Filipiinide

Filipiinide is the genitive plural form of Filipiinid, the Estonian term for the Philippines. It is used in phrases that express possession or association, functioning as a grammatical marker rather than a stand-alone noun. In standard Estonian, Filipiinide marks the relationship to the Philippines in noun phrases such as Filipiinide lipu värv (the color of the Philippines’ flag) and Filipiinide kultuur (the Philippines’ culture).

Formation and usage: The nominative form is Filipiinid; the genitive plural is Filipiinide. The suffix -ide signals possession in plural constructs. Usage notes: The form is not used to refer to people; for inhabitants or citizens, one uses filipiinlane (a Filipino) or filipiinlased (the people of the Philippines). The word is primarily a grammatical construct in formal writing and in dictionaries, where it appears to show relationships rather than to denote a population as a proper noun.

Notes: Filipiinide demonstrates how Estonian handles genitive relationships with country names that are plural nouns in the language. It is distinct from using a separate demonym, and its applicability is limited to possessive or associative contexts within Estonian grammar.

See also: Filipiinid; Philippines; Estonian language and grammar.