imemällä

Imemällä is the instrumental gerund form of the Finnish verb imaista, meaning to suck, draw in, or inhale. It expresses the means or method by which an action is performed and corresponds roughly to the English expression “by sucking” or “by drawing in.” The form is used to describe actions carried out through suction or inhalation and is common in contexts such as nursing, breathing, or the use of suction devices, as well as in descriptive writing about infants or medical procedures.

Etymology: The form derives from the root ima-, related to Finnish words for sucking or drawing in. The suffix -malla/-mällä marks an instrumental or adverbial participle, yielding “imemällä” = “by sucking/inhaling.”

Usage: As an instrumental gerund, imemällä appears in clauses that specify means or accompanying actions. It is especially frequent in instructional, medical, or child-care texts, but also occurs in descriptive prose. It is not a finite verb and does not indicate tense or subject.

Examples:

- Imemällä ilmaa keuhkoihinsa hän sai hapen. (By inhaling air into his lungs, he obtained oxygen.)

- Lapsi rauhoittui imemällä rintaa. (The child calmed down by nursing.)

Notes: The term is distinct from imeäminen (the noun for the act of sucking) and from the finite verb forms of imaista. In everyday speech, imemällä appears most often in written or formal contexts, characteristic of descriptive or instructional language.