tiedä

Tiedä is the imperative singular form of the Finnish verb tietää, meaning “to know.” It is used to command or urge someone to know or be aware of something, to acknowledge a fact, or to introduce information the speaker asserts. Like other Finnish imperatives, tiedä has no explicit subject and appears in informal speech.

Morphology and related forms: tietää belongs to the typical Finnish -ä verb class. The present-tense forms are tiedän (I know), tiedät (you know), tietää (he/she/it knows), tiedämme, tiedätte, tietävät. The imperative form tiedä is the second-person singular. The second-person plural imperative is tietäkää. The negative imperative is älä tiedä, meaning “do not know,” though it is far less common than using other constructions to withhold information.

Usage and examples: tiedä is used to direct attention to information. Examples include: “Tiedä se: minulla on uusi idea” (Know this: I have a new idea), “Tiedä kuka teki tämän” (Know who did this), and “Tiedä, että olen täällä” (Know that I am here). It can carry a strong, sometimes forceful tone in casual conversation, and it may be softened with additional phrases or more polite forms in formal contexts (for example, using tietäkää for you all or alternative constructions).

Etymology and relations: tietää comes from Finnish linguistic roots common to Finnic languages. Cognates appear in neighboring languages, such as Estonian teadma, reflecting shared etymological heritage for “to know.”

See also: Finnish verbs, imperative mood, Finnish grammar.