Tähyillessä

Tähyillessä is a Finnish non-finite verb form derived from the verb tähyillä, meaning to gaze, peer, or stare with wide eyes. It functions as an adverbial participle and is used to express that the action of gazing occurs simultaneously with another action, often rendered in English as "while gazing" or "in a gaze."

Usage of tähyillessä is common in descriptive prose and everyday speech to convey a character’s way of looking—with curiosity, astonishment, or admiration. The nuance can be neutral or slightly evocative, depending on context. It can describe a moment of noticing something in the environment, or a longer, lingering look, and it may contribute to mood, tone, or imagery in a sentence.

Grammatical notes clarify that tähyillessä is a non-finite form; it does not carry its own tense. Instead, the tense is set by the main clause. As a connector, it links actions and describes manner or circumstance. It is typical to see the construction with a finite verb in the main clause, for example in a sentence where the subject both moves and gazes at the same time.

Example: Hän käveli kadulla tähyillessä ympärilleen. Translation: He walked down the street, gazing around him. This illustrates how tähyillessä can insert a concurrent action into a straightforward narrative, enhancing visual detail without requiring a separate clause for the gaze.

See also: tähyillä; Finnish participial and gerund forms; adverbial participles in Finnish.