Iseseisval

Iseseisval is an Estonian grammatical form, the adessive singular of the adjective iseseisev meaning independent. It is used to form adverbial phrases that express the manner of an action, roughly translating to "in an independent manner" or "on one’s own." The common collocations are iseseisval viisil and iseseisval moel, where viisil means "manner" and moel means "in a way."

In practice, iseseisval is used primarily in formal or written Estonian. It appears with verbs to describe how an action is performed, for example: "Organisatsioon tegutseb iseseisval viisil" (The organization operates independently). "Nad otsustasid iseseisval moel lahendada probleemi" (They decided to solve the problem in an autonomous way). The construction is not typically used as a standalone word; it forms part of a larger phrase that conveys manner or approach.

Origins and notes: iseseisval is derived from the adjective iseseisev, formed by attaching the adessive suffix -l to express location of manner. This is a standard grammatical pattern in Estonian for encoding "in a ... manner." While iseseisval viisil is common in formal contexts, more compact adverbs or other phrases may be used to express independence in different registers.