sovellettaessa

Sovellettaessa is a Finnish adverbial participle form of the verb soveltaa, meaning “to apply” or “to implement.” It functions roughly as the equivalent of “in applying” or “when applying” in English and is used to link a non-finite clause to the main clause, indicating simultaneous or conditional action.

The form is a present adverbial participle, created by adding the suffix -ttaessa to the verb stem. It is typically used in formal or technical writing, such as legal, administrative, or academic texts. In sentences, the subject of the -ttaessa clause is usually the same as the subject of the main clause, and the action described by sovellettaessa occurs alongside the action of the main verb. The construction does not convey a separate finite tense; rather, it provides contextual information about how the main action is carried out.

Usage notes and examples: In legal or guideline language, you might see sentences like “Sovellettaessa tätä sääntöä, on huomioitava seuraavat seikat,” meaning “When applying this rule, the following points must be noted.” Another example is “Sovellettaessa ohjeita noudatetaan seuraavia vaiheita,” meaning “In applying the instructions, the following steps are followed.” The form is less common in everyday speech but remains standard in texts that prescribe procedures or describe normative practices.

Related forms include soveltaminen (the act of applying) and sovellettu (applied). The term is part of Finnish verb morphology used to express nuanced, context-driven actions in non-finite clauses.