Katsonut

Katsonut is a Finnish verb form, the active past participle of katsoa, which means to watch or to look. It is used with the auxiliary olla to form perfect tenses, and thus roughly corresponds to the English “has watched” or “have watched.” The participle is invariant for person and number; the auxiliary verb carries the subject information (for example, olen katsonut, olet katsonut, hän on katsonut, olemme katsonut, olette katsonut, he ovat katsonut).

In ordinary speech, katsonut expresses actions completed relative to the present. Examples: Olen katsonut elokuvan. Olet katsonut jo kolme jaksoa. Hän on katsonut koko sarjan. Negative forms are also possible: En ole katsonut elokuvaa. The form itself does not mark time beyond the perfect, which is indicated by the preceding auxiliary.

Katsonut is distinct from katsottu, the passive past participle of katsoa. Katsottu appears in passive constructions such as Elokuva on katsottu, meaning “The movie has been watched” (by someone). The active katsonut emphasizes the agent or the actor’s action, while katsottu marks that the action happened to the subject under a passive voice.

Related forms include katsoen, the adverbial present participle meaning “watching,” and the infinitive katsoa. Katsonut is common in everyday Finnish, used across informal and formal contexts to report completed viewing experiences or to describe state resulting from watching.