näinud

Näinud is the past participle of the Estonian verb nägema, which means to see. As a non-finite form, näinud is used to express that someone has seen something or that an action of seeing has been completed. It is most commonly combined with the auxiliary verb olema (to be) to form perfect tenses, indicating experience or a completed perception.

In practice, näinud appears in sentences such as "Ma olen näinud seda filmi" (I have seen this film) or "Kas sa oled näinud kedagi?" (Have you seen anyone?). The participle carries the sense of having seen something in the past, and the meaning shifts with the auxiliary: present perfect ("olen näinud"), past perfect ("olin näinud"), and so on. Näinud can also appear in past or conditional constructions when describing past experiences or hypothetical perceptions.

Morphologically, näinud is formed from the verb stem with the typical -nud participial suffix used for -ma verbs in Estonian. It generally denotes a completed act of perception and is widely used across formal and colloquial registers. While it functions primarily within verb phrases, it can appear in contexts where a sense of completed perception modifies a clause or contributes to a relative clause that references something already seen.

Translations into English converge on "seen" or "having seen," depending on the sentence structure. Näinud is a common, neutral term in Estonian for reporting or referencing what has been perceived. See also nägema, the base verb meaning to see, and related participles formed from other verbs.