Vertaillakseen

Ver-taillakseen is the purposive infinitive form of the Finnish verb vertailla, meaning “to compare.” It is a non-finite verb form used to express purpose in clauses and is most common in formal or written Finnish. The form signals the aim or intention of an action described in the main clause.

Formation and form: Ver-taillakseen is created by adding the suffix -akseen to the present active infinitive stem of the verb vertailla, yielding vertaillakseen. Like other purposive infinitives in Finnish, it is not conjugated for person or tense; it functions to convey purpose within a sentence.

Usage: The purposive infinitive serves to express why something is done, or what the aim of an action is. It often appears in formal contexts, such as academic writing, official reports, and legal or instructional language. In Finnish, the -akseen form can accompany expressions that indicate intention or goal in the clause structure, and its meaning is typically rendered in English as “in order to compare” or “to compare.”

Relation to other forms: Ver-taillakseen differs from the standard present active infinitive vertailla (to compare) in that vertailla states the action itself, while vertaillakseen specifies the purpose of performing that action. It is one of several non-finite forms used to express contrasts of mood, intention, and modality in Finnish.

See also: Finnish grammar, Purposive infinitive, Ver-tailla.