kestusega

Kestusega is an Estonian linguistic term used to describe a grammatical form that expresses the duration of an event or entity. It is formed from kestus (duration) with a suffix that yields kestusega, meaning “with a duration of” or “having a duration of.” In contemporary Estonian, kestusega appears most often in formal or written language, such as contracts, regulatory texts, dictionaries, and technical descriptions, where it can modify a noun phrase to specify how long something lasts. Example: “lepingu kestusega üks aasta” (a contract with a duration of one year). The construction can also describe the length of a process, e.g., “viivituse kestusega kolm päeva” (with a delay lasting three days), though in everyday speech speakers typically use verbs and simpler temporal constructions instead of this form.

Etymology: derived from kestus ‘duration’ with the comitative/instrumental suffix -ga, producing kestusega. Function: marks duration-bearing phrases; it is not a standalone tense but a postpositional form that interacts with time expressions.

Usage and register: kestusega is most common in formal or technical contexts. In common spoken Estonian, other constructions that convey duration—such as using the verb form kestab or shorter noun phrases—are more typical.

See also: kestus, Estonian time expressions, Estonian grammar.