eelduslik

Eelduslik, also called konditsionaal, is the grammatical mood in Estonian used to express a hypothetical or conditional situation and its consequence. It is employed to talk about events that depend on a condition, usually stated with if (kui). The eelduslik mood contrasts with the indicative mood, which presents facts.

Formation and forms: The present conditional is formed with the verb stem plus the conditional marker and personal endings, for example tuleksin (I would come), tuleksid (you would come), tuleks (he/she would come). The past conditional is built with the past tense of olema plus the conditional participle, for example oleksin tulnud (I would have come), oleksid tulnud, oleks tulnud. Negation is made with ei, just like in other moods (for instance, Ma ei tuleksin is rarely used in everyday speech; more common is Ma ei tule). In general, the form expresses a hypothetical or counterfactual situation.

Kasutus: The eelduslik mood is used for present or future hypotheticals (I would come if I had time) and for counterfactual past (I would have come if I had been invited). It often appears in clauses introduced by kui, but can also occur in main clauses to express politeness or conditional intention. Some grammars also note a subtle distinction between eelduslik and other mood shades in formal or literary Estonian.

Näited: Ma tuleksin, kui mul oleks aega. Kui mul oleks raha, ostaksin maja. Ma oleksin tulnud, kui mind kutsutaks. These examples illustrate present and past conditional uses to express hypothetical conditions and outcomes.