tietää

Tietää is a Finnish verb meaning “to know” or “to be aware of.” It covers knowledge of facts, information, or someone’s identity, as well as knowledge of how to do something in some contexts. In Finnish, tietää generally refers to factual knowledge or awareness rather than a general ability, which is more often expressed with osata. The verb can introduce a clause with what is known, for example after tiedän or after conjunctions like että.

Conjugation highlights. In the present tense the forms are tiedän, tiedät, tietää, tiedämme, tiedätte, tietävät. The simple past is tiesin, tiesit, tiesi, tiesimme, tiesitte, tiesivät. The perfect tense is formed with olla plus the past participle: olen tiennyt, olet tiennyt, on tiennyt, olemme tienneet, olette tienneet, he ovat tienneet. The pluperfect uses olin tiennyt, olit tiennyt, oli tiennyt, olimme tienneet, olitte tienneet, he olivat tienneet. The conditional present is tietäisin, tietäisit, tietäisi, tietäisimme, tietäisitte, tietäisivät. The imperative is tiedä (negative: älä tiedä). The verb also participates in other moods and constructions, and its stem alternates with tied- as a root in different forms.

Etymology and usage notes. Tietää derives from the noun tieto, meaning knowledge or information, and shares cognates with related words such as tietoinen (aware) and tietoisuus (awareness). It is one of Finnish’s most common verbs and appears in both everyday speech and formal writing. Distinguish tietää from osata; tietää refers to knowing a fact or being aware, while osata expresses skill or the ability to perform a task.

See also: tieto, tietoinen, tietoisuus.