Houkuttaakseen

Houkuttaakseen is the illative (the destination) form of the Finnish verb *houkutella*, meaning “to attract” or “to entice.” It is used primarily in subordinate clauses or in contexts that require the purpose or result of an action, roughly translating in English to “to attract (something/someone).” The form is constructed by adding the infinitival suffix *-ksi* to the stem *houkutta-*. In practice, the inflection is often written as *houkuttaakseen* as a single word, although it can also appear separated in some stylistic choices.

The verbal construction is part of Finnish's extensive series of derivational suffixes that indicate grammatical relations. The *-ksi* suffix marks the illative mood (motion into) and is a perfective marker when attached to infinitivals, indicating the completion of the action for the sake of another. Typical sentences include “Mietin houkuttaakseen uusia asiakkaita” (I think about attracting new customers) or “He suunnittelivat houkuttaakseen lisätukea” (They planned to attract additional support).

Houkuttaakseen belongs to the same paradigm as other –ta/-tä verbs ending in *-ta/-tä*, and it is regularly inflected in other cases: nominative *houkuttaminen*, genitive *houkuttamisen*, partitive *houkuttamisen*, and so on. The word is common in marketing, political rhetoric, and literary contexts where imperatives or strategic intentions are expressed.

The root *houkutt-* is derived from the old Finnish *houkutin*, which historically meant "to pull, draw." The sense of attraction is metaphorical, moving from physical pulling to persuasive or alluring influence. The concept is widespread in Finnish literature and speech, especially in contexts that require a higher level of formality or a subordinate clause indicating purpose.

Houkuttaakseen remains a standard part of modern Finnish vocabulary. It is taught in Finnish language courses as a model infinitival construction, demonstrating the language's derivational flexibility and the use of case suffixes in expressing complex grammatical relationships.