Sairastuin

Sairastuin is a Finnish verb form meaning “I fell ill.” It is the first-person singular past tense (preterite) of the verb sairastua, which means to become ill. The root is sairastu-, and the ending -in marks the first-person singular past tense. Full conjugation in past tense is: minä sairastuin, sinä sairastuit, hän sairastui, me sairastuimme, te sairastuitte, he sairastuivat. The verb is intransitive and commonly takes a disease or condition in the illative case, as in sairastua flunssaan or sairastua keuhkokuumeeseen.

Sairastua and its past form sairastuin describe a specific event in the past and are typically used in narrative or descriptive contexts. They are suitable for reporting a sudden onset of illness, in contrast to describing a current state, for which other forms or phrases might be used (for example, “olin kipeänä”). In everyday speech, alternatives such as “tulin kipeäksi” (I got sick) are also common.

Common collocations include sairastua flunssaan, sairastua vatsatautiin, and sairastua influenssaan. The term connects to related words such as sairaus (illness), sairastaminen (illness illness-taking or getting ill), and sairastaa (to be ill or suffer from an illness).

Etymology traces sairastua to the root related to illness (sairas) with the nominalizing suffix -tua, forming a verb that expresses the onset of illness.