Koetellessa

Koetellessa is a Finnish grammatical form classified as an adverbial participle, derived from the verb koetella, meaning to test or try. It expresses that an action occurs simultaneously with another action, roughly translating to “while testing” or “during testing.” The form is commonly used to introduce subordinate clauses in written and formal Finnish.

Formation and variants: Koetellessa is created from the verb stem koetell- plus the suffix -essa, in line with Finnish vowel harmony. The basic, subject-unknown form can appear at the clause's start, as in koetellessa ohjelmaa. When the subject is explicit, related forms such as koetellessaan can be used to indicate “as he/she was testing,” with the subject in the genitive. This flexibility allows the participle to fit a range of stylistic needs, from neutral narration to more literary phrasing.

Usage: The koetellessa form is typically found in technical writing, reports, or literary Finnish where simultaneous actions are described concisely. It is not commonly used in everyday speech, where coordinating conjunctions or finite clauses are more common. The participle provides a compact way to link testing activities to a broader narrative or result.

Examples:

- Koetellessa uutta ohjelmistoa, käyttäjät huomasivat useita virheitä. (While testing the new software, users noticed several bugs.)

- Tiimi oppi priorisoimaan tehtäviä koetellessaan rajallisia resursseja. (The team learned to prioritize tasks as they tested with limited resources.)

See also: adverbial participles in Finnish, -essa/-ssä forms, koetella.