Muutettaessa

Muutettaessa is a Finnish adverbial participle derived from the verb muuttaa, meaning to change. It expresses a time or condition and is commonly translated as “when changing” or “upon change.” The form is especially frequent in formal Finnish, such as legal, administrative, and technical texts, where it introduces subordinate clauses that describe how rules or procedures apply during a modification or alteration.

Formation and function: The word combines the idea of change from muuttaa with a participial ending that allows the phrase to function as a dependent clause. In usage, muutettaessa serves to set the temporal or conditional context for the main clause, similar to English “upon changing” or “when changes are made.” It is a characteristic feature of written Finnish and is found in regulations, manuals, and contractual language.

Usage notes: Muutettaessa is typically used in formal or official prose. It is less common in everyday spoken Finnish, where simpler constructions such as kun muutetaan or kun muutokset tehdään might be preferred. Its presence often signals transitional provisions, instructions that apply during a change, or explanations of altered rules.

Example: Muutettaessa asetuksia ohjelma käynnistyy uudelleen. This translates roughly to “When changing the settings, the program restarts.” The phrase establishes the condition under which the consequence in the main clause takes place.

In summary, muutettaessa is a formal Finnish participial form used to indicate time or condition related to changes, most often appearing in regulations, manuals, and other official texts.