Kirjoittaessaan

Kirjoittaessaan is a Finnish adverbial participle form derived from the verb kirjoittaa (to write). It expresses a simultaneous action, roughly translating to “while writing” or “in writing,” and is used to add background information about the circumstances of the main clause.

Grammatically, kirjoittaessaan belongs to the class of adverbial participles (also called participial subordinate clauses). The form is created from the verb stem with person- and number-specific endings. For example, kirjoittaessani means “while I was writing,” kirjoittaessasi means “while you were writing,” and kirjoittaessaan means “while he/she was writing.” There are corresponding forms for plural subjects as well (for instance, kirjoittaessamme, kirjoittaessanne). The exact endings align with Finnish pronoun or noun reference to indicate who is performing the action.

Usage notes include that the participle clause is typically separated from the main clause by a comma. It can appear before or after the main clause, and it often provides circumstantial information about concurrent action, background, or context. In formal or literary Finnish, such constructions are common; in everyday speech they occur but are used more sparingly.

Examples:

- Hän kirjoittaessaan tarinaa kuunteli musiikkia. (While he was writing the story, he listened to music.)

- Kirjoittaessani esseetä löysin vanhoja lähteitä. (While I was writing the essay, I found old sources.)

A key consideration is that the subject of the participle clause should generally align with the subject of the main clause, though contexts may allow implied reference. Kirjoittaessaan thus serves as a compact way to link actions and provide temporal or causal texture in Finnish prose.