Seostades

Seostades is an Estonian grammatical term referring to the present adverbial participle form of the verb seostama, meaning to relate or connect. It is used to express a concomitant circumstance and to link a non-finite clause to the main clause. The form signals that the action of the subordinate clause occurs at the same time as or in connection with the action of the main clause, without forming a full subordinate clause of its own.

Formation and usage: Seostades is formed from the verb stem seosta- plus the -des suffix used for adverbial participles. It can appear at the beginning or inside a sentence, often to provide background information or a condition for the main clause. In formal and literary Estonian, seostades is common, but in everyday speech it is frequently replaced by shorter phrases or different constructions.

Examples: Seostades andmed eelmiste aastate uuringutega, näitab uus analüüs sarnasusi. Seostades sündmuse toimumise aega ja kohta, saab täpsema pildi sündmuste järjestusest. Arvestades olukorda, valmistasid meeskonnad plaani edasiseks.

Comparison and notes: Seostades differs from the preposition seoses, which introduces a nominal phrase meaning “in connection with,” by creating a non-finite clause that modifies the main verb. The adverbial participle form allows tighter, more compact sentence structures but can also affect readability if overused.

See also: arvestades, seoses.