Breakdown of Minä tiedän, että sinä opiskelet.
minä
I
sinä
you
tietää
to know
opiskella
to study
että
that (conjunction)
Questions & Answers about Minä tiedän, että sinä opiskelet.
How do we build the form opiskelet from the dictionary verb opiskella?
Opiskella (to study) is a Type 3 verb because it ends in two consonants plus a vowel (-lla). To find the stem for Type 3 verbs, you remove the final two letters (-la) and add an -e-, giving you the stem opiskele-. Then, simply add the sinä ending -t to get opiskelet.
Why does tietää (to know) become tiedän with a d instead of a t?
Tietää is a Type 1 verb. As a quick refresher on consonant gradation, Type 1 verbs weaken their stem when an ending closes the syllable. Adding the minä ending -n closes the syllable, so the strong t softens into a weak d, giving us tiedän.
Can I leave out the word että like we do in English when we say "I know you study"?
No, in Finnish you cannot skip the conjunction että (that) in sentences like this. You must always use it to connect the two thoughts: Minä tiedän, että sinä opiskelet.
Is it okay to drop the pronouns minä and sinä in this sentence?
Yes! Because the verb endings (-n for I, -t for you) already tell us exactly who is doing the action, it is very common and natural in Finnish to drop the pronouns and simply say: Tiedän, että opiskelet.
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