tavannut

Tavannut is a Finnish verb form that functions as the past active participle of the verb tavata, which means to meet. The form roughly corresponds to the English “having met.” It is most commonly used with the auxiliary olla (to have) to form perfect tenses, and it does not by itself indicate tense.

Usage and meaning

The primary use of tavannut is in perfect constructions. For example, Olen tavannut hänet means “I have met him/her,” and Olin tavannut hänet before another past event means “I had met him/her.” In these phrases the finite tense is carried by the auxiliary olla ( olen, olet, on, olimme, olette, olivat ), while tavannut supplies the meaning “met.” Tavannut can also appear in non-finite clauses that describe a completed action relative to another action, although in everyday Finnish most relative clauses use a full verb form such as “joka on tavannut” (who has met).

Form and related forms

Tavannut is formed from tavata plus the past active participle ending -nut/-nyt. It is different from tavattu, which is the past passive participle of tavata and is used in passive constructions such as Hänet tavattiin (“he/she was met”). The past active participle tavannut is used when the subject performs the action of meeting in the relevant time frame, while tavattu expresses the action as something that was met, by an agent or in a passive context.

See also

Finnish grammar, participles, tavata.