sarnased

Sarnased is the Estonian adjective meaning similar or alike. It describes things that share characteristics or are comparable. The base form is sarnane; sarnased is the plural nominative form and can function both as an attributive modifier (sarnased omadused) and as a predicate adjective after a linking verb (Need on sarnased). Like other Estonian adjectives, sarnased declines for number and case, so it has various inflected forms depending on the grammatical context.

Usage of sarnased is widespread in everyday language, and it is common in science, education, and media when discussing likeness, parallels, or correspondences. It can be paired with nouns such as omadused (features), nähtused (phenomena), olukorrad (situations), or funktsioonid (functions) to express similarity. In more formal or analytical writing, phrases like sarnased omadused or sarnased juhtumid are typical. The word is often contrasted with identity or difference rather than with exact equivalence, signaling likeness rather than sameness.

Related terms include sarnasus, the noun meaning similarity or likeness, and the related base sarnane, from which sarnased is derived. Sarnane and sarnased thus form a productive pair in Estonian for expressing varying degrees and directions of resemblance.

Examples:

- Nad on sarnased. (They are similar.)

- Need kaks eset omavad sarnaseid omadusi. (These two items have similar features.)