suurimmille

Suurimmille is an Estonian grammatical form created from the superlative adjective suurim, meaning “the biggest.” It is the allative plural form, used to indicate recipients or targets in the sense of “to the biggest ones” or “for the biggest ones.” In Estonian, adjectives decline to match the case and number of the noun they modify, and the allative plural suffix is -ille, producing suurimmille when combined with the plural stem of suurim.

Morphology and use: The form suurimmille attaches to a plural noun in the allative case. It functions as a modifier rather than a standalone noun. Typical constructions pair suurimmille with a plural noun in the allative, such as suurimmille osalejille (to the biggest participants) or suurimmille lastele (to the biggest children). The phrase specifies a subset within a group, identifying those regarded as the largest or most prominent in a given context.

Examples and meaning: A sentence such as Kingitused anti suurimmille osalejille illustrates the use: gifts were given to the biggest participants. The nuance is not mere size, but a qualitative sense of prominence within the group, depending on context (competition results, seniority, or other criteria used to designate “biggest” or “largest”).

See also: Estonian grammar, allative case, superlatives.