tehdessään

Tehdessään is a Finnish adverbial participle form derived from the verb tehdä (to do or to make). It expresses that the main action takes place at the same time as another action, effectively meaning “while doing (it)” or “in doing so.” The participial clause typically shares its subject with the main clause, creating a compact, subordinate idea that adds background or circumstance to the sentence.

In practice, tehtessään is used to describe concurrent actions in a narrative or formal sentence. It is common in written Finnish, including literary and journalistic styles, and can convey nuances of simultaneity or circumstance without introducing a separate finite clause. The form can appear with different verbs, not only tehdä, to describe various parallel activities.

grammatical notes:

- The form is a present adverbial participle and is usually linked to the same subject as the main clause.

- It can sometimes sound formal or archaic in everyday speech, where speakers might opt for a subordinate clause with kun or while instead.

Examples:

- Hän puhui, tehdessään ruokaa. (He spoke while making food.)

- Hän kuunteli opasta, tehdessään muistiinpanoja. (He listened to the guide, taking notes.)

Compared with explicit clauses, tehtessään provides a concise way to add surrounding activity or context. When the intention is to indicate a different subject in the participial clause, Finnish typically rephrases the sentence to avoid ambiguity.