tulkitessa

Tulkitessa is a Finnish adverbial participle formed from the verb tulkita, meaning to interpret or translate. The form conveys a sense of ongoing interpretation and is used to introduce a subordinate clause with the nuance of “while interpreting” or “in the act of interpreting.” It typically appears in formal or descriptive prose rather than everyday speech.

Morphology and use: Tulkitessa is created by adding the suffix -essa to the verb stem tulkita. It serves to describe concurrent action within a sentence, functioning similarly to other adverbial participles such as kirjoittaessa (while writing) or tutkittaessa (while examining). In practice, tulkitessa can replace a main clause that would express the same temporal relationship with a more compact or stylistically nuanced construction. It is most common in written Finnish, including academic, journalistic, and literary texts.

Example: Tulkitessa tekstiä, tutkija huomasi virheen. In English: While interpreting the text, the researcher noticed an error. Note that the form is typically not used in informal spoken Finnish, where speakers would more often use a conjunction like kun or while-clause constructions. Tulkitessa is one of several non-finite forms that enrich Finnish syntax by allowing compact expressions of time, circumstance, and simultaneous action.