käynnistäen

Käynnistäen is the present adverbial participle of the Finnish verb käynnistää, meaning by starting or starting up. It functions to indicate the means or manner by which an action is performed and is used to form concise non-finite clauses in written Finnish, often in technical, instructional, or formal prose.

Formation and function: The form is derived from the verb stem käynnist- with the suffix -en, creating an adverbial participle that expresses instrumentality or manner. In use, the agent performing the action is often implicit and can be the same as the subject of the main clause. The structure allows a compact alternative to a subordinate clause, similar to English “by starting.” It can appear at the beginning or within a sentence.

Usage and examples: Käynnistäen is most common in manuals, specifications, and other formal texts. For example: Käynnistäen koneen, hän tarkisti varoitusvalot. (Starting the machine, he checked the warning lights.) Another example: Käynnistäen ohjelman, järjestelmä siirtyi valmiustilaan. (By starting the program, the system entered a standby state.) In everyday spoken Finnish, speakers more often use explicit clauses with kohtalaisen konjunctions (e.g., “kun”/“jolloin”) rather than the adverbial participle.

Related forms: Käynnistäminen (nominalization) refers to the act of starting as a concept or process. The present adverbial participle is distinguished from other non-finite forms by its specific suffix and its role in denoting means rather than time or purpose.

See also: Finnish adverbial participles, käynnistää, käynnistäminen.