palannut

Palannut is the past participle of the Finnish verb palaa, meaning to return or come back. It denotes that someone or something has already returned or come back. In standard Finnish, palannut is used in two main ways: in the perfect tense with the auxiliary olla to express a completed action (for example, Hän on palannut kotiin, “He has returned home”), and as an attributive adjective describing a noun to indicate “the one who has returned” or “returned.” When used attributively, the form agrees with the noun in number and case, as in palannut mies (the man who has returned) or palanneet lapset (the children who have returned).

Etymology and form: palannut derives from the verb palaa with the common past participle suffix -nut/-nyt. The exact form adjusts for Finnish vowel harmony and consonant gradation, and it can appear as palannut in singular and palanneet in plural when used as a modifier.

Usage notes: Palannut is frequent in written and spoken Finnish, especially in news, storytelling, and formal prose, where the speaker wants to convey that someone has already come back. It is not used for future meaning; for future return, Finnish tends to use other constructions such as palaa or tuleva palaaminen depending on the context. The participle can function without a copula when used figuratively or descriptively, though in everyday speech it more often appears with a finite verb to form a tense.

See also: palaa, paluu, palaaminen, palautuminen.