Word
Olen tuntenut hänet alusta asti.
Meaning
I have known him from the beginning.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Olen tuntenut hänet alusta asti.
olla
to be
hän
he / she
tuntea
to know (a person)
alku
beginning
Questions & Answers about Olen tuntenut hänet alusta asti.
Why does asti mean "from" in this sentence when it often translates to "until"?
The postposition asti emphasizes a continuous span of time or distance, and its exact translation depends on the case of the word before it. Because alku (beginning) is in the elative "from" case (alusta), asti means "all the way from". If it were paired with an illative "into/to" case (like loppuun asti, to the end), it would mean "all the way until".
Why is tuntea used here instead of tietää for the verb "to know"?
Finnish has two different verbs for "to know". Tuntea is used when you are acquainted with a person, place, or thing. Tietää is used when you know a fact or a piece of information. Since the object here is "him", tuntea is the correct choice.
Why is the object hänet instead of the partitive häntä?
Hänet is the accusative (total object) form of hän. In Finnish grammar, "knowing" a person with the verb tuntea is treated as a complete, whole state rather than an incomplete process. Therefore, it takes a total object instead of a partitive one.
Could I just say Tunnen hänet alusta asti using the present tense?
No, you need the perfect tense olen tuntenut (I have known) here. Because you are talking about a state that started in the past and continues into the present, Finnish requires the perfect tense, which nicely mirrors how we say it in English.