Põhjustele

Põhjustele is the Estonian allative plural form of the noun põhjus, meaning “cause” or “reason.” It functions as a grammatical form rather than a standalone lexical item, conveying the sense “to the causes/reasons.”

In Estonian grammar, the allative case marks direction toward something and can indicate the recipient of an action or the target of discussion, analysis, or consideration. The form põhjustele is formed from the stem põhjus with the allative plural ending -ele, signaling movement toward or reference to multiple reasons.

Usage of põhjustele is most common in formal or academic writing when referring to several causes behind an event or when directing attention to the reasons under examination. For example, a sentence such as Tähelepanu pöörati põhjustele can be translated as “Attention was directed to the reasons.”

As a case form, põhjustele illustrates how Estonian uses inflection to express relationships between elements in a sentence without prepositions. It appears in contexts where the speaker or writer needs to specify the target or focus of discussion as “the reasons.” Related terms include põhjus (singular noun “reason”) and concepts related to the allative case in Estonian grammar.