Tavalise

Tavaline is an Estonian adjective meaning ordinary, common, or usual. It describes things, people, or situations that are typical or not exceptional. The word is widely used in everyday language to convey normalcy, regularity, or routine.

Grammatically, tavaline agrees with the noun it modifies in case and number. The basic form is tavaline, with the genitive singular form tavalise (as in tavalise inimese, “of an ordinary person”). The partitive singular is tavalist, and the plural nominative is tavalised. It can function as a predicate adjective, as in “See päev oli tavaline” (The day was ordinary). Related forms include tavalisem (more ordinary) and tavalisim (most ordinary). Synonyms include tavapärane, harilik, and normaalne, though each carries subtle nuances: tavapärane emphasizes conformity to norms, harilik stresses commonness, and normaalne stresses normalization.

Etymology traces tavaline to tava, meaning habit or custom, with a derivational suffix forming an adjective meaning “pertaining to habit” or “typical.” The Estonian term has cognates in other Finnic languages, notably Finnish tavallinen, meaning ordinary. In usage, tavaline often appears in everyday discourse, media, and descriptions contrasting the ordinary with the extraordinary.

See also: harilik, tavapärane, normaalne. The expression tavalise [noun] is a common construction for indicating something belonging to or associated with an ordinary person or thing, as in tavalise inimese arvamus (the opinion of an ordinary person).