hankkimalla

Hankkimalla is the Finnish adverbial participle form of the verb hankkia, meaning "to acquire" or "to obtain." As an adverbial participle formed with the suffix -malla/-mällä, hankkimalla is commonly translated into English as "by acquiring" or "by obtaining" and is used to express means, method, cause or manner.

In sentences it functions adverbially to indicate how something is done: for example, "Hän paransi osaamistaan hankkimalla lisäkoulutusta" (He/she improved their skills by acquiring additional training). It can introduce an adverbial clause describing the circumstances that lead to a result: "Hankkimalla kokemusta hän sai paremman aseman työmarkkinoilla" (By gaining experience he/she obtained a better position in the job market).

Hankkimalla appears in both spoken and written Finnish and is productive with many verbs to form similar constructions (for example opiskelemalla, tekemällä). It contrasts with other Finnish participial and infinitive forms that express time, purpose or passive actions (such as -ma/-mä participles for nominal purposes or the essive and translative cases). Grammatically, it is uninflected for tense and is used to denote the manner or instrumentality of an action rather than its temporal location.

The form is widely used in instructional, explanatory and descriptive contexts, including everyday speech, journalism and formal writing, where it succinctly conveys the method or means by which an outcome is achieved.