Erinevateks

Erinevateks is a grammatical form in the Estonian language that functions to express a change of state or classification into multiple distinct entities. It is the translative form of the adjective erinev, meaning "different" or "various," and it appears in the plural to indicate becoming or being regarded as different ones rather than as a uniform group.

In use, erinevateks often accompanies a plural noun phrase and signals that the referents have taken on a variety or diversity. The typical construction pairs the plural stem with the translative suffix, producing phrases such as "erinevateks" followed by a suitable noun in the translative sense, for example, "erinevateks rühmadeks" (into different groups) or simply "muutusid erinevateks" (became different). The form is most common in formal, literary, or descriptive prose and is less frequent in casual speech.

Etymologically, the form derives from the base adjective erinev and is inflected to align with Estonian case and number patterns. Grammatically, it is not a separate word with its own independent meaning; rather, it is a specific inflection used to convey a particular semantic nuance of transformation or classification.

See also: Estonian grammar, translative case, adjective inflection, numeral and classifying constructions in Estonian. Note that erinevateks is primarily a grammatical form rather than a standalone lexical item, and its usage is largely confined to contexts describing change into a set of distinct entities.