hakasulkeissa

Hakasulkeissa is a Finnish term referring to the punctuation marks that enclose text, namely the opening and closing parentheses: ( and ). The adverb hakuform “hakasulkeissa” means “in parentheses” or “within parentheses.” The word refers both to the marks themselves and to the material placed between them.

The primary function of parentheses is to set off supplementary or non-essential information from the main sentence. This can include clarifications, examples, side remarks, translations, or acronyms explained on first use. Parenthetical material can be a short phrase or a complete sentence, and its content is usually considered optional for the main point of the sentence. If a full sentence is placed inside parentheses, its capitalization and terminal punctuation generally follow standard rules for standalone sentences.

Typographic conventions in Finnish writing usually keep the parentheses adjacent to the enclosed text, with no spaces inside the brackets. A space may appear before an opening parenthesis when it interrupts a sentence for a separate aside. If the parenthetical segment ends with a sentence-ending punctuation mark, that punctuation remains inside the closing parenthesis; otherwise, the sentence-ending punctuation of the main text comes after the closing parenthesis.

Related punctuation includes square brackets [ ] (often used for editorial additions or clarifications within quoted material). While parentheses are common for parenthetical asides in everyday prose, brackets are more common in academic editing and multi-layered quotations.

In summary, hakasulkeissa denotes the use of parentheses to insert extra information without disrupting the primary message, a common and stylistically accepted practice in Finnish writing.