keräten

Keräten is a non-finite form of the Finnish verb kerätä, meaning to gather or collect. It functions as a gerundial or adverbial participle that expresses concomitant or instrumental action, roughly corresponding to English by gathering or gathering as a means. The form is created by adding the suffix -en to the verb stem: kerätä → keräten. In practice, keräten is used mainly in formal or literary Finnish to describe how something is performed, rather than as a finite action of the subject. It often appears at the beginning of a clause or as a supplementary phrase: Keräten varoja hyväntekeväisyyteen, järjestö sai tukea. The construction can also modify the subject implicitly, as in Keräten kokemuksiaan, hän jatkoi matkaa.

Keräten is distinct from the present active participle forms such as keräävä, which describe the subject performing the action in a more direct sense. The -en gerund tends to foreground the process or means by which something is accomplished, rather than the performing subject itself. Because it is relatively formal and somewhat literary, keräten is less common in everyday conversation, where speakers might instead use a finite verb or a noun-based construction, such as kerääminen (the act of gathering) or by using a separate clause to indicate means.

References to keräten typically appear in linguistic descriptions of Finnish grammar or in stylistic analyses of written Finnish. It is part of a broader system of non-finite participial and gerund forms that enrich the language’s ability to express attendant actions.