Breakdown of Olen jo tarkistanut toimituksen sisällön.
minä
I
tarkistaa
to check
jo
already
toimitus
the delivery
olla
to have
sisältö
the content
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Questions & Answers about Olen jo tarkistanut toimituksen sisällön.
What tense and aspect does olen tarkistanut express in Finnish?
It’s the perfect tense, formed with the auxiliary olla (“to be”) + the past active participle tarkistanut. In English it corresponds to “I have checked,” emphasizing that the checking is complete.
What does the adverb jo mean, and why is it placed between olen and tarkistanut?
Jo means already. Placing it after the auxiliary (olen jo tarkistanut…) signals that the action was completed earlier than expected. You can also move jo elsewhere for emphasis (e.g. Jo olen tarkistanut…), but the typical spot is right after olen.
Why do both toimituksen and sisällön end in -n? Aren’t they both the same case?
They look the same but play different roles:
- toimituksen is the genitive of toimitus (“delivery”), marking a “of X” relationship (“of the delivery”).
- sisällön is the accusative (identical in form to the genitive singular) of sisältö (“content”), marking the direct object of tarkistanut.
Why isn’t there an English-style “of” or “’s” between toimituksen and sisällön?
Finnish marks possession or “of” relationships by putting the possessor in the genitive case (ending -n) directly before the possessed noun. No separate preposition or apostrophe-s is needed.
Could sisältö be in the partitive case here (e.g. sisältöä)?
No, because the speaker refers to checking the entire content (a total action). In Finnish, a complete direct object takes the accusative (here sisällön). The partitive (sisältöä) would imply an incomplete action or only part of the content.
How would you say the same thing in the simple past tense?
You’d use the preterite of tarkistaa, yielding: Tarkistin toimituksen sisällön. (“I checked the contents of the delivery.”)
Can you omit olen and just say tarkistanut toimituksen sisällön?
No. The past participle tarkistanut cannot stand alone as the main verb; it needs the auxiliary olla (olen) to form a finite verb in the perfect tense.
Is it possible to use lähetyksen instead of toimituksen for “delivery”?
Yes. Lähetys also means “shipment” or “dispatch.” You could say Olen jo tarkistanut lähetyksen sisällön with the same meaning.