tultaessa

Tultaessa is a Finnish verbal form that is occasionally found in older or literary texts. It is associated with the verb tulla, meaning “to come,” and is used to convey a temporal meaning roughly comparable to “upon coming” or “when coming.” The exact grammatical status of tultaessa varies somewhat between grammars, but it is generally treated as a temporally oriented non-finite form used to introduce a time frame within a sentence.

In contemporary standard Finnish, tultaessa is uncommon. More typical in everyday language are forms such as tullessa (“on coming”) or other subordinate clauses that express time, mood, and aspect. As a result, tultaessa tends to appear primarily in historical writings, poetry, or linguistic discussions rather than in modern prose or dialogue.

Usage and occurrence: tultaessa is mainly encountered as a feature of older Finnish, regional styles, or scholarly examples illustrating the evolution of Finnish verb forms. When it does appear, its function is to anchor a subsequent clause to the moment of coming or arrival, often in a sequence of events. Because it is not a common contemporary construct, it is rarely taught in standard Finnish courses and is mostly of interest to linguists, philologists, and readers exploring historical texts.

See also: Finnish grammar of verb forms, the verb tulla, temporal clauses in Finnish, tullessa, tullessaan.