kirikus

Kirikus is the inessive singular form of the Estonian noun kirik, meaning “church.” It denotes location inside a church and is used without a preposition to express static location in Estonian sentences. As part of the language’s locative case system, kirikus is one of several endings applied to the noun to indicate spatial relations.

Morphology and related forms: The base kirik takes the inessive ending -kus to yield kirikus. Other common forms of kirik include kiriku (genitive), kirikut (partitive), and the plural nominative kirikud. The genitive plural is kirikute, and the illative form for movement into a church is kirikusse. These endings follow standard Estonian noun declension patterns, and kirikus participates in typical subject–predicate constructions without requiring prepositions.

Usage notes: Kirikus is used to describe a location, for example when stating that someone is inside a church. It contrasts with illative kirikusse (into the church) or allative kirikusse (toward the church) for directional meaning. The form is common in everyday speech as well as written Estonian.

Examples: Ta on kirikus. (He is in the church.) Me käisime kirikus. (We were in the church / We visited the church.) Ta läheb kirikusse. (He goes to the church.)

See also: Estonian grammar, locative cases, kirik (church).