Käänamisvormide

Käänamisvormide refers to the inflected forms of words in the Estonian language, a Finnic language spoken in Estonia. These inflections are used to indicate grammatical functions such as case, number, and tense, without the need for separate prepositions or auxiliary verbs. Estonian is known for its rich case system, with fourteen grammatical cases. These cases modify nouns, pronouns, and adjectives to show their relationship to other words in a sentence. For example, the nominative case is used for the subject, the genitive for possession, and the partitive for an incomplete quantity.

In addition to case, Estonian verbs inflect for tense, mood, and voice, and nouns and pronouns inflect for number, singular and plural. Adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in case and number. The process of changing a word's ending to reflect its grammatical role is called käänamine, or declension. This system of inflections allows for a flexible word order in Estonian sentences. Understanding käänamisvormide is crucial for speaking and writing Estonian correctly, as it significantly impacts the meaning and grammatical structure of phrases and sentences. The complexity of these forms is a defining characteristic of the language.