Lisäamalla

Lisäamalla is a Finnish adverbial participle form of the verb lisätä, meaning “by adding.” It is used to express the means, manner, or method by which an action is carried out. In English, it corresponds roughly to phrases like “by adding” or “through adding.” The form is common in instructional, explanatory, and descriptive texts, including recipes and mathematical or scientific explanations.

Formation and use: Lisäamalla is created from the verb stem lisätä plus the adverbial participle suffix -malla (often written with a double l in Finnish orthography). It is used to connect clauses in which the action described in the subordinate clause indicates the means for the main clause’s result. The agent of the action is often the same as the subject of the main clause, but it can also be specified explicitly.

Examples: Lisäämällä vettä seos laimenee. By adding water, the mixture becomes more dilute. Lisäämällä sokeria juoma makeutuu. By adding sugar, the drink becomes sweeter. These constructions are common in manuals, recipes, and explanatory texts to show how a result is achieved.

Relationship to related forms: Lisäamalla belongs to the family of Finnish adverbial participles (tapa-partisiipit). It contrasts with nominal forms such as lisäminen (adding) or lisäys (an addition), which function as nouns rather than as verb-derived adverbial modifiers.

See also: lisäys, lisääminen, lisäysmenetelmät, suomalainen kieli.