privaatne

Privaatne is an Estonian adjective meaning private or personal, used to denote ownership, involvement, or relevance to non-public spheres. It is commonly contrasted with avalik, which refers to something public or open to general view. The term spans everyday language, law, business, and information contexts, where it marks things belonging to individuals or private entities rather than the state or public institutions.

Etymology and usage notes

Privaatne derives from the root privaat-, a loanword that has entered Estonian through European languages such as German privat or French privé, ultimately tracing to Latin privatus. The form privaatne is the standard adjective ending and is inflected to agree with the noun it modifies.

Contexts

In daily speech, privaatne is used to describe private life ("privaatne elu"), private questions ("privaatseid küsimusi"), or private property and business ("privaatne ettevõte," "privaatse sektori majandus"). In legal language, privaatõigus is used to refer to private law, in contrast to avalikõigus (public law). While privaatne can appear in technical texts, common terms for personal data in Estonian use is isikuandmed rather than privaatandmed, reflecting a preference for 'personal data' terminology.

Form and variation

As with other Estonian adjectives, privaatne inflects to match case, number, and definiteness of the noun it describes, for example privaatse elu (genitive), privaatset elu (partitive). The base form remains privaatne in singular nominative, with variations across grammatical contexts.

See also

Isikuandmed (personal data), privaatõigus (private law), avalik (public). Privaatsus (privacy) is related in meaning and usage, though expressed with a distinct noun.