Lähtiessään

Lähtiessään is a non-finite verb form in Finnish that functions as an adverbial participle derived from the verb lähteä, meaning to leave or depart. The form expresses time related to the action of the main clause and is generally translated into English as “as (someone) was leaving” or “on leaving.” It is typically used with a third-person subject and usually refers to the same subject as in the main clause.

In use, lähtiessään introduces a subordinate adverbial clause describing an action occurring at roughly the same time as the action of the main clause. It can appear at the beginning or within a sentence. Example: Lähtiessään kotoa hän muisti ottaa sateenvarjon. (As he was leaving home, he remembered to take an umbrella.) Another example: Hän huomasi, että lähtiessään kaupungista hän unohti puhelimen. (When he was leaving the city, he realized he had left his phone behind.)

Lähtiessään belongs to the family of participial constructions that mark time and circumstance; related forms include lähtiessä and other adverbial participles formed with different stems. A related form is lähdettyään, which conveys a sequence where the leaving action is completed before the main clause (often translated as “after having left”). These participles help create compact, time-aware narration without alternating to a separate finite clause.

Etymology and register: lähtiessään is standard Finnish, widely used in written and spoken language, especially in narrative and descriptive texts. While primarily a literary device, it is also common in everyday speech, where concise temporal linking is useful.