# tiedän olevan



## vidar

*tiedän olevan*

What is the actual meaning of this phrase?

I've used the fintwol tool to try to derive meaning and i'm still unclear as to whether it means 'i know i am' or 'i know it is'.

Thanks


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## Spongiformi

"Tiedän olevan" alone doesn't mean anything overly much sensible.

"Tiedän sen olevan..." would mean "I know it's..."
--> "Tiedän sen olevan vanha tankki." = "I know it's an old tank."

"Tiedän olevan*i*..." would be "I know I (am)..."
--> "Tiedän olevani trolli." = "I know I'm a troll."

If we go really philosophical, I could see this:
"Tiedätkö olevan ja ei-olevan?"
"Tiedän olevan."


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## Gavril

It could work as part of a larger phrase: e.g.,

_Paljakassa asuu jätkä, jonka tiedän olevan maailmanluokkainen perhokalastaja._

"There's a man who lives in Paljakka who I know is a world-class fly fisherman."


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## vidar

It's from a TV theme tune.

Lyrics:

Tiedän olevan hyvää ja kaunista
Enemmän kuin unelma onnesta


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## Määränpää

vidar said:


> Tiedän olevan hyvää ja kaunista
> Enemmän kuin unelma onnesta


It's a famous song but the lyrics are strange. Maybe it means this:

_I know there are other good and beautiful things out there
Apart from a dream about happiness
_
With proper word order, it should be "tiedän hyvää ja kaunista olevan enemmän kuin unelma onnesta"  (cf. "tiedän vettä olevan enemmän kuin kolme litraa"). I'm not sure if that makes sense.

More info: VISK - § 538 Mikä referatiivirakenne on


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## Ansku89

Määränpää said:


> It's a famous song but the lyrics are strange. Maybe it means this:
> 
> _I know there are other good and beautiful things out there
> Apart from a dream about happiness_
> 
> With proper word order, it should be "tiedän hyvää ja kaunista olevan enemmän kuin unelma onnesta"  (cf. "tiedän vettä olevan enemmän kuin kolme litraa"). I'm not sure if that makes sense.
> 
> More info: VISK - § 538 Mikä referatiivirakenne on


I'm not sure about this, but I disagree... My take on the lyrics would be: _I know that good and beautiful things exist (for real), I know they are more than just a dream about happiness._ To me it makes more sense that way, but in the end this is more a question about poetry than grammar.


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