põdevate

Pädevate is the genitive plural form of the Estonian adjective pädev, meaning competent or capable. It is used in phrases where the noun it modifies is in the genitive plural, and it does not function as a standalone noun. In Estonian, adjectives decline to agree with the noun in number and case; the nominative plural of pädev is pädevad, while the genitive plural takes the ending -ate, yielding pädevate.

In practice,pädevate appears in noun phrases such as pädevate inimeste nimekiri, meaning “the list of competent people,” or pädevate organisatsioonide võrgustik, meaning “the network of competent organizations.” These constructions illustrate how the adjective and noun align within a broader genitive phrase, with the head noun determining the overall case and number.

Usage notes: pädevate is common in formal or descriptive Estonian writing when characterizing groups by their competence. It cannot stand alone as a noun and is always part of a larger noun phrase in the genitive plural. The base form pädevad is used when describing a plural subject in the nominative (e.g., pädevad inimesed, “competent people”). The term is grammatical rather than a proper noun and is not associated with a specific organization or movement unless contextually integrated into a phrase.

See also: Estonian grammar, adjectives, noun phrases, genitive case.