Ostjaid

Ostjaid is the plural partitive form of the Estonian noun ostja, meaning buyer or customer. It is used to refer to an unspecified or collective group of buyers, particularly when the sentence centers on quantity or consumer activity. The corresponding nominative plural is ostjad.

Etymology and forms: Ostja is formed from the stem ost- meaning purchase, plus the agent suffix -ja. In Estonian, nouns can take different plural forms for different grammatical cases. Ostjaid functions as the partitive or genitive plural form, and it is commonly used after numerals or words that express amount, such as palju (many) or vähe (few).

Usage: In business and market contexts, ostjaid denotes the customer base or pool of buyers. It appears in market reports, press coverage, and retail statistics to indicate how many people are buying or are expected to buy. Example sentences include: “Kaupluses on palju ostjaid.” and “Ostjad ja ostjaid moodustavad peamiselt erinevad demograafilised rühmad.” Note that ostjad is the nominative plural form used for the subjects "buyers," while ostjaid is used in contexts involving quantity or non-specified buyers.

Distinctions: Ostjad refers to buyers in a direct, nominative sense, such as the group of customers being discussed. Ostjaid is used when the focus is on part of the group or on the quantity of buyers within a context, for example after adjectives like palju or vähe, or in constructions requiring a partitive/genitive plural.

See also: Ostja, Ostjate arv, Estonian commerce terminology.