Kirjutamas

Kirjutamas is the present active participle of the Estonian verb kirjutama, meaning to write. It denotes an action that is in progress and is used to describe someone who is currently writing or engaged in the act of writing.

In standard Estonian, kirjo jamas functions as a non-finite form that can appear in several ways. It is commonly used with the auxiliary olema to form a progressive sense, as in ta on kirjutamas uut raamatut, meaning “he is writing a new book.” The form can also be used attributively to describe a noun or to create clauses that indicate concurrent action, for example in phrases that resemble “the person who is writing.”

Morphologically, kirjutamas is derived from the infinitive kirjutama by adding a participial ending that signals present action. The participle agrees with the noun it modifies in number and case when used in attributive positions, fitting into the broader Estonian system of non-finite verb forms. In everyday and contemporary literary Estonian, the present active participle is a common way to convey ongoing activity without starting a new finite clause.

Use and style notes: present participles like kirjutamas are productive in standard Estonian for describing ongoing actions and for compact, descriptive phrasing. In very formal or archaic contexts, speakers may prefer explicit clauses using olla plus a finite verb or other constructions, but kirjutamas remains a normal, widely understood form in modern usage.