tarvii
/ˈtɑrviː/
Needs. Has to. Written tarvitsee Four Finnish verbs push you out of the subject slot. This one mostly shows up in the negative
tarvitsee on paper, tarvii out loud
One of the written-and-spoken pairs - every word on this site that exists in both forms is in that table, beside the change between them.
| What you will hear | What the book writes |
|---|---|
| Sun tarvii vaan soittaa sinne huomenna. | Sinun tarvitsee vain soittaa sinne huomenna. |
| Mä tarviin apua tän kanssa. | Minä tarvitsen apua tämän kanssa. |
| Sun kannattaa lähtee aikasin. | Sinun kannattaa lähteä aikaisin. |
| Sun ei tartte tehä mitään, mä hoidan. | Sinun ei tarvitse tehdä mitään, minä hoidan. |
| Tarviiks tänne varata aika? | Tarvitseeko tänne varata aika? |
| Mun pitää ostaa uus puhelin. | Minun pitää ostaa uusi puhelin. |
Quick answer
Tarvii means needs. It is the spoken form of tarvitsee.
- When an action follows, the person goes into the genitive: mun tarvii, sun tarvii. Never sä tarviit.
- When it means needing a thing, the grammar is ordinary: mä tarviin apua, I need help.
- Most of the time you will meet this verb in the negative or in a question. Ei tartte, you do not have to. Tarviiks, do we need to. The plain affirmative usually goes to pitää or täytyy instead.
What tarvii means
Tarvita covers two different things, needing an object and having to do something, and Finnish builds a different sentence for each.
The second belongs to a handful of Finnish verbs that never inflect for person. Tarvita, pitää, täytyä, kannattaa. They stay in the third person and the human being gets pushed into the genitive in front of them.
So sun tarvii mennä is not you need to go. It is closer to of you it is needed to go.
Why tarvitsee became tarvii
Written tarvitsee, spoken tarvii. The negative comes out as ei tarvii or ei tartte, and both are ordinary.
Learners come unstuck on the person, because the shape looks like a mistake. Sun ei tartte tulla uses a genitive where English uses a subject.
Needing an object works the normal way round: mä tarviin apua has an ordinary subject, and the thing needed goes into the partitive.
The rule behind tarvii
The change in tarvii is not a one-off. It is one of the regular changes between written and spoken Finnish, and it applies well beyond this word.
| Written | Spoken | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| Writtentarvitsee | Spokentarvii | What changedThe middle of the verb collapses and the vowel stays long. |
| Writtenei tarvitse | Spokenei tartte | What changedThe negative goes further still. Ei tarvii is equally common. |
| Writtensinun ei tarvitse | Spokensun ei tartte | What changedThe negative is where this verb spends most of its life, and it contracts hardest. |
| Writtenminun täytyy | Spokenmun täytyy | What changedThe neighbouring necessive verb behaves identically. |
| Writtenlähteä | Spokenlähtee | What changedThe infinitive after these verbs shortens: sun kannattaa lähtee. |
How Finns actually use tarvii
As a ladder of pressure. The same slot takes several verbs and they get steadily firmer. Sun kannattaa soittaa, you would do well to call. Sun pitää soittaa or sun täytyy soittaa, you have to, and the two are interchangeable in speech with täytyy sounding a shade more written. Sun on pakko soittaa, there is no way around it.
It is how a Finnish colleague pushes without giving an order. Kannattaa is advice with the pressure taken out of it, and it does the work a direct instruction would do in English.
Tarvita itself mostly stays out of that ladder. It lives in the negative, sun ei tartte soittaa, and in the question, tarviiks soittaa. In the affirmative it wants a vaan: sun tarvii vaan soittaa, you only need to call.
The negative is what you will hear constantly, because releasing someone is the commonest thing anyone does with it.
Mitä me tarvitaan, what do we need. For listing what is missing, the passive takes over.
tarvii when something is needed
- Sun tarvii vaan soittaa sinne huomenna. You just need to call them tomorrow. Written Sinun tarvitsee vain soittaa sinne huomenna. The affirmative, which wants a vaan. Without one it sounds off and takes pitää instead.
- Mä tarviin apua tän kanssa. I need help with this. Written Minä tarvitsen apua tämän kanssa. Needing a thing works the normal way round, with an ordinary subject.
One word.
Every morning.
One real Finnish word every morning - what it means, what the book form is, and when Finns actually say it.
Advice beside tarvii, and releasing somebody with it
- Sun kannattaa lähtee aikasin. You'd do well to leave early. Written Sinun kannattaa lähteä aikaisin. Advice with the pressure taken out of it, and it does the work an instruction would do in English.
- Sun ei tartte tehä mitään, mä hoidan. You don't have to do anything, I'll handle it. Written Sinun ei tarvitse tehdä mitään, minä hoidan. The negative, where this verb mostly lives. Releasing somebody is the commonest thing it does.
tarvii in a conversation
The mistake everyone makes with tarvii
Sä tarviit mennä. When an action follows, the person is in the genitive: sun tarvii mennä.
Using it plain where a Finn would not. Sun tarvii soittaa on its own sounds off; it wants either a vaan or a different verb, sun pitää soittaa.
Mixing the two patterns. Mä tarviin apua is right for a thing. Mun tarvii auttaa is right for an action.
Putting the object in the accusative. Necessive sentences take a nominative object, so it is mun pitää ostaa auto and not auton, which catches people who have just finished learning the object rules. Personal pronouns are the exception and keep their own form: mun pitää nähdä sut.
Hearing kannattaa as weak. It is how a strong recommendation is given, and ignoring one is noticed.
tarvii as a question, and the rung above it
- Tarviiks tänne varata aika? Do you need to book an appointment here? Written Tarvitseeko tänne varata aika? The question, with no person in it at all. Asked at a desk or in a chat window.
- Mun pitää ostaa uus puhelin. I have to buy a new phone. Written Minun pitää ostaa uusi puhelin. One rung up the ladder, and the object stays nominative - puhelin, never puhelimen.
Questions people ask about tarvii
What does tarvii mean?
Needs, or has to. It is the spoken form of tarvitsee.
Why is it sun tarvii and not sä tarviit?
Because this is a necessive construction. The verb stays in the third person and the person goes into the genitive in front of it.
Can I just say sun tarvii soittaa?
It sounds off on its own. Finnish uses tarvita mostly in the negative and in questions; in the affirmative it wants a vaan, sun tarvii vaan soittaa, or a different verb, sun pitää soittaa.
How do I say I need something?
Mä tarviin, with the thing in the partitive: mä tarviin apua. That pattern uses an ordinary subject.
What is the difference between tarvita, pitää, täytyä and kannattaa?
Strength. Kannattaa is advice, pitää and täytyy both mean have to and are interchangeable, and sun on pakko means there is no alternative. All of them take the genitive person, and tarvita mostly sits outside the ladder because it prefers the negative.
Why is it mun pitää ostaa auto and not auton?
Necessive sentences take a nominative object. It is one of the few places the object rules you learned get suspended.
How do I say you don't have to?
Sun ei tartte, or ei tarvii. Both are ordinary spoken Finnish and both are heard as kind.
Is tarvii correct Finnish?
Yes. Tarvii is the spoken form; tarvitsee is the written one. Both are standard Finnish - they belong to different registers, and neither is a degraded version of the other.
Is tarvii a bad word?
Safe everywhere in speech. Write tarvitsee.
Words that go with tarvii
Sources for tarvii
- VISK § 1565 - Nesessiivirakenne: (Minun) täytyy mennä Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - The necessive construction by name: the verb stays in the third person and the person appears in the genitive in front of it.
- VISK § 934 - Yleiskatsaus: milloin n-pääte, milloin ei Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - Where the singular total object drops its -n, which includes necessive clauses, passives and first and second person imperatives.
- VISK § 895 - Omistuslauseen piirteet: vaarilla on saari Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - The related clause type where a case-marked person sits in front of the verb instead of being its subject.
- VISK § 1645 - what directives are Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - Why a statement of necessity lands softer than an imperative, and where these verbs sit on that scale.
- VISK § 108 - inflection of the negative verb Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus - How ei tarvii and ei tartte are formed.
- Kielitoimiston sanakirja: tarvita, pitää, kannattaa Kotimaisten kielten keskus
One word.
Every morning.
One real Finnish word every morning - what it means, what the book form is, and when Finns actually say it.
