Põhjendatuks

Põhjendatuks is Estonian and functions as a participial form derived from the verb põhendama (to justify). It expresses a change into the state of being justified or warranted. The form is most often encountered in formal, legal, or academic language, where predicative constructions indicate that something has proven to be justified or justified by available reasons.

The word is built from the past passive participle põhendatud (justified) plus the translative suffix -uks, which marks change into a new state. Thus mõistetakse põhjendatuks as “into a justified state” or “proved to be justified.” This contrasts with the more common adjective form põhjendatud (justified), which describes a static condition rather than a process of becoming.

Usage in sentences tends to occur with verbs that express becoming or proving, such as muutuma (to become) or osutuma (to prove to be). Examples include: Otsus osutus põhjendatuks. (The decision proved to be justified.) Väide osutus põhjendatuks. (The claim proved to be justified.) In everyday language, põhjendatud is more frequent for describing justification in a static sense; põhjendatuks appears primarily in more formal or juridical contexts to denote a transition into justification.

Related forms include põhjendatud (justified) as an attributive adjective and põhjus/põhjendus (reason/justification) as nouns. The translative form põhjendatuks is thus a specialized tool for signaling a state change toward justification within formal Estonian prose.