Breakdown of Tämä rutiini on jatkunut alusta lähtien.
tämä
this
olla
to be
jatkua
to continue
alku
beginning
rutiini
the routine
lähtien
starting from
Questions & Answers about Tämä rutiini on jatkunut alusta lähtien.
Why do we need the postposition lähtien here? Doesn't alusta already mean 'from the beginning'?
While alusta alone means 'from the beginning', adding lähtien emphasizes a continuous, ongoing action that started at that point and is still happening. Together, they translate more closely to 'ever since the beginning.'
Could I use pitäen in this sentence instead of lähtien?
Yes, alusta pitäen is completely natural and means exactly the same thing. Both lähtien and pitäen are postpositions that require the preceding word to be in the elative case (ending in -sta or -stä), and they are highly interchangeable when expressing a starting point in time.
Why is the verb jatkua (to continue) in the perfect tense (on jatkunut) rather than the present tense?
When an action starts in the past and is still ongoing in the present, Finnish uses the perfect tense, just like the English present perfect ('has continued'). This tense is almost always used alongside 'ever since' time expressions like alusta lähtien.
I usually use the verb jatkaa for 'to continue'. Why is it jatkunut (from jatkua) in this sentence?
This is the crucial difference between transitive and intransitive verbs in Finnish. Jatkaa requires an object because someone has to continue something (e.g., Minä jatkan rutiinia). Jatkua is intransitive, meaning something continues on its own. Since Tämä rutiini is the subject acting on its own here, you must use jatkua.
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