Temporal Substitute Construction – Temporaalinen lauseenvastike
The temporal substitute construction (= temporaalinen lauseenvastike = temporaalirakenne) is an advanced grammar topic. If you’re a beginner, you should search for something easier on this website! There is plenty to find!
- The Use of the Temporal Substitute Construction
- Don’t overuse it!
- The Formation of the Temporal Substitute Construction
- Morphology of the constructions
- Same time vs successive time
- Tehdessä/tehtäessä substitute construction
- Tehtyä substitute construction
- Subject of a temporal substitute construction
- Different subject
- Same subject
- Present tense vs past tense
1. The Use of the Temporal Substitute Construction
As you can guess from the name, a substitute construction replaces one way of saying things with another. The temporal substitute construction is used to replace linked sentences where both actions either happen at the same time or in succession.
1.1. Don’t overuse it!
Let’s start with a warning. The point of substitute constructions is to condense two sentences into one. It’s used especially in newspapers and other official sources. In spoken language, it appears mainly in some fossilized phrases.
It’s important to know that you can overdo your use of this sentence construction. If a text has too many of these constructions, it will start to be hard to read, even for Finns. Finns call texts with a lot of difficult sentence constructions “kapulakieli“. This is something that has been said especially often about texts of the Social Security Office (Kela). Often it is better to use two sentences instead of a “lauseenvastike“.
2. The Formation of the Temporal Substitute Construction
In this article, we will be focusing on how the sentences are formed. If you want to find out more about how to form the second infinitive (tehdessä and tehtäessä) or the past participle (tehtyä), you can do so on our separate pages on both. However, below you can find a small overview.
2.1. Morphology of the Constructions
| Verb | Tehdessä | Tehtäessä | Tehtyä |
|---|---|---|---|
| maksaa | maksaessa | maksettaessa | maksettua |
| odottaa | odottaessa | odotettaessa | odotettua |
| seisoa | seisoessa | seisottaessa | seisottua |
| itkeä | itkiessä | itkettäessä | itkettyä |
| syödä | syödessä | syötäessä | syötyä |
| tupakoida | tupakoidessa | tupakoitaessa | tupakoitua |
| jutella | jutellessa | juteltaessa | juteltua |
| pestä | pestessä | pestäessä | pestyä |
| tavata | tavatessa | tavattaessa | tavattua |
| pudota | pudotessa | pudottaessa | pudottua |
| häiritä | häiritessä | häirittäessä | häirittyä |
2.2. Same Time vs Successive Time
There are two types of temporal constructions: one where both actions happen at the same time, and one where one action happens after another.
2.2.1. Tehdessä/Tehtäessä Substitute Construction
When both actions are happening at the same time, you will use the second infinitive in its inessive form (-ssa).
When the “kun” sentence is active, you will use the active form of the second infinitive. “Se tapahtui hänen tullessaan kotiin.” (= “It happened while she was coming home”; in other words she was in the process of coming home when it happened).
When we’re dealing with a passive “kun” sentence, we will use the passive form of the second infinitive in the inessive case. “Helsingin suunnasta tultaessa on usein ruuhkaa moottoritiellä.” (= “When coming from Helsinki, there is often a rush on the highway”). We’re not specifying who is coming; it’s not important.
| Finnish | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Minä laulan [siivotessani]. | I sing [while cleaning] |
| Passive | Usein lauletaan [siivottaessa]. | People often sing [while cleaning]. |
| Active | [Pekan juodessa kahvia] minä rentoudun. | [While Pekka is drinking coffee], I relax. |
| Passive | [Kahvia juotaessa] on mahdollista rentoutua. | It’s possible to relax [while drinking coffee]. |
| Active | Se sattui [hänen mennessään kirkkoon]. | It occurred [while she was going to church]. |
| Passive | [Kirkkoon mentäessä] pukeudutaan asiallisesti. | [When going to church] one dresses correctly. |
2.2.2. Tehtyä Substitute Construction
When the two actions happen successively, you will use the passive past participle in its partitive form. “Se tapahtui hänen tultuaan kotiin.” (= “It happened when she had come home”; in other words she came home before it happened).
| Finnish | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Same time |
Minä laulan [siivotessani]. | I sing [while cleaning]. |
| Successive | Minä laulan [siivottuani]. | I sing [when I’m done cleaning]. |
| Same time | [Pekan juodessa kahvia] minä rentoudun. | [While Pekka is drinking coffee], I relax. |
| Successive | [Pekan juotua kahvia] minä rentoudun. | I relax [after Pekka has drunk his coffee]. |
| Same time | Se sattui [hänen mennessään kirkkoon]. | It occurred [while she was going to church]. |
| Successive | Se sattui [hänen mentyään kirkkoon] | It happened when she had gone to church. |
2.3. Subject of a Temporal Substitute Construction
2.3.1. Different subject
When both of the sentences we’re connecting have a different subject (e.g. Minä imuroin Antin syödessä = I vacuum cleaned while Antti ate), the subject of the temporal sentence will appear in the genitive case.
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Minä laulan [Antin siivotessa]. | I sing [while Antti cleans]. |
| Antti laulaa [minun siivotessani]. | Antti sings [while I’m cleaning]. |
| Minä laulan [Antin siivottua]. | I sing [when Antti’s done cleaning.]. |
| Antti laulaa [minun siivottuani]. | Antti sings [when I’m done cleaning]. |
2.3.2. Same subject
When both parts of the sentence have the same subject, you will only be using a possessive suffix.
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Lapsi nauroi [saadessaan lahjan]. | The child laughed [while he got the present]. |
| Lapsi nauroi [saatuaan lahjan]. | The child laughed [after he’d gotten the present]. |
| Minä laulan [käydessäni suihkussa]. | I sing [while taking a shower]. |
| Minä laulan [käytyäni suihkussa]. | I sing [after I’ve taken a shower]. |
2.4. Present tense vs past tense
For the temporal substitute construction (temporaalirakenne) it doesn’t matter at all whether the sentence is present tense or past tense. What matters is how they relate to one another.
| Finnish | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Past | Lapsi nauroi [saadessaan lahjan]. | The child laughed [while he got the present]. |
| Present | Lapsi nauraa [saadessaan lahjan]. | The child laughs [while he gets the present]. |
| Past | Minä lauloin [käytyäni suihkussa]. | I sang [after I had taken a shower]. |
| Present | Minä laulan [käytyäni suihkussa]. | I sing [after I take a shower]. |
Moi
You say….
2.3
When both actions are happening at the same time, you will use the second infinitive in its inessive form (-ssa).
I’ve read An Essential Grammar by Fred Karlsson and he says….if the action of the kun clause is simultaneous with or LATER than that of the main clause, the form of the verb is thw second infinitive inessive.
Is there any difference ?
Kiitos
Hmmmm… I had to really rack my brain for this one. I eventually thought of this, but I’m not satisfied with this as an example either: “Asuin Helsingissä, kun lapseni syntyi” > “Asuin Helsingissä lapseni syntyessä”. I would say that the act of living there and the child being born happen simultaneously, but I suppose you could see it as a situation where the living happened earlier than the birth (?). I’d say the living is an ongoing event, so it’s simultaneous.
I haven’t been able to think of any other examples where there would be even a little bit of wiggle room in the interpretation. Does Karlsson give any examples where the kun-sentence clearly happens LATER than the main clause?
I’ve just reviewed previous points in the book where he mentions this topic and he only says simultaneous, so I think that LATER isn’t important.
Kiitos taas
So I see these constructions sometimes and Deepl will recommend them, I think. But I’m getting that I’m better off just using kun and jälkeen?
You would sound VERY unusual using these when speaking! Even in the type of writings you’re probably going to be doing (emails, work stuff) they would be very atypical.
It’s mainly used in official contexts where people strive to make things shorter. Especially the -essasi form is probably something you’ll see. Try googling for examples with “maksaessasi”.
This should be part of your PASSIVE language skills (understanding) rather than something you actively use yourself.
Hi, I have a question about this article 😀
As it is mentioned here temporaalinen lauseenvastike appears mostly in newspapers and official souces, and usually in every-day speech you will not hear this at all, if I got the point of the 1.1 part right.
But personally for me it sounds really long and unnecessary when you have to use 2 sentences instead of for example english “while“, so i was thinking if could I use something different in colloquial language?
For example “Naiset kutovat keskustellessaan.”, can I say “Naiset kutovat keskustelemassa”? As a newbie I don’t see here a big difference 🤔
Your replies help me a lot thank you.
“Naiset kutovat keskustelemassa” doesn’t work at all, but I do understand how you might think so. The -massa form can only be used with some verbs that stereotypically express “being” somewhere: olen kutomassa, istun kutomassa, seison kutomassa, makaan sohvalla kutomassa. You’re not doing two things that both require attention: the main verb tells that you’re knitting, but the auxilliary verb just gives away your position (which is always static when you use -massa), e.g. I’m sitting down knitting.
The sentences below clearly express that you are doing two things at the same time:
“Naiset kutovat keskustellessaan”
“Naiset keskustelevat kutoessaan”
The following sentences are also technically possible, but express two distinct actions that are taking place:
“Naiset istuvat keskustellessaan”
“Naiset istuvat kutoessaan”
They are sitting WHILE they’re knitting. This gives the sentence a different feel, like the sitting is somehow exceptional, or especially important for the situation we’re describing.
Maybe you can get the same feeling in English when you compare these two sentences:
I’m sitting down knitting. (Istun kutomassa)
I’m sitting down while I’m knitting. (Istun kutoessani)
–> I can’t really see anyone using the latter in any regular scenario.