Ymmärrä

Ymmärrä is the second-person singular imperative form of the Finnish verb ymmärtää, meaning “to understand.” It is used to issue a direct command or exhortation that someone should understand something.

In usage, ymmärrä is generally direct and can come across as forceful or urgent in casual speech. For addressing more than one person or in formal contexts, the plural/formal imperative ymmärtäkää is used. The negative imperative is muodostettu with älä ymmärrä, meaning “do not understand.” Common examples include Ymmärrä, että tämä vie aikaa. or Älä ymmärrä väärin.

The imperative takes a direct object when specifying what should be understood, for example Ymmärrä minut (understand me) or Ymmärrä tämä tilanne. Finnish imperatives are finite forms tied to the subject you (sinä) implied rather than explicit.

Related forms include the infinitive ymmärtää (to understand) and the noun ymmärrys (understanding). The verbs in the same semantic field include tajuta (to realize, to grasp suddenly) and käsittää (to comprehend more fully or to accept). In writing and speech, ymmärrä appears primarily in direct address and can be framed neutrally, though it remains a fairly blunt mode of expression compared to more tentative or polite constructions.

See also: ymmärrys, ymmärtää, tajuta, käsittää.