-neensa

The past referative is part of a group of structures called lauseenvastikkeet (clause equivalents). It is used with 'reporting' verbs like sanoa (to say), kertoa (to tell), luulla (to think/suppose), and uskoa (to believe).

1. Formation:
To form this construction:

• Start with the past active participle (e.g., tullut, syönyt, pessyt).
• Drop the final -ut / -yt and replace it with -een (e.g., tull-ut → tull-een, pess-yt → pess-een, tehn-yt → tehn-een).
• If the subject is the same as the main verb, add the appropriate possessive suffix. The final -n of -een drops before the suffix.

Example: tehnyt (done) → tehneen → tehneensä (that he/she had done).

2. Subject Agreement and Object Cases:
The usage depends on whether the subject of the reported action is the same as the main subject:

• Same subject: Use the participle with a possessive suffix. Example: Hän sanoi lähteneensä (He said that he [himself] had left).
• Different subject: An ordinary actor of the reported action is put in the genitive case, and the participle remains in the genitive form -neen without a suffix. Example: Kuulin hänen lähteneen (I heard that he had left).
• Note on Plurals: The participle always stays in the singular genitive form (-neen-) even if the subject is plural. Example: He sanoivat syöneensä (They said they had eaten).
• Note on Object Cases: For active referative clauses, normal object rules apply. Example: Kuultiin hänen ostaneen auton (It was heard that he had bought a car). For passive referatives, both the main verb and word order matter. With an active main verb, a preceding total object is genitive: Kuulin auton ostetun. After the passive participle, nominative or genitive is possible: Kuulin ostetun auto ~ auton. With a passive main verb, the total noun object is nominative: Kuultiin ostetun auto. Partitive objects retain their own quantity and aspect conditions.

3. Subject Referatives (Sensory Verbs):
When used with sensory or perception verbs (e.g., näkyä, kuulua, tuntua, näyttää), the reported actor becomes the subject of the finite perception verb. In an ordinary personal construction it is nominative, and the participle remains in the singular genitive form. Example: Juna näyttää lähteneen (The train seems to have left) or He näkyvät lähteneen (They seem to have left).

4. Negative Form:
Referative constructions are typically not negated directly. To report that something did not happen, learners should revert to a negative että clause.
Example: Hän sanoi, ettei hän ollut tullut (He said he hadn't come).

5. Passive Past Referative:
To report a passive action that happened in the past, use the past passive participle (ending in -tu/-ty or -ttu/-tty) and add the genitive -n. Possessive suffixes are not used here.
Example: ostettu (bought) → ostetun.
Kuulin auton ostetun (I heard that the car had been bought).

6. Tense Relationship:
This construction always indicates anteriority. This means the action in the referative happened before the action of the main verb. It effectively replaces the Finnish imperfect, perfect, or pluperfect tenses in an että-clause.

Existential and Possessive Exceptions
An existential partitive stays partitive: Kuulin pihalla olleen lapsia (I heard that there had been children in the yard). A plural nominative possessed item can also remain nominative: Uskoin hänellä olleen hyvät mahdollisuudet. Singular existential or possessed items have context-sensitive nominative/genitive variation. These patterns are not ordinary genitive actors and are easiest to check against the corresponding että-clause.