puudutavatele

Puudutavatele is an Estonian grammatical form derived from the adjective puudutav, meaning touching or moving. It is used as a participial adjective and appears in the allative plural form, often to describe recipients or addressees in a phrase.

Form and function: The ending -atele marks the allative plural, indicating a destination or target in a sense like “to/for.” When combined with a noun in the dative plural, it creates a phrase such as puudutavatele inimestele, meaning “to those who are touched/affected.” The construction is common in formal or rhetorical language and emphasizes the audience or addressees described by the adjective.

Examples:

- See kampaania on suunatud puudutavatele inimestele. (This campaign is aimed at those who are touched/affected.)

- Töö sobib puudutavatele inimestele. (The work is suitable for those who are touched/affected.)

Usage notes: Puudutavatele is typically used in written or formal Estonian, including journalism, campaign materials, and academic or legal-style prose. It relies on agreement with a plural noun in the same case (for example inimestele). While its literal sense is “for those who are moved or affected,” it can convey emotional or social resonance depending on context.

Relation to other forms: The base word puudutav forms other case and number variants (for example, puutubuvad or puutuvad in different grammatical roles), but puudutavatele specifically denotes a plural allative/dative target of the gesture or statement described by the adjective.