Tulkitsemaan

Tulkitsemaan is a Finnish verb meaning "to interpret" or "to translate" in a broad sense, encompassing both literal translation and figurative explanation. The root verb is tulkita, and tulkitsemaan is the part of the infinitive form used in subordinate clauses or with auxiliary verbs such as on tulkitsemaan (he/she is interpreting). The verb belongs to the U2 conjugation class, so it follows regular vowel harmony and consonant gradation rules: tulkitaan, tulkitsen, tulkitsess, tulkitsevat, etc. In the past tense it becomes tulkitset, in the perfect it appears as on tulleen tulkinnaksi.

In everyday Finnish, tulkitsemaan is commonly employed in contexts involving language translation—as in ohjeiden tulkitsemaan (interpreting the instructions)—but it also appears in metaphorical senses, for instance viestien tulkitsemaan (interpreting the messages). The related noun tulkinta conveys the act or result of interpretation. Finnish speakers sometimes prefuse the term valuing precision, such as juridikeen tulkitsemaan (interpreting the law). In contrast, the Germanic cognate interpret, or the idiomatic phrase "kääntää tekstiä", is more frequent for literal translation tasks.

The verb also appears in compound constructions: tulkinnan, which is the backwards-constructed form used for goal-oriented contexts: "haluan tulkinta myä" (I want an interpretation). As a morphological element, it behaves like a semi-infinitive when combined with the compound verb tehdä; e.g., tekstiä toimii tulkitsemaan.

Tulkitsemaan is taught in Finnish language courses to illustrate the distinction between direct translation plus communicative translation, and to emphasize semantic nuance. The term is also present in legal texts, literary criticism, and cross-cultural communication literature. It remains an active verb in both written and spoken forms, showing the dynamic nature of Finnish verbs.