Pealauseest

Pealauseest is an Estonian linguistic term describing the elative form of the noun pealause, which means main clause. The elative case conveys origin or source, so pealauseest literally means “from the main clause.” The base word pealause refers to the principal clause of a sentence, and its elative form is used primarily in descriptive grammar and scholarly discussion rather than in everyday speech.

In Estonian grammar, pealauseest serves to mark information or phenomena that originate from or are derived from the main clause. It is a technical tool in syntax and discourse analysis, where researchers examine how the main clause interacts with subordinate clauses or how content is presented in different parts of a sentence. The term appears mainly in linguistic descriptions, grammars, and academic writings about sentence structure.

Forming and inflecting this noun follows standard Estonian case patterns. The singular elative is pealauseest, and the plural elative is pealausetest. In usage, pealauseest often combines with adjectives or participles to describe sources of information, e.g., pealauseest pärinev teave (information derived from the main clause) or pealauseest pärit tõenditele viidatakse (references to evidence from the main clause).

Examples of usage include: “Pealauseest pärinev teave vajab täpsustamist,” meaning information originating from the main clause requires clarification; and “pealauseest pärit andmed viitavad varjatud kontekstile,” meaning data from the main clause point to a hidden context.

See also: alause (subordinate clause), tehe ja väide seotud pealausega, Estonian syntax and grammar terminology.