pitämällä

Pitämällä is the adverbial participle (gerund) form of the Finnish verb pitää, meaning “to hold,” “to keep,” or in some senses “to regard/obligate.” As a non-finite form, pitämällä expresses manner or means and is often translated into English as “by holding,” “by keeping,” or “while keeping.” The form is created with the suffix -malla attached to the verb stem, producing pitämällä.

In use, pitämällä functions to indicate how an action is performed, the instrument used, or the condition under which something occurs. It is common in written Finnish to connect clauses and to convey a sense of method. For example, Pitämällä mielessä ohjeet, hän vältti virheitä can be rendered as “Keeping the instructions in mind, he avoided mistakes.” Another example is Pitämällä kiinni ohjauksesta hän pysyi tiellä, meaning “By holding on to the steering, he stayed on the road.” These constructions show the gerund’s role in describing means or approach.

Pitämällä coexists with other non-finite forms of pitää, such as the present active participle إطلاق “pitäen,” which can also introduce similar adverbial clauses but with different nuance. While pitämällä emphasizes the action conducted by means of the held object or maintained state, other forms may foreground intention or temporal relations more directly.

Etymology and related forms: pitämällä derives from pitää plus the general adverbial participle suffix -malla, a pattern shared by many Finnish verbs to express “by doing.” It is used across formal and instructional Finnish to articulate how something is achieved.