esimestest

Esimestest is an Estonian grammatical form of the adjective esimene, meaning “the first.” It is the elative plural form and is used to express origin from or movement from among the earliest items or people. In practice, esimestest appears with a noun in the elative case, typically in phrases such as from the earliest days or from among the first people. For example, esimestest päevadest means “from the earliest days,” and esimestest inimestest means “from among the first people.”

The form is part of standard Estonian morphology, where adjectives agree with nouns. Related forms of the same adjective include esimesed (nominative plural, “the first ones”) and esimeste (genitive plural, “of the first ones”). The elative plural esimestest specifically marks origin or movement away from a subset defined as the earliest.

Usage notes:

- Esimestest is most often seen in narrative, historical, or analytical writing, where a subset of a group is characterized by being early or earliest.

- It is typically followed by a noun in the elative case, forming expressions that describe sources, origins, or departures from a group of earliest items or people.

See also:

- Estonian language

- Estonian grammar

- Ordinal numerals in Estonian

- Esimesed, esimene (other inflected forms of the same adjective)

Esimestest illustrates how Estonian uses case and inflection to convey nuanced relationships within a group, specifically indicating a departure from or selection within the earliest subset.