Hymyillessään

Hymyillessään is a Finnish adverbial participle form of the verb hymyillä, meaning to smile. It expresses that the action of smiling occurs at the same time as the action of the main clause, roughly translating to “while smiling” or “smiling, …” The form is used to provide background or tone to a sentence.

Formation and usage

The participle is formed from the verb hymyillä with the adverbial -essaan/-essään ending, indicating third-person singular subject. In a sentence, the subject of the participial clause is understood to be the same as the subject of the main clause. Hymyillessään often appears in descriptive narration and can set mood, gesture, or demeanor during the described action.

Examples

Hän katsoi ulos ikkunasta, hymyillessään. (He looked out the window, smiling.)

Hymyillessään hän kertoi tarinan. (While smiling, he told a story.)

Nuance and comparison

Hymyillessään is more formal and stylistic than simply using hymyillen, which describes the manner of smiling. The adverbial participle hymyillessään foregrounds concurrent action and is common in written Finnish, including journalism and literature, where it helps create a compact, descriptive sentence without a separate subordinate clause.

Notes

While the form is standard, its use is more prevalent in written than in casual speech. Correct usage relies on the subject of the participial clause matching that of the main clause, or clear contextual reference.