Vähentämässä

Vähentämässä is the present active participle of the Finnish verb vähentää, meaning to reduce. It denotes the act of reducing that is currently taking place and is used to describe someone who is in the process of reducing something, or to describe an ongoing reduction as part of a larger context.

In Finnish, the present active participle can be formed with -va/-vä or with -massa/-mässä. Vähentämässä belongs to the -massa/-mässä family and expresses an action in progress. It is commonly used together with the auxiliary olla to emphasize ongoing action, for example: Hän on vähentämässä kulutustaan. (He is in the process of reducing his spending.) The participle can also occur in other constructions to describe ongoing processes, plans, or policies.

More frequent in everyday language is the finite form vähentää (to reduce) or the nominal form vähentäminen (the act of reducing). The participle vähentämässä is more typical in formal, descriptive, or bureaucratic writing and can appear in clauses that explain ongoing measures, strategies, or projections, such as reduce-focused policy statements or reports.

Related forms include the present active participle vähentävä (reducing), used as an attributive adjective, for example vähentävä toimenpide (a reducing measure). The verb’s other forms—vähentäminen (the act of reducing) and various past or perfect forms—complement the present participle in Finnish grammar.

In summary, vähentämässä expresses an ongoing reduction and is chiefly encountered in formal or technical Finnish, while everyday language more often uses the simple present or the noun form to convey the same idea.