Torkahtanut

Torkahtanut is the past participle of the Finnish verb torkahtaa, meaning to doze off or drift into a light sleep. The word is used to describe a state in which someone has briefly fallen asleep, often due to tiredness, boredom, or late hours. In everyday Finnish, torkahtaa is a common verb for casual dozing rather than deep sleep.

Grammatically, torkahtaa forms the perfect tense with the auxiliary olla, for example Olen torkahtanut or Hän on torkahtanut, meaning “I have dozed off” or “He has dozed off.” The simple past is torkahti (he/she dozed off). The participle torkahtanut is the standard past participle that can function as a predicative or as part of compound tenses. The suffix pattern is -nut/-nyt, with torkahtanut representing the -nut form.

Usage and nuance: torkahtanut conveys a brief, involuntary sleep rather than a long, deliberate rest. It is often used in informal contexts to describe fatigue, boredom, or a momentary lapse in attention. Common contrasts include uinahtanut (drifted into sleep more deeply or more fully) and torkahtaa can be replaced by other verbs depending on intensity.

Examples:

- Hän on torkahtanut sohvalla. (He has dozed off on the sofa.)

- Hän torkahti kesken elokuvan. (He dozed off in the middle of the movie.)

- Olin torkahtanut koneen ääressä. (I had dozed off at the computer.)

See also: torkahtaa, uinahtaa.