Breakdown of Olemme tutkineet tilastoja koko päivän.
olla
to be
me
we
päivä
the day
koko
whole
tutkia
to study
tilasto
the statistic
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Questions & Answers about Olemme tutkineet tilastoja koko päivän.
What tense and aspect does olemme tutkineet represent in this sentence?
It’s the Finnish perfect tense, formed with the present tense of olla (“to be”) + the active past participle. It conveys that the action started in the past and has relevance or continuation up to now—much like English “we have researched” or “we have been researching.”
How exactly is the perfect tense formed in Finnish?
- Conjugate olla in the present tense for your subject:
- minä olen, sinä olet, hän on, me olemme, te olette, he ovat
- Add the active past participle of your main verb, matching number and case to the subject:
- singular nominative participle ends in -nut/-nyt (e.g. tutkinut)
- plural nominative participle ends in -neet/-neet (e.g. tutkineet)
So “me olemme tutkineet” = we (have) researched.
Why is the participle tutkineet ending in -neet instead of -nut?
Because the subject is me (“we”), which is plural. The active past participle agrees with the subject in number and case, so for a plural subject you use -neet.
Why is the object tilastoja in the partitive plural, not the nominative?
In Finnish, ongoing or incomplete actions—especially with duration expressions like koko päivän—take a partitive object. Also, when you’re talking about an indefinite amount of something (“some statistics”), you use the partitive.
- Partitive plural of tilasto is tilastoja.
Why does koko päivän use the genitive case, not the nominative?
The adjective koko (“whole”) requires the following singular noun to be in the genitive. So päivä becomes päivän, and koko päivän means “the whole day.”
Can I also say koko päivän ajan instead of koko päivän?
Yes. koko päivän ajan literally means “for the duration of the whole day” and is very common. Finnish speakers often shorten it to koko päivän, especially in casual speech.
How would you make this sentence negative?
Use the negative auxiliary ei conjugated for me, and keep the partitive object. You can say:
- “Emme ole tutkineet tilastoja koko päivää.”
or more explicitly - “Emme ole tutkineet tilastoja koko päivän ajan.”
What if I want to use the simple past (imperfect) instead of the perfect?
Use the imperfect form of tutkia:
- “Tutkimme tilastoja koko päivän.”
This means “We researched statistics all day” and implies the action is completed.
Can I change the word order in this sentence?
Yes. Finnish has flexible word order for emphasis. For example:
- Koko päivän olemme tutkineet tilastoja. (emphasizes the duration)
- Tilastoja olemme tutkineet koko päivän. (emphasizes what was researched)