käändkriteeriumitele

käändkriteeriumitele is an Estonian grammatical term referring to the criteria for inflection. Inflection is the process of changing the form of a word to express grammatical functions such as tense, mood, person, number, gender, and case. In Estonian, nouns inflect for case and number, while verbs inflect for tense, mood, person, and number. The käändkriteeriumitele, or inflectional criteria, dictate how these changes are made.

These criteria are based on the word's grammatical category and its inherent properties. For nouns, the case inflection depends on its declension class and its stem. For example, a noun ending in a vowel might inflect differently than one ending in a consonant. Similarly, verbs are inflected according to their conjugation class, which is determined by the verb's infinitive form and stem. The specific endings added to the stem follow predictable patterns based on these criteria. Understanding käändkriteeriumitele is crucial for correct Estonian grammar, enabling speakers and writers to accurately convey meaning and grammatical relationships within a sentence. The system ensures that grammatical information is clearly communicated through the modification of word forms.