From almost any basic Finnish verb we can construct a verb with a repetitive meaning.
Here are some examples:
- laulaa -> laulella (-> or even: lauleskella) (to sing -> to sing casually, repeatedly)
- heittää -> heitellä (to throw -> to throw repeatedly)
- kirjoittaa -> kirjoitella (to write -> to write casually, frequently)
- lukea -> lueskella (to read -> to read in an indifferent manner, by skipping most of the text; to browse)
There are, however, many verbs which look like they would be the so called “frequentative aspect” of some basic verb, but in fact the meaning is something totally different. For example:
- opettaa -> opetella (to teach -> to learn gradually) – and not to teach frequently
- We’ll fill in more verbs here after readers comments to our Facebook post!
kävellä – käveleskellä
miettiä – mietiskellä
juosta – juoksennella
tuoksahtaa – tuoksahdella
maistaa – maistella
kannattaa – kannatella
rakastaa – rakastella