määrittäessään

Määrittäessään is Finnish a present active participle of the verb määrittää (to define, determine). It is used to form adverbial clauses that describe an action occurring simultaneously with the action of the main clause. In such clauses the subject is the same as the subject of the main clause, and the meaning is often expressed in English as “while defining” or “in defining.”

The form is characteristic of formal, written Finnish and is commonly found in legal, academic, and descriptive prose. It provides a concise way to insert circumstantial information without creating a separate finite clause. Because it is a non-finite form, the participle clause can be attached directly to the main clause, enabling more compact sentence structures. The ending -essään (as in määrää-ttäessään) is part of the customary pattern for present adverbial participles; the exact spelling follows vowel harmony and context.

Examples:

- Määrittäessään sopimuksen ehtoja, osapuolet neuvottelivat pitkään. (While defining the terms of the contract, the parties negotiated for a long time.)

- Tutkija valmistaessaan raporttia tarkisti aineistosta poimittuja rajatapauksia. (While defining the scope of the study, the researcher checked edge cases in the material.)

Related forms include other present adverbial participles such as by using -malla (meaning “by defining”) to express means or manner. Määrittäessään serves as a versatile tool in Finnish for indicating concurrent action without introducing additional verbs.