sekoittuessaan

Seekoittuessaan is a Finnish adverbial participle formed from the intransitive verb sekoittua, meaning to become mixed or to mingle. It expresses simultaneity in a sentence: the action of the participle occurs at the same time as the action of the main verb, typically referring to the same subject.

The form is built as sekoittu- + -essaan or -essään, indicating “while it was mixing” or “as it became mixed.” The participial clause is non-finite and can be placed before or after the main clause. In standard Finnish, the subject of the participial clause is normally the same as the subject of the main clause, although the construction can convey a shared circumstance among participants.

Usage is common in written Finnish, especially in narrative or formal prose, to describe concurrent actions or states without creating a separate finite clause. It can refer to physical mixing (such as liquids) or to more abstract processes like ideas or people blending into a group.

Examples:

- Vesi sekoittuessaan kahvin kanssa muuttui tummemmaksi. Translation: As the water mixed with the coffee, it became darker.

- Hän katsoi ympärilleen, sekoittuessaan muiden katsojien joukkoon. Translation: He looked around, blending into the crowd of other spectators.

Notes: The form is most natural in written and descriptive contexts. In everyday speech, speakers may prefer explicit conjunctions or alternative constructions to express the same idea.