Myydessä

Myydessä is a non-finite verb form in Finnish, derived from the verb myydä (to sell). It functions as an adverbial participle and expresses simultaneity of action, roughly corresponding to “while selling” or “in the act of selling” in English. The form is most common in literary or formal Finnish and is less frequent in everyday speech.

Formation and morphology: The form is created from the verb stem and the inessive/adverbial participle suffix -essä (with vowel harmony determining the exact shape). For the verb myydä, the result is the form myydessä. This participial construction marks a background circumstance for the action described in the main clause and typically appears in written language.

Function and usage: Myydessä introduces a subordinate, adverbial clause that situates the main event in time or circumstance. It conveys that the actions occur concurrently rather than sequentially. In practice, it contrasts with other participial forms such as myyvä (present active participle, meaning “selling” as a characteristic or the noun sense of “seller”) and with myyty (past participle, meaning “sold”). The adverbial participle is portable across different sentence structures and can add a formal or literary nuance to the text.

Register and alternatives: Because myydessä is stylistically marked, speakers often replace it with more common constructions in everyday language, such as subordinate clauses introduced by kun (when/while) or using a finite verb form to indicate contemporaneous action. It is most frequently encountered in written Finnish, legal or descriptive prose, and historical texts.

See also: Finnish grammar, participles, adverbial participles, inessive form, verb morphology.