mängulisi

Mängulisi is the partitive plural form of the Estonian adjective mänguline, which means playful or game-like. It is a grammatical inflection rather than a standalone word, used to describe a noun in the partitive case and often indicating an indefinite quantity or extent.

In Estonian, adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in case and number. The nominative plural form of mänguline is mängulised, while the partitive plural form is mängulisi. Therefore, spelling and usage change depending on the syntactic context, even though the core meaning remains “playful” or “playful in character.”

Examples of usage include phrases such as mängulisi ideid (playful ideas), mängulisi mänguasju (playful toys), and mängulisi tegevusi (playful activities). In these constructions, mängulisi describes the objects in the partitive case, conveying a sense of improvised, playful, or lighthearted characteristics rather than a definite, countable set of items.

Because partitive forms are a standard feature of Estonian grammar, mängulisi is encountered in everyday language, literature, and media when describing things that are considered playful in nature or when the exact quantity is indeterminate. Understanding this form helps in parsing and producing correct Estonian adjective-noun phrases across contexts.