Väittäessä

Väittäessä is a Finnish present participle form derived from the verb väittää, meaning to claim or to assert. It functions as an adverbial participle, typically used to introduce a clause that describes concurrent or conditional action, and can be translated roughly as “while asserting” or “in asserting.”

Grammatical role and formation: Väittäessä forms a participial clause that modifies the main clause, often replacing a corresponding finite clause in more formal or literary prose. The form is used without a conjunction in some contexts, but more commonly it appears with other parts of the sentence to express the idea of simultaneous or conditional assertion by the subject. The participle can be inflected to agree with the subject and to fit the sentence’s case and number, as with other Finnish participles.

Usage and examples: Väittäessä is common in written Finnish, including journalism, legal writing, and academic texts, where concise or stylistically elevated phrasing is desired. Examples include:

- Väittäessä, että laki on oikeudenmukainen, hän viittasi valtakunnallisiin lausuntoihin. (While asserting that the law is just, he referenced national statements.)

- Tutkija lausui väittäessä, että tulokset tukevat hypoteesia. (The researcher spoke, while asserting that the results support the hypothesis.)

Related forms and notes: The act of asserting is nounized as väittäminen, and a more active instrumental form is väittäen (“by asserting”). The person who asserts is a väittäjä, and the related concept väite means a claim or assertion. Väittäessä carries a formal, sometimes literary tone and is best suited for written, careful exposition.