Missuguse

Missuguse is the genitive singular form of the Estonian interrogative determiner missugune, meaning what kind of or which kind of. It functions as a modifier that precedes a noun in the genitive case, used to specify the type or category of the noun that follows.

In Estonian grammar, missugune is an adjective-like determiner that agrees with the noun in case and number. Its inflected forms include missuguse (genitive singular), missugust (partitive singular), missuguste (genitive plural), missugused (nominative plural), and missuguseid (partitive plural), among others. The form missuguse specifically marks the genitive singular when the noun it describes is in the genitive or when completing a construction that requires that case.

Usage notes: missuguse introduces questions about kind or type and is commonly used in both direct questions and embedded clauses. It often appears with nouns in the genitive to indicate “of what kind” or “what kind (of)”). For example, in a sentence asking about classification, one might encounter a construction where missuguse accompanies a preceding noun in genitive, such as missuguse auto (genitive of auto) to mean “what kind of car.”

Relation to other forms: missugune and missuguse together illustrate Estonian adjective declension, where interrogative possessives and relative forms shift to reflect case, number, and definiteness. Missuguse is specifically the genitive singular inflection, differentiating it from other case forms of the same determiner.

See also: Estonian grammar, adjectives and determiners, missugune, declension patterns in Estonian.