põlvkonnal

Põlvkonnal is the adessive singular form of the Estonian noun põlvkond, which means generation. In grammar, the adessive case is used to indicate location or association, roughly translating to “on,” “at,” or a relation to something in English. Therefore, põlvkonnal marks a relation to a specific generation within a sentence.

In usage, põlvkonnal commonly appears in discussions about society, culture, and demography to describe attributes, opinions, or activities belonging to a particular generation. For example, laused such as “Põlvkonnal on omadused, mis mõjutavad kultuuripärandit” illustrate a statement about the characteristics of a generation. It can also function in topical or comparative statements, where the focus shifts to the perspective or experience of a generation.

Morphologically, põlvkonnal is formed by taking the base põlvkond and adding the adessive ending -al. Related forms include põlvkonna (genitive singular, used to indicate possession or relation), põlvkonda (partitive singular), and the plural adessive põlvkondadel (on the generations). These forms allow precise grammatical expression across various sentence structures.

Seega, põlvkonnal is a standard grammatical form used to refer to the generation in an adessive context, aligning with Estonian’s system of noun cases to convey location, association, or perspective related to a generational group.

See also: põlvkond, põlvkondlik.