InFinnish grammar, themomentane is averb aspect indicating that an occurrence is sudden and short-lived.
Finnish has a number of momentane markers; they differ in thevalency andvoice of the verbs they produce, but all indicate sudden, short-lived occurrences; for example, the verbammahtaa ('to dash ahead suddenly'; not said of a person) is ananticausative, momentane version ofampua ('to shoot'). Another example is the verbkatsaista ('to take a quick look'), which is a momentane version ofkatsoa ('to look'). For semantic reasons, not all momentane markers can be used with all verbs; for example, an anticausative marker can only be used with verbs representing occurrences that can happen accidentally or on their own. Verbs with momentane markers are considered independent words, and native speakers rarely analyze them, but do synthesize them. Often the parent verb is not in use, leaving only the derived forms such as the momentane.
Often these are combined with afrequentative to indicate a series of short actions. For example:
Another note is that the root may not be a fully formed verb, but mereonomatopoeia, e.g.pam+auttaa "to bang (something suddenly once)" or in frequentative formpam+autella "to bang (something suddenly multiple times)".
The markers are affected byconsonant gradation, as illustrated by this pair of first infinitives vs. second-person indicatives:pamahtaa ~ pamahdat, pamauttaa ~ pamautat / pamautella ~ pamauttelet.
