Suutnud

Suutnud is the past active participle of the Estonian verb suudma, meaning “to be able” or “to manage.” It expresses a completed ability or achievement and is used in conjunction with forms of the auxiliary olla (to be) to form perfect tenses in Estonian.

Morphology and usage

The participle is formed from the verb stem with the suffix -nud, yielding suutnud. It does not inflect for person; instead, person and number are provided by the auxiliary olla. Common constructions include olen suutnud (I have managed), oled suutnud (you have managed), on suutnud (he/she/it has managed), and so on. The negative form uses ei olnud või ei ole, as in ei ole suutnud (has not managed). The participle can be used with a following infinitive or object, for example: Olen suutnud selle lõpetada (I have managed to finish it).

Forms and related tenses

In addition to the present perfect with olen suutnud, Estonian can express past perfect with olin suutnud (I had managed) and conditional forms with oleks suutnud (would have managed). The simple past of suudma is suutis (he managed), which is a separate finite verb form from the participle suutnud.

Examples

- Ta on suutnud lahendada keerulise probleemi. (He has managed to solve the difficult problem.)

- Me ei ole veel suutnud otsust teha. (We have not yet managed to decide.)

- Kui ta oleks suutnud, ta oleks tulnud. (If he had been able to, he would have come.)

See also

Suutma (to be able), Võime (ability), Estonian grammar.

This article provides a concise overview of suutnud as a grammatical form used to express completed ability in Estonian.