Taastanud

Taastanud is an Estonian verb form derived from taastama, meaning to restore, recover, or reestablish. It is the past active participle, used to indicate that the subject has performed the action of restoring. As such, taastanud can function as a modifier in noun phrases and in perfect tense constructions with the auxiliary olema (for example, forms like olen, oled, on, oleme, olete, on). The participle answers the question “who has restored?” and generally refers to an action carried out by the subject.

Etymology: The form is built from the verb taastama’s stem taast- with the suffix -nud, which marks the past active participle in Estonian. This mirrors similar patterns with other verbs in the language.

Usage and nuance: Taastanud emphasizes the actor’s performed action. If the focus is the resulting state rather than the agent, the corresponding past passive participle taastatud is more common. For instance, “Ta on taastanud vana koolimaja” means “He has restored the old school building,” highlighting the person’s action. In contrast, “Vana koolimaja on taastatud” emphasizes that the building has been restored, without naming who did it.

Examples:

- Ta on taastanud vanu dokumente. (He has restored old documents.)

- Arhitektuuribüroo on taastanud ajaloolise mõisahoone. (The architectural bureau has restored the historic manor building.)

See also: taastama, taastatud, taastus. Note that taastatud is the common past passive participle, used to describe a restored object without specifying the agent.