Keitettäessä

Keitettäessä is a Finnish grammatical form that functions as an adverbial participle meaning “while boiling” or “during boiling.” It is formed from the verb keittää (to boil) and is used to introduce a subordinate clause that describes something happening during the boiling process. The construction is common in written Finnish, especially in instructional texts, manuals, and recipes, where it helps link sequential steps or describe concurrent actions without repeating the main verb.

Usage and meaning: Keitettäessä indicates a temporal relationship between boiling and another action or state described in the main clause. It often refers to what occurs during the boiling moment or process. For example, a sentence might state what happens to a substance while it is being boiled, or it might set the conditions under which another action takes place. The subject of the subordinate clause is frequently the object that is being boiled, but the subject can be omitted if it is clear from context.

Relation to other forms: The corresponding past passive participle keitetty means “boiled” as a property of a thing (for example, boiled potatoes). Keitettäessä contrasts with non-finite forms like keittäessä or keittäessäsi, which can also appear in similar contexts to indicate concurrency, but keitettäessä is the standard form used to express “during boiling.”

See also: Finnish grammar, participles, adverbial participles, cooking terminology, recipe writing.