Breakdown of Tämä uusi kurssi on jo aloitettu.
tämä
this
olla
to be
uusi
new
kurssi
course
jo
already
aloittaa
to start (something)
Questions & Answers about Tämä uusi kurssi on jo aloitettu.
Why does this sentence use a form of aloittaa instead of the phase verb alkaa?
Aloittaa is a transitive verb, meaning someone starts something (in this case, starting a course). Alkaa is usually intransitive (something starts on its own) or used as a phase verb to say you start doing something (like alkaa opiskella, to start studying). Because the course is a direct object being started by an unnamed person, aloittaa is the correct choice here.
What grammatical form is on aloitettu?
This is the passive perfect tense. It is formed using the third-person singular of the verb olla (on) paired with the passive past participle of the main verb (aloitettu). Together, they translate to has been started.
Since the course is the object being started, why is Tämä uusi kurssi in the basic nominative form?
In Finnish passive sentences, a total object (an object where the action is fully completed) takes the nominative case instead of the normal genitive-looking accusative case. Since starting the course is viewed as a complete action, Tämä uusi kurssi stays in its basic dictionary form rather than becoming tämän uuden kurssin.
If on aloitettu means has been started, how would I say that the course is being started right now?
To say is being started or is started in the present tense, you would use the simple present passive: aloitetaan. The combination of on and the past participle aloitettu specifically creates the perfect tense to show that the action happened in the past but is still relevant right now.
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