Siirtyessä

Siirtyessä is a non-finite verb form of the Finnish verb siirtyä, meaning to move, shift, or transfer. It functions as an adverbial participle (a converb) and expresses that an action is carried out concurrently with another action. In translation it is commonly rendered as “while moving,” “as one moves,” or “on moving.”

The form is built from the verb stem siirty- plus the present adverbial participle ending -essä, yielding siirtyessä. It can be used without a possessive suffix, or with one to indicate the subject of the subordinate clause, for example siirtyessäni (as I move), siirtyessäsi (as you move), siirtyessään (as he/she moves). Depending on the main clause, the subject is often understood from context.

Siirtyessä is used to link actions in a concise, clause-linking manner without a conjunction. It is common in descriptive or instructional prose, where a secondary action occurs simultaneously with the main action. The construction is characteristic of Finnish written style but appears in everyday language as well.

Related forms include siirtyvä (present active participle, “moving”) and the noun form siirtyminen (the act of moving or shifting). Considerations for usage focus on ensuring that the subject of the siirtyessä clause aligns with the main clause, since the form itself does not explicitly supply a subject.

See also: siirtyä, siirtyminen, adverbial participles in Finnish, converbs.

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