hoitamaan

Hoitamaan is a Finnish verb form that functions as the third infinitive of the verb hoitaa, meaning to take care of. As a non-finite form, hoitamaan does not convey person, number, or tense by itself and is mainly used to express purpose or intention in combination with other verbs.

Formation and use

The third infinitive is formed by attaching the suffix -maan/-mään to the stem hoita-. For hoitaa, this yields hoitamaan. The choice of -maan vs -mään follows vowel harmony rules in Finnish, but for this verb the result is the fixed form hoitamaan. This infinitive commonly appears after verbs of motion or intention to indicate what someone is going to do, often with a sense of purpose. It is typical to see constructions such as mennä hoitamaan, ryhtyä hoitamaan, or aikoa hoitamaan.

Typical usage

- Hän lähti hoitamaan lapsia. (He left to take care of the children.)

- He aikovat hoitamaan vanhuksia tulevana iltana. (They intend to take care of the elderly tonight.)

In these examples, hoitamaan expresses the act of taking care of someone or something as the goal of the action described by the finite verb.

Relation to other forms

Hoitamaan is contrasted with hoitaa, the present active infinitive, which can function more generally as the base form of “to take care of” without a specific purpose. The noun form hoitaminen refers to the act or process of caregiving, and related nouns include hoitaja (caregiver) and hoitokäytäntö (care practice).

Summary

Hoitamaan is the third infinitive of hoitaa used to denote purpose or intention in phrases like mennä hoitamaan or ryhtyä hoitamaan, and it plays a key role in expressing actions related to caregiving within Finnish sentence structure.