käimasolevale

Käimasolevale is a term found in discussions of Estonian grammar that describes a specific inflected form of an adjective understood as “ongoing” or “in progress.” It is formed from a hypothetical adjective käimasolev, which conveys the sense of something that is currently in operation or under way, and the allative suffix -le, which marks direction toward or to something. In practice, käimasolevale functions as an attributive adjective in the allative case, preceding a noun in allative form.

Morphology and etymology

The word is analyzed as an allative inflection of käimasolev, combining the idea of ongoing action with the allative meaning of movement toward a noun. While not a staple item of standard Estonian vocabulary, käimasolevale is discussed in grammar resources as an example of how participial adjectives can be declined to the allative case. Its usage illustrates how direction or target interacts with a descriptive property such as “ongoing.”

Usage

Käimasolevale typically appears before a noun in the allative case, for instance käimasolevale projektile, meaning “to the ongoing project.” Other examples include käimasolevale töörühmale (“to the ongoing working group”) or käimasolevale kohale (“to the ongoing place,” in contexts where such a reading is appropriate). In sentences, the form functions as a modifier that specifies both the property of the noun and its directional reference.

Notes

Käimasolevale is not common in everyday Estonian prose and is more likely to be encountered in linguistic discussions or language-learning materials as an illustrative case of allative adjectives. It highlights the flexibility of Estonian case endings with descriptive forms.

See also

Estonian grammar, participles, allative case, adjective declension.