Kahetsust

Kahetsust is an Estonian noun meaning the feeling of regret or remorse for past actions or circumstances. It denotes sorrow, repentance, or moral concern, and can be used to describe personal feelings or more general emotional states in both everyday language and literature.

Morphology and usage: The base form is kahetsus; kahetsust is the partitive singular form, used after verbs that take a partitive object, such as tunnen kahetsust (I feel regret). Related forms include kahetsuslik (regretful) and kahetsuslikkus (remorsefulness). Common collocations include tunda kahetsust (to feel regret) and väljendada kahetsust (to express regret).

Examples: Ma tunnen kahetsust oma vea üle. I feel regret about my mistake. Ta väljendas kahetsust oma teo eest. He expressed remorse for his deed.

Etymology and related terms: The word derives from kahetsus, with kahetsust as the partitive form used in various syntactic constructions. Related adjectives and nouns form a small family, such as kahetsuslik and kahetsuslikkus, which convey the quality or state of being regretful.

Usage notes: Kahetsust conveys a sense of moral or emotional weight, often associated with accountability or reflection on past actions. It is suitable for both personal expression and formal writing when addressing remorse, apology, or sorrow. In translations, kahetsust is typically rendered as regret, remorse, or contrition, depending on context. See also kahetsus and kahetsuslikkus.