Genitiivselt

Genitiivselt is an Estonian grammatical adverb meaning “in a genitive manner” or “genitively.” It is used primarily in linguistic description to mark that something is expressed, formed, or discussed in the genitive case. The term is built from genitiiv (the genitive case in Estonian) together with a common adverbial suffix, producing a word that labels a manner of expression rather than a concrete syntactic unit.

In usage, genitiivselt appears in grammars, glossaries, and explanatory texts to clarify how a noun phrase or clause is constructed with the genitive case. It helps distinguish between statements about possession, quantity, or other functions that the genitive serves in Estonian. For example, a description might note that a phrase is formed genitiivselt when the head noun shows a genitive ending, as in a possessive expression like “koera saba” (dog’s tail), where koera is the genitive form of koer.

Relation to related terms: genitiivselt is linked to discussions of the genitive case (genitiiv) in Estonian grammar. It does not describe a separate tense or mood but a way of describing linguistic form. The adverb can be used in scholarly writing to indicate that a statement or example uses genitive construction.

See also: Genitive case, Estonian grammar, Adverbial suffixes in Estonian, Morphology of Estonian nouns.

Overall, genitiivselt serves as a precise label for discussing genitive-based expression within linguistic analyses, helping readers quickly identify that a given construction operates in the genitive domain.