Tänapäevase

Tänapäevase is the genitive singular form of the Estonian adjective tänapäevane, meaning “contemporary” or “modern.” It is used when the noun it modifies is in the genitive case, for example tänapäevase kultuuri = “of contemporary culture” or tänapäevase arhitektuuri = “of contemporary architecture.” The dictionary form of the adjective is tänapäevane; the plural nominative form is tänapäevased.

Etymology: tänapäevane is derived from tänapäev, meaning “present day” or “the modern era,” together with the common Estonian adjectival suffix -ane, which yields the sense “pertaining to the present day.” The inflected form tänapäevase appears specifically in the genitive singular.

Usage: The term is common in scholarly writing, journalism, and cultural discourse when referring to trends, practices, or artifacts associated with the present era. It often collocates with nouns denoting culture, art, design, architecture, media, and social life. Examples include tänapäevase kultuuri nähtused (phenomena of contemporary culture) and tänapäevase arhitektuuri stiil (the style of contemporary architecture). The word is typically neutral in tone and functions as a descriptive modifier rather than a value judgement.

Compared to related terms, tänapäevane is used for the base descriptive sense “contemporary” or “modern,” while a noun form or other inflections adjust to sentence structure and grammatical case. In English translations, tänapäevase would most often be rendered as “contemporary” or “modern” when describing a genitive noun.