Inimestesse

Inimestesse is an Estonian grammatical form. It is the illative plural of the noun inimeste, which comes from inimene (person) and its plural form inimesed (people). The illative case expresses direction toward something, often translated as “into” in English, and the plural version, inimestesse, yields into the people or into the crowd. In everyday Estonian, this form is used to indicate movement toward or entry into a group of people, such as when describing someone going into a crowd or joining a group.

Formation and characteristics:

The base plural is inimesed (people). To form the illative plural, the endings attach to the plural stem, resulting in inimeste– with the illative plural suffix -sse, giving inimimestesse. The singular illative is inimesse; the plural illative is inimimestesse. This pattern is part of Estonian’s broader illative system, where different nouns take distinct endings to signal direction toward a plural group.

Usage and nuances:

Inimestesse is most common in standard Estonian and appears in both written and spoken language when a speaker wants to emphasize movement toward or into a group of people. It can be used in literal contexts (entering a crowd) or more figurative ones (joining a public, joining a discussion among people). As with other illative forms, it is typically found with verbs of motion or with constructions describing the act of going into or among others.

See also:

Estonian grammar, illative case, inimene, inimesed.