määratavate

Määratavate is an inflected form of the Estonian adjective/participial word määratav, which derives from the verb määrama (“to determine, to set, to define”). As a grammatical form it appears when the base adjective is marked for plurality and case in noun phrases, most commonly in contexts that require genitive plural or other plural-case agreement with a following noun. In meaning, määratav conveys the idea of something that determines, defines or is to be determined; määratavate thus translates roughly as “of the determining (plural)” or “determining” when modifying a plural noun.

The form is frequently used in technical, legal and scientific language, where phrases like määratavate tegurite (of the determining factors), määratavate tingimuste (of the defining conditions) or määratavate parameetrite (of the defining parameters) occur. Morphologically, the word is built from the verb stem määrama plus the participial/adjectival suffix -tav and further plural and case endings appropriate to Estonian adjective declension.

Usage notes: as in other Estonian adjective forms, määratavate must agree with the head noun in number and case; its precise translation into other languages depends on context (defining, determinative, subject to determination). It is distinct from related forms such as määratav (singular nominative) and määratavad (plural nominative).