demokraatilise

Demokraatilise is an Estonian grammatical form used to express the sense of “democratic” in phrases where the noun it modifies is in the genitive case. It is the genitive singular form of the adjective meaning democratic (the base form commonly appearing as demokraatiline or demokraatlik). In a phrase such as demokraatilise riigi institutsioonid, the adjective agrees with the genitive noun riigi (of the state).

The form derives from the noun demokraatia (democracy) and the Estonian adjective system. When an adjective meaning “democratic” describes a noun in the genitive, its ending changes to demokraatilise to match the case and number of the noun it modifies.

Usage and function: demokraatilise is routinely used in political, legal, historical, and academic writing to describe attributes of entities that are in the genitive in the surrounding clause. For example, demokraatilise riigi kodanikud means “the citizens of the democratic state.” It does not stand alone as a separate lexical item; rather, it is a require-specific inflected form of the broader adjective meaning “democratic.”

Notes: Estonian adjectives decline for case and number, so demokraatilise will appear whenever the noun it modifies is in genitive singular. Writers may choose different base spellings (demokraatiline/demokraatlik) depending on style or era, but demokraatilise is the standard genitive singular form in contemporary usage.