Questions & Answers about Minä seurustelen nyt.
Seurustella is usually closer to “to be in a (steady) relationship” than just going on casual dates.
- Minä seurustelen nyt.
≈ I’m in a relationship now / I’m seeing someone (in a more serious way).
If you say Minä seurustelen nyt, Finns normally understand that you have a boyfriend/girlfriend/partner, not that you’re just going on random dates with different people. For casual dating, other verbs (like tapailla) are more natural.
You can absolutely drop Minä:
- Minä seurustelen nyt.
- Seurustelen nyt.
Both are correct Finnish.
Details:
- Finnish verbs have person endings, so seurustelen already tells us the subject is I (1st person singular).
- Adding Minä often adds emphasis or contrast, for example:
- Minä seurustelen nyt, mutta hän ei.
I’m in a relationship now, but he/she isn’t.
- Minä seurustelen nyt, mutta hän ei.
- In a neutral statement, you’ll very often hear just:
- Seurustelen nyt.
The dictionary form is seurustella (“to be in a relationship, to date (steadily)”).
It’s a type 3 verb (-lla / -llä ending). The stem is seurustele-.
Present tense conjugation:
- minä seurustelen – I’m in a relationship
- sinä seurustelet – you are in a relationship
- hän seurustelee – he/she is in a relationship
- me seurustelemme – we are in a relationship
- te seurustelette – you (pl.) are in a relationship
- he seurustelevat – they are in a relationship
The pattern is the same as e.g. ajattelen (to think), opettelen (I learn).
The -n ending marks 1st person singular (I) in the present tense.
- seurustele- = verb stem
- -n = “I”
So:
- seurustelen = I am in a relationship / I date (steadily)
- seurustelet (with -t) = you (singular) are in a relationship
- seurustelee (no ending) = he/she is in a relationship
In this sentence, nyt is usually understood as “nowadays / at the present time in my life”, not literally “at this exact second”:
- Minä seurustelen nyt.
→ I’m (currently) in a relationship now.
If you wanted to emphasize “right this very moment”, you’d more likely say juuri nyt:
- En voi puhua, seurustelen juuri nyt jonkun kanssa.
I can’t talk, I’m chatting with someone right now.
(This is a bit forced with seurustella, but natural with other verbs like keskustella.)
So in relationship talk, nyt usually signals a current state in your life, not a temporary action at this precise second.
Yes, Finnish word order is fairly flexible, and each version has a slightly different emphasis:
Minä seurustelen nyt.
Neutral; slight emphasis on I if context contrasts you with others.Seurustelen nyt.
Very natural, neutral statement: I’m in a relationship now.Nyt seurustelen.
Puts focus on nyt (“now”):- Implication like “Now I am in a relationship (whereas before I wasn’t).”
Seurustelen minä nyt.
Acceptable but more marked/emphatic, often in contrastive or slightly dramatic speech:- I am in a relationship now, I am – perhaps contradicting someone.
Every version is grammatically correct; nuance comes from what you want to highlight.
You use seurustella jonkun kanssa – literally “to be in a relationship with someone (with someone)”:
Minä seurustelen nyt.
I’m in a relationship now (unspecified with whom).Minä seurustelen Pekan kanssa.
I’m in a relationship with Pekka.
(Pekka → Pekan, genitive, + kanssa “with”)
Pattern:
- seurustella
- [person in genitive]
- kanssa
- [person in genitive]
Examples:
- Hän seurustelee Lauran kanssa. – He/She is in a relationship with Laura.
- Seurustelen yhden kivan miehen kanssa. – I’m in a relationship with a nice guy.
Seurustella normally implies a steady or at least exclusive relationship:
- Think of: “to be going out with someone / to be in a relationship”
rather than “to go on dates” with multiple people.
If you say:
- Seurustelen nyt.
People assume you have a boyfriend/girlfriend/partner and that it’s more than just a few dates.
For casual dating / going on dates with different people, Finns more often use tapailla:
- Tapaillen nyt pariakin ihmistä.
I’m (kinda) seeing/dating a couple of people now.
They overlap around “dating”, but the default nuance is different:
seurustella
- to be in a relationship, to date someone steadily
- implies some level of commitment / being a “couple”
tapailla
- to meet up with someone repeatedly, to date in the sense of “go on dates”
- can be casual, maybe multiple people
Compare:
Seurustelen nyt yhden miehen kanssa.
I’m in a relationship with one guy now. (sounds fairly serious)Tapailen nyt yhtä miestä.
I’m seeing / dating one guy now. (could still be in the getting-to-know stage)
Use the past tense of seurustella:
Past tense (imperfect) stem: seurusteli-
- Minä seurustelin. – I was in a relationship / I dated (steadily).
- Minä seurustelin hänen kanssaan. – I used to date him/her / I was in a relationship with him/her.
Examples:
Minä seurustelin hänen kanssaan kaksi vuotta.
I was in a relationship with him/her for two years.Me seurustelimme ennen, mutta erosimme.
We used to be in a relationship / We dated before, but we broke up.
In casual spoken Finnish, Minä usually becomes Mä. The verb here often stays the same in many dialects:
- Mä seurustelen nyt.
You might also hear some reduction in fast speech (like dropping some vowels or sounds), but mä seurustelen nyt is a very typical, natural spoken version of Minä seurustelen nyt.