Tugevaid

Tugevaid is the partitive plural inflection of the Estonian adjective tugev, meaning strong. In Estonian, adjectives agree with the noun they modify in number and case, and the partitive plural form for many adjectives is marked with the suffix -evaid, yielding tugevaid in this specific case.

Morphology and usage

The form tugevaid is used when the modified noun is in the partitive plural, a case used in Estonian for indefinite or incomplete quantities and after certain verbs. This form commonly appears in sentences with verbs of perception, description, or quantity, and with plural nouns in indefinite contexts. Examples include tugevaid mehi (strong men, as a partitive object) and tugevaid hääli (strong voices).

Examples

- Ma nägin tugevaid mehi. (I saw strong men.)

- Ta kuulis tugevaid hääli. (She heard strong voices.)

- Nende kohal on tugevaid inimesi, kuid nende arvu täpset ei tea. (There are strong people among them, though the exact number is unknown.)

Significance

Tugevaid is a standard example of how Estonian adjectives form partitive plural endings. It illustrates the broader pattern of adjective inflection in Estonian grammar, where the partitive case often marks non-total quantities or indefinite references, and where the suffixes for plural forms can signal subtle shifts in meaning or emphasis.

See also

Estonian grammar, adjective inflection, partitive case, tugev (the base adjective).