns myy, tyy and hyy for möö, töö and höö respectively. Furthermore, in the Ala-Laukaa dialect, the third person singular pronoun hän is found instead of hää. Similar forms have been found also in the now-extinct Hevaha and Ylä-Laukaa dialects.
Since verbs in Ingrian conjugate according to grammatical person and number, subject personal pronouns may sometimes be omitted in Ingrian. In most cases, however, the person remains doubly marked, and the reasons for dropping the pronoun are similar to ones in Russian.

### Demonstrative pronouns

Ingrian demonstratives can be used both as pronouns and as determiners in a determiner phrase. There are three sets of demonstratives: proximal (near to the speaker), distal (far from the speaker) and neutral, which is used to refer to an object without specifying its relative location is space, and is often used in anaphoras:
    ProximalDistalNeutral singularpluralsingularpluralsingularplural Nominative tämä ("this")nämät ("these")too ("that")noo ("those")se ("this, that")neet ("these, those") Accusative tämännämättoonnoosenneet Genitive tämännäijentoonnoijensenenniijen Partitive tätänäitätootanootasitäniitä Illative tähänäihetoohonoohesiiheniihe Inessive täsnäistoosnoossiinniis Elative tästnäisttoostnoostsiintniist Allative tällenäilletoollenoollesilleniille Adessive tälnäiltoolnoolsilniil Ablative tältnäilttooltnooltsiltniilt Translative täksnäikstooksnookssiksniiks Essive tämännänäinnätoonnanoonnasenennäniinnä
The proximal demonstatives can be contracted to tää (< tämä), tään (< tämän) and näät (< nämät). Again, in dialects with mid vowel raising, the distal demonstratives are tuu and nuu rather than too and noo respectively. Furthermore, in the Ala-Laukaa and the extinct Hevaha dialects, as well as among some speakers of the Soikkola dialect, the plural neutral pronoun is ne rather than neet.
The genitive and accusative singular of the neutral demonstrative pronoun are often used interchangeably, counter to the prescriptive usage described in Junus (1936). Furthermore, for most speakers of the modern Soikkola dialect, the functions of the distal demonstrative have been taken over by the neutral pronoun (se/neet).

### Interrogative pronouns

Ingrian interrogatives are divided into one that has an animate referent (ken, "who?") and one that has an inanimate referent (mikä, "what?"). Originally, the latter is a combination of the pronoun *mi- and the interrogative clitic -kä, but its inflected forms are still formed on the basis of the free pronoun:
    AnimateInanimate Nominative kenmikä Genitive kenenminen Partitive ketämitä Illative kehemihe Inessive kesmis Essive kenennäminennä
Other locative cases are formed using the appropriate nominal case endings to the inessive stem.
The interrogatives also have plural forms of the nominative, ket and mit respectively. Other case forms are used in the singular and plural alike. Like in Finnish and Estonian, but also English, the interrogatives are also used as relative pronouns:
    Mikä ono? ("What is it?")
    En tiije, mikä ono. ("I don't know, what it is.")

## Verbs
### Person and number

Ingrian verbs inflect for three persons, two numbers, and feature a separate impersonal form.
    NumberPersonSuffixExampleTranslation singularfirst-n(miä) etsinI search for second-t(siä) etsityou (SG) search for third-V(hää) etsiihe/she/it searches for pluralfirst-mma / -mmä(möö) etsimmäwe search for second-tta / -ttä(töö) etsittäyou (PL) search for third-Vt -vat / -vät(höö) etsiit etsivätthey search for impersonal-taa / -tääetsitääone searches
The impersonal form may always be used to denote the third person plural.

### Mood

Ingrian verbs inflect for four moods: indicative, conditional, imperative and potential. Of these, the potential is very rare.
The indicative mood is the only one to feature a past tense separate from the present tense and not formed by means of modal verbs.
    MoodSuffixExampleTranslation PRES indicative-∅(hää) tahtoohe/she/it wants IMPERF indicative-i(hää) tahtoihe/she/it wanted conditional-is(i)(hää) tahtoishe/she/it would have wanted potential-ne(hää) tahtonoohe/she/it may want
The paradigm of the impersonal forms is irregular:
    MoodSuffixExampleTranslation PRES indicative-taa/-täätahotaaone wants IMPERF indicative-ttiitahottiione wanted conditional-ttais/-ttäistahottaisone would have wanted potential-ttanoo/-ttänöötahottannooone may want
In verbs whose stems end in -n, -l, -r, -s, -h the initial -t- of the impersonal forms is dropped, or (in the case of present indicative) assimilated to the preceding consonant:
    männä - män- ("to go") → männää, mäntii etc.
    kuulla - kuul- ("to hear") → kuullaa, kuultii etc.
    purra - pur- ("to bite") → purraa, purtii etc.
    pessä - pes- ("to wash") → pessää, pestii etc.
    nähä - näh- ("to see") → nähhää, nähtii etc.
The imperative paradigm is also highly irregular compared to the other three moods, and occurs only in the second and third person, as well as the impersonal:
    NumberPersonSuffixExampleTranslation singularsecond-∅(siä) tahowant! (SG) third-koo / -köö(hää) tahtokoohe/she/it must want pluralsecond-kaa / -kää(töö) tahtokaawant! (PL) third-koot -kööt(höö) tahtokootthey must want impersonal-ttakoo / -ttäköötahottakkooone must want

#### Indicative mood

The indicative mood is used to describe actions that either have happened, are happening at the moment, or will inevitably happen:
    Miä käyn ulitsaa mööt ("I am walking along the road")
    Miä ujuin joes ("I was swimming in the river")
The present forms of the indicatives can always be used to describe a future action:
    Hoomeen, miä mään škouluu ("Tomorrow, I am going to go to school")

#### Conditional mood

The conditional mood is used to describe actions which would have happened if a certain condition were met; At the same time, it is used to describe that condition:
    Jos miä olisin suur, mänisin škouluu ("If I were big, I would go to school")
When the condition refers to the future, or is a general remark that is true regardless of time, the indicative is used instead:
    Jos oon suur, mään škouluu ("If I am (ever) big, I will go to school")
    Jos katsoa, voip nähä ("If one looks, he will be able to see")

#### Imperative mood

The imperative mood is used to give commands, either directly (to one's collocutor), or by expressing a wish about a third person:
    Anna sitä miulle! ("Give that to me!")
    Emä olkoo terve! ("May mother be healthy!")
In the first person, there is no imperative, and instead other constructions are used with a similar effect:
    Anna miä laulan ("Let me sing")
    Laa möö määmmä kottii ("Let us go home")

#### Potential mood

The potential mood is used to describe actions that are likely, but uncertain to happen:
    Miä kirjuttanen kirjan ("I will probably write a letter")
The potential forms of the verb olla ("to be") are irregular, and are used as a separate future tense instead:
    Miä leenen suur ("I will be big")
The potential forms are frequently followed by the clitics -k and -kse.

### Stem types

Like nominals, verbs can be divided into a number of inflectional classes, according to which they are inflected, each class associated with a particular form of the stem.

#### Vowel stems

    stem vowel English 1st. INF PRES.IND IMPERF.IND PRES.COND Notes 1SG3SG 1SG3SG 1SG3SG -o/-ö -u/-yto lookkatsoakatsonkatsookatsoinkatsoikatsoisinkatsois -a/-äto sowkylvääkylvänkylvääkylvinkylvikylväisinkylväis -a/-äto ploughkyntääkynnänkyntääkynsinkynsikyntäisinkyntäisFollowed by verbs whose stem ends on -nta- (-ntä-), -lta- (-ltä-), -rta- (-rtä-), or -Vta- (-Vtä-) -ato paymaksaamaksanmaksaamaksoinmaskoimaksaisinmaksaisFollowed by bisyllabic verbs whose first stem vowel is either -a-, -e- or -i- -eto lowerlaskialasenlaskoolasinlaskilaskisinlaskisIn the infinitive, the historical combination *-ea (*-eä) regularly becomes -ia (-iä). In the third person singular present, the historical combination *-ee regularly becomes -oo/-öö. -ito believesalliasallinsalliisallinsallisallisinsallis -Vito rainvihmojavihmoinvihmoivihmoinvihmoivihmoisinvihmoisNote that the -i- intervocalically becomes -j-: *vihmoi+a > vihmoja -VVto marrynaijanainnaipnainnainaisinnaisFollowed by monosyllabic verbs ending in an unrounded vowel. Unlike in other inflections, the infinitive ending is -ja (-jä) instead of -a (-ä) and the third person singular present ending is -p. -VVto eatsöövväsöönsööpsöinsöisöisinsöisFollowed by monosyllabic verbs ending in a rounded vowel. Unlike in other inflections, the infinitive ending is -vva (-vvä) instead of -a (-ä) and the third person singular present ending is -p.

#### Consonant stems

Most consonant stem types are inflected in much the same way as laskia, but exhibit an intrusive consonant in moods other than the infinitive:
    stem consonant(s) English 1st. INF PRES.IND IMPERF.IND PRES.COND Notes 1SG3SG 1SG3SG 1SG3SG -s-/-r-to washpessäpesenpessööpesinpesipesisinpesisThe infinitive ending goes back to an original *-stak / *-rdak, which then regularly developed into -ssa and -rra, respectively. -l-to fly aroundlennellälentelenlentelöölentelinlentelilentelisinlenteliisFormally identical to the preceding type, with the exception that the syllable preceding the stem consonant may gradate. -ts-to choosevalitavalitsenvalitsoovalitsinvalitsivalitsisinvalitsiis -ks-to runjoossajooksenjooksoojooksinjooksijooksisinjooksiis -n-to fleepaetapakenenpakenoopakeninpakenipakenisinpakeniis
Two other frequent types of consonant stems used to feature the Proto-Finnic consonant *-d-, which was regularly lost in Ingrian:
    stem consonant(s) English 1st. INF PRES.IND IMPERF.IND PRES.COND Notes 1SG3SG 1SG3SG 1SG3SG -∅-to borrowlainatalainaanlainajaalainaisinlainaislainajaisinlainajaisThe vowel preceding the stem consonant is duplicated after it, resulting in a long vowel in the present indicative. If the preceding vowel is -i-, the imperfect forms keep only one -i- (e.g. hävitä - hävisin - hävijäisin). -∅-to be ashamedhävetähäppiinhäpijäähäpisinhäpishäpijäisinhäpijäisNote how the vowel preceding the stem consonant changes from -e- to -i-.
A final type of vowel stems, which are unique to Ingrian, are reflexive conjugations, which are formed with the suffix -issa and its allomorphs:
    stem consonant(s) English 1st. INF PRES.IND IMPERF.IND PRES.COND Notes 1SG3SG 1SG3SG 1SG3SG -∅-to descendlaskiissalaskiinlaskiijaalaskiisinlaskiislaskiijaisinlaskiijaisNote how unlike the lainata-type conjugations, this verb features a long vowel throughout the paradigm -∅-to throw upoksentaissaoksentaanoksentaijaaoksentaisinoksentaisoksentaijaisinoksentaijaisFormally identical to the preceding type, with the exception that the verb contains a diphthong instead of a long vowel before the stem consonant. -∅-to separateerahussaerahunerahuuerahuinerahuierahuisinerahuis

#### Irregular verbs

There are a handful of verbs in Ingrian that do not follow the above mentioned patterns. These will be discussed here in detail.
The most irregular verb in Ingrian is the copulative verb olla ("to be"). Overall, it mostly follows the pattern of l-final consonant stems (like lennellä), but features a completely irregular present indicative, imperative, and potential paradigms (as mentioned above, the potential is used to mark the future tense of this verb):
    NumberPersonIndicativeImperativePotential singularfirstoon—leenen secondootoo!leenet thirdono onolkoo!leenöö lee pluralfirstoomma—leenemmä secondoottaolkaa!leenettä thirdovatolkoot!leenööt impersonalollaaoltakoo!oltanöö
The rest of the forms are formed regularly, according to the l-final stems.
The verbs tulla ("to come"), männä ("to go") and panna ("to put") also mostly follows the l-final stems in conjugation, except in the indicative and the second-person singular imperative:
    NumberPersontullamännäpanna singularfirsttöön / tyenmäänpaan thirdtulloomännööpannoo pluralfirsttöömmä / tyemmämäämmäpaamma thirdtulloot tulevatmännööt mänevätpannoot panevat impersonaltullaamännääpannaa imperativetöö! / tye!mää!paa!
The verbs nähä ("to see") and tehä ("to do") are also conjugated according to the l-final stems, but feature a stem ending in -k- (which gradates regularly with -∅-) in indicative and conditional non-impersonal forms, the second-person singular imperative, the present active participle, and in the 3rd and 4th infintives:
    NumberPersonnähätehä singularfirstnään / näenteen thirdnäkköötekköö pluralfirstnäämmä / näemmäteemmä thirdnäkkööt näkevättekkööt tekevät impersonalnähhäätehhää imperativenää!tee! 4th infinitivenäkömiintekömiin active participlenäkövätekövä
The verbs seissa ("to stand") and haissa ("to smell") are conjugated very similarly, featuring the stem seiso- and haiso- (following -o final verbs like katsoa) in indicative and conditional non-impersonal forms, the second-person singular imperative, the present active participle, and in the 3rd and 4th infintives:
    MoodPersonseissahaissa PRES indicative1SGseisonhaison 3SGseisoohaisoo IMPRS.SGseissaahaissaa IMPERF indicative1SGseisoinhaisoin 3SGseisoihaisoi IMPRS.SGseistiihaistii conditional1SGseisoisinhaisoisin 3SGseisoishaisois IMPRS.SGseistaishaistais 4th infinitiveseisomiinhaisomiin PRES ACT PTCPseisovahaisova PRES PASS PTCPseissavahaissava
The verbs tiitää ("to know"), siitää ("to tolerate") and tuntaa ("to feel"), but feature the weak stems tiije- and tunne- instead of tiijä- and tunna-, respectively:
    MoodPersontiitääsiitäätuntaa PRES indicative1SGtiijensiijentunnen 3SGtiitääsiitäätuntaa IMPRS.SGtiijetääsiijetäätunnetaa IMPERF indicative1SGtiisinsiisintunsin 3SGtiisisiisitunsi IMPRS.SGtiijettiisiijettiitunnettii conditional1SGtiitäisinsiitäisintuntaisin 3SGtiitäissiitäistuntais IMPRS.SGtiijettäissiijettäistunnettais 4th infinitivetiitämiinsiitämiintuntamiin PRES ACT PTCPtiitäväsiitävätuntava PRES PASS PTCPtiijettäväsiijettävätunnettava
The last two irregular verbs are sannoa and lähtiä. The former shows the weak stem sao-, whereas the latter shows the past stem läksi-.
    MoodPersonsannoalähtiä PRES indicative1SGsaonlähen 3SGsannoolähtöö IMPRS.SGsaotaalähetää IMPERF indicative1SGsaoinläksin 3SGsaoiläksi IMPRS.SGsaottiilähettii conditional1SGsanoisinlähtisin 3SGsanoislähtis IMPRS.SGsaottaislähettäis 4th infinitivesanomiinlähtömiin PRES ACT PTCPsanovalähtevä PRES PASS PTCPsaottavalähettävä

### Infinitives

Ingrian verbs possess four different infinitive forms, each of which may be inflected in various cases:
    NumberCaseEndingExampleTranslation 1stnominative-(t)a/-(t)ätahtoato want 2ndinessive-(t)estahtojeeswhen wanting instructive-(t)entahtoenby wanting 3rdillative-maa/-määtahtomaawith the intention of wanting inessive-mas/-mästahtomaasin the act of wanting elative-mast/-mästtahtomastfrom just having been wanting abessive-mata/-mätätahtomatawithout wanting 4thnominative-miintahtomiinthe act of wanting
The fourth infinitive is formally a verbal noun but is fully productive and may occur in certain (rare) grammatical constructions.

### Participles

Every Ingrian verb has four distinct participles:
    TenseVoiceEndingExampleTranslation presentactive-va/-vätahtovathat wants passive-ttava/-ttävätahottavathat is wanted pastactive-nt -nut/-nyttahtont tahtonutthat wanted passive-ttu/-ttytahottuthat was wanted
The formation of the past active participle is not always straightforward. Verb stems ending in the consonants -n, -l, -r and -s, -h assimilate the initial consonant of the ending to the stem consonant:
    männä - män- ("to go") → mänt, männyt
    kuulla - kuul- ("to hear") → kuult, kuullut
    purra - pur- ("to bite") → purt, purrut
    pessä - pes- ("to wash") → pest, pessyt
    nähä - näh- ("to see") → näht, nähnyt
In verbs whose stems end in -n, -l, -r, -s, -h the initial -t- of the passive participles is also lost:
    männä - män- ("to go") → mänty, mäntävä
    kuulla - kuul- ("to hear") → kuultu, kuultava
    purra - pur- ("to bite") → purtu, purtava
    pessä - pes- ("to wash") → pesty, pestävä
    nähä - näh- ("to see") → nähty, nähtävä

### Negation

The negative in Ingrian is expressed with the negative verb ei, which is conjugated irregularly:
    NumberPersonIndicativeImperative singularfirsten— secondetelä thirdeielköö pluralfirstemmä— secondettäelkää thirdevätelkööt
The negative verb is used with various forms of the main verb, called connegatives, to express the negation of that main verb. These connegatives vary by mood, but not by person:
    MoodEndingExampleTranslationNotes PRES indicative-∅(hää) ei tahohe/she/it doesn't wantidentical in form to the second-person singular imperative IMPERF indicative-nt -nut/-nyt(hää) ei tahtont (hää) ei tahtonuthe/she/it didn't wantidentical in form to the past active participle conditional-is(hää) ei tahtoishe/she/it wouldn't have wantedidentical in form to the third-singular conditional potential-ne(hää) ei tahtonehe/she/it may not want
In the imperative, there is a separate connegative for the second person singular and all other persons:
    MoodEndingExampleTranslationNotes 2sg imperative-∅elä taho!do not want!identical in form to the second-person singular imperative non-2sg imperative-ko/-köelköö tahtokohe/she/it must not want
To express the negation of the impersonal forms of a verb, the third singular form of the negative is used with an impersonal connegative, which also inflects by mood:
    MoodEndingExampleTranslationNotes PRES indicative-ta/-täei tahotait is not wanted IMPERF indicative-ttu/-ttyei tahottuit was not wantedidentical in form to the past passive participle conditional-ttais/-ttäisei tahottaisit would not have been wantedidentical in form to the impersonal conditional potential-ttane/-ttäneei tahottaneit may not be wanted imperative-ttako/-ttäköei tahottakoit must not be wanted
To negate any other verbal or non-verbal form the negative verb, inflected to the person of the subject of the main clause, is placed directly before this form:
    Miä en taho siin en olla ("I do not want to not be here")
    Miä en maha en suutia enkä laatia ("I can neither judge nor decree")
Note that in Ingrian, double negatives are obligatory:
    Kenkää sitä ei tiije ("Nobody knows that")
    Miä mittää en teht ("I did nothing / I did not do anything")

## Adverbs

Ingrian adverbs are most commonly derived from adjectives by adding the suffix -st:
    IngrianEnglishIngrianEnglish hyvä"good"→hyväst"well" kerkiä"easy"→kerkiäst"easily" rauhalliin"peaceful"→rauhallisest"peacefully"
Note that the resulting form is always identical to the elative singular of the adjective.
Other frequent methods of forming adverbs include using the illative or adding the suffixes -in, -staa, -ttee and others.
Comparative adverbs are very rare, and are exclusively formed from comparative adjectives:
    tihti ("frequent"), tihimp ("more frequent") → tihtii ("frequently"), tihimpää ("more frequently")

## Numerals

Ingrian features morphologically distinct cardinal and ordinal numbers:
    NumberCardinalOrdinal 0nolli— 1yksensimäin 2kakstoin 3koltkolmas 4neljäneljäs 5viisviijes 6kuuskuuvves 7seitsenseitsemäs 8kaheksankaheksas 9yheksänyheksäs 10kymmenkymmenäs 100satasattais 1000tuhattatuhattais
Numbers from 11-19 are formed by adding the single cardinal numeral to -toist ("of the second") and -toist kymmenäs for the cardinal and ordinal numbers, respectively:
    3 kolt → 13 kolttoist
    3-s kolmas → 13-s kolttoist kymmenäs
Terms for tens are formed by adding the single cardinal numeral to -kymment ("of teen") and -kymmenäs ("tenth") for the cardinal and ordinal numbers, respectively:
    3 kolt → 30 koltkymment
    3-s kolmas → 30-s koltkymmenäs
Other terms from 21-99 are formed by simply stacking the single numerals onto the number for a multiple of tens:
    20 kakskymment → 21 kakskymment yks
    20-s kakskymmenäs → 21-s kakskymmenäs ensimäin
An alternative way of forming these numerals is also attested, where the above method of 11-19 is used:
    20 kakskymment → 21 ykskolmatta
    20-s kakskymmenäs → 21-s ykskolmatta kymmenäs
The object of cardinal numbers other than yks (1) is always put in the partitive singular:
    yks koira ("one dog")
    kaks koiraa ("two dogs")
    sata koiraa ("a hundred dogs")
    sata yks koiraa ("a hundred and one dogs")
When the cardinal number is inflected, the object noun is inflected to the same case, but stays singular:
    Miä möin kolmenkymmenän sian korman ("I sold the fodder of thirty pigs")
    Sil kolmeel lehmääl ono sama karva ("Those three cows have the same colour")
Unlike simple nouns, where the direct object of telic verbs is expressed by the accusative (genitive/nominative) case, nouns modified by a numeral keep the same form in the function of the telic direct object as of the subject:
    Miä ossin kaks lehmää ("I bought two cows")
    Miä ossin kahta lehmää ("I was buying two cows")
    Kaks lehmää ostiit miun ("Two cows bought me")
This rule is also extended to a handful of pronouns:
    Miä ossin kaik ("I bought everything")
    Miä ossin kaikkia ("I was buying everything")
    Kaik ono hyvä ("Everything is good")
For plural-only nouns, either a measure word or the plural of the numeral should be used:
    Miul ono kaks parria ackoja. ("I have two pairs of glasses.")
    Miul ono kahet ackoja. ("I have two pairs of glasses.")

## Sentence structure
### Question formation

In Ingrian, questions are formed either by using an interrogative word, or by adding the interrogative clitic -k (or its variants -ka / -kä and -ko / -kö) to the first word (or, in the case of nouns, phrase) in a sentence:
    Mitä siä sööt? ("What are you eating?")
    Suvvaatk siä siun vanhempia? ("Do you love your parents?")
The most frequent interrogative pronouns include ken ("who"), mikä ("what"), kuka ("which (of many)"), kumpa ("which one").
The most frequent interrogative determiners include millain ("what kind"), kumpa ("which") and monta ("how many").
Ingrian interrogative adverbs include kuin ("how"), miks ("why") and kons ("when").
Interrogatives are usually put at the beginning of a sentence.

### Deliberative

The deliberative mood, denoting indirect questions, is expressed by adding either the particle -kse or, as with direct questions, -k, to the indicative or the potential:
    Miä en tiije, leenöökse rookaa pulmiis. ("I don't know, whether there will be food at the wedding.")
    Pittää sannoa, tahommak möö söövvä. ("We have to say, whether we want to eat.")
    Tehnenkse miä sen? ("Shall I do it?")

### Discourse particles

Ingrian has a rich system of discourse particles, some of which are inherited from Proto-Finnic, while others are borrowed from Russian.
The free particle i has the same function as the clitic -ki, and both can be used together to enhance the effect; these particles are used to denote an extreme which was fulfilled in a positive sentence:
    Miä hänelleki annoin podarkaa. ("I gave him a present, too.")
    Miä i Pettoaki kutsuin. ("I even invited Peto.")
The negative counterpart of -ki and i is the clitic -kaa, which denotes an extreme that wasn't fulfilled in a negative sentence:
    Miul ei oo kopekkaakaa. ("I don't even have a kopek.")
The particle davai is used to denote the agent starting an action, especially with some enthousiasm:
    Mees näki varasta ja davai häntä löömää. ("The man saw the thief and of he went hitting him.")
The clitic -to is used to denote a contrastive emphasis:
    Laa Annu ostaa viinaa, hänel-to ono rahhaa. ("Let Annu buy the alcohol, she has money, after all.")
Similarly emphatic particles že and vet are used to appeal to the collocutor's agreement:
    No miä že en tiije, mont hänel ono rahhaa. ("Well I don't know how much money she has, do I?")
    Miä en saa olla traktoristanna, miul vet ei oo traktoraa. ("I can't be a tractorist, I don't have a tractor, do I?")
The clitic -pa has two functions; firstly, it is used to denote surprise or disappointment:
    Kuinpa lapset ollaa reukkaat! ("Gosh, how dirty children are!")
Secondly, -pa can be used to express concessions or admissions:
    Miulpa ei oo lapsiloja, mut miä oon näht heijet! ("Well, I don't have any children, but I've seen them!")
Finally, the clitic -haa can be used to engage the collocutor in the conversation, especially while indicating surprise:
    Petteriis ono, kuinhaa saotaa, muuzeja. ("In Saint Peteresburg there is a, whaddayacallit again, a museum.")
    Siinhää muuzejaas ono ižoralain kannel. ("In that museum there is an Izhorian kannel, you know!")