liikidesse

Liikidesse is an Estonian grammatical form of the noun liik, meaning species or kind. It is the illative plural form, used to express movement into or allocation into multiple species, typically in formal or technical contexts such as taxonomy or biology. As a form, liikidesse is not a separate word with its own meaning; it is created by combining the stem liik with the genitive plural ending -ide to produce liikide, and then adding the illative suffix -sse to yield liikidesse.

Formation and usage

The form is built from the stem liik, plus the genitive plural ending -ide, resulting in liikide, which is then inflected with the illative suffix -sse to form liikidesse. This corresponds to the general Estonian pattern for creating illative plurals from plural stems. In sentences, it denotes “into species” or “into the kinds” and is common in descriptions of classification procedures.

Example

Kogutud isendid jaotati liikidesse. (The collected specimens were divided into species.)

Notes

Liikidesse serves a grammatical function and does not constitute a separate lexical item. It exemplifies how Estonian combines plural endings with case endings to convey direction or destination in a plural context.

See also

Estonian language, illative case, genitive plural.