Työskenteli

Työskenteli is the third-person singular past tense form of the Finnish verb työskenteellä/työskentellä, meaning to work, to be employed, or to operate. As a finite verb, työskenteli is used to describe a past action or state in which the subject performed work or functioned during a specified time frame. The form is common in narrative and descriptive text to indicate what someone or something did in the past.

In usage, työskenteli can refer to a wide range of subjects, including people, organizations, or machines, that were active or performing work in the past. It can appear with various time expressions such as päivät, viikot, koko päivä, or yön yli. The negative counterpart is ei työskennellyt, which is formed with the same verb stem and adds the negative marker ei in front of the past tense form.

The verb is part of Finnish verb conjugation patterns and pairs with the present tense form työskentelee (he/she/it works) as its corresponding present tense. When moving to past tense in reported speech or more complex tenses, muodostuu like on työskennellyt (has worked) or on työskennellyt pitkään to indicate present perfect.

Examples:

- Hän työskenteli toimistossa koko päivän. (He worked in the office all day.)

- Kone työskenteli moitteetta yön yli. (The machine operated smoothly overnight.)

- Ei hän työskennellyt lainkaan tänään. (He did not work at all today.)

See also: työskentele (imperative), työskennellä (base verb), työskennellä–kielipainotteiset taivutusmuodot.