Koheldava

Koheldava is a hypothetical linguistic term used to illustrate the formation and use of Estonian participial adjectives. It is not a widely attested dictionary entry, but functions in this article as a teaching example to show how verbs can combine with certain suffixes to express capability or potential.

Etymology and formation

The term is formed from a verb stem, here represented by kohelda, plus a common participial suffix pattern in Estonian that yields adjectives describing possibility or capacity. In this imagined framework, koheldava would behave like other -dav-type adjectives, allowing speakers to describe a noun as being able to undergo the action denoted by the verb. The exact morphological behavior would align with standard Estonian grammar for participial adjectives, including agreement with the noun in number and case.

Usage

In educational contexts, koheldava is used to demonstrate how new adjectives can be derived from verbs to convey modality. It would typically function attributively, preceding a noun, as in koheldava ese, meaning “an object that can be held.” The form could appear in various grammatical cases depending on sentence structure, analogous to other participial adjectives such as tehtav or kasutatav in practice, though koheldava remains a hypothetical exemplar rather than a fixed dictionary entry.

Relation to related forms

Koheldava is closely related to other Estonian participial adjectives formed with the same suffix pattern. Its use helps illustrate how language can encode potential action directly into noun-modifying expressions, highlighting morphology and agreement processes in Estonian grammar.

See also

Estonian grammar, participial adjectives, -dav suffix, kohelda (verb).