Ettenägematut

Ettenägematut is a form of the Estonian adjective ettenägematu, meaning "unforeseen" or "unforeseeable." Grammatically, ettenägematut is the partitive singular form of ettenägematu and appears in contexts that require the partitive case (for example with negation, unspecified quantities, or certain verbs). The root derives from the verb ette nägema ("to foresee") combined with the suffix -matu, which denotes inability or absence of a property, so the literal sense is "not able to be foreseen."

In usage the adjective commonly appears in compounds and fixed expressions such as ettenägematud asjaolud ("unforeseen circumstances") and is frequent in legal and contractual language where it overlaps with concepts like force majeure. Synonyms in Estonian include ootamatu (unexpected) and ettearvamatu (unpredictable), though nuances differ: ettenägematu emphasizes the impossibility of prior foresight.

Translations into other languages typically render ettenägematut as "unforeseen," "unforeseeable," or "unexpected." As a grammatical form, it illustrates how Estonian marks aspect and relationships with case endings rather than separate words.