Adessiivsingulaarne

Adessiivsingulaarne, or the singular adessive, is the singular form of the adessive case in Estonian grammar. The adessive case denotes a static location on or at a surface or place and is one of several local cases used to express spatial relations in Estonian. The adessive singular specifies location in the singular noun form.

In use, the adessive singular is employed to indicate where something is located, often translating to on, at, or on top of in English. It is commonly used with nouns referring to surfaces, buildings, or locations, and it does not require a separate preposition to express this relation in Estonian. For example, the phrase raamat on laual means “the book is on the table,” and auto on katusel means “the car is on the roof.” The exact surface form depends on the noun’s stem and phonology, with typical suffixal addition forming the adessive singular.

Formation and variations: the singular adessive is generally formed by adding a suffix to the noun stem, with phonological adjustments for certain consonant clusters and vowel endings. While most common nouns follow the typical pattern, some stems yield nonstandard or irregular forms. The form is highly productive across nouns of different genders and animacy, reflecting standard Estonian noun-phrase declension patterns.

See also: Estonian grammar, adessiv, local cases in Estonian.