Kõned

Kääned is the Estonian linguistic term for inflectional endings used to mark grammatical relations in words. Derived from käänd-, meaning to decline or inflect, käänded refer to the set of endings that attach to a word stem to convey information such as case, number, and other grammatical categories. In Estonian, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and numerals change form according to their syntactic role, and adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in case and number.

The system is a core feature of Estonian grammar. Endings signal a word’s function in a sentence—for example, indicating who or what possesses something, where something is located, or the direction of movement. Estonian uses a relatively rich case system and morphologically marks articles and other determinants through these endings. Adjectives are declined to match the noun they describe, and pronouns and numerals also reflect case and number through their own INFLECTION patterns.

In linguistic description, käänded are studied through paradigms that show the varied forms a noun or adjective can take across different cases and numbers. Learners typically memorize common endings and practice with example words to recognize how a single root can yield many forms. Dictionaries and grammar resources present these endings to aid correct production and comprehension, highlighting how meaning in Estonian depends on inflection as much as on word order.

Outside linguistic literature, the term is mainly used in Estonian grammar and language pedagogy, with occasional references in comparative Finnic linguistics to illustrate inflectional systems.