tänavad

Tänavad is the Estonian plural noun for streets. The singular form is tänav. In everyday use, tänav refers to a public road in a town or city where houses have numbers and entrances along its sides. The term is a basic element of urban geography and is frequently encountered in maps, addresses, and place names.

Morphology and inflection are standard for Estonian nouns. The forms include: nominative plural tänavad, genitive plural tänavate, and partitive plural tänavaid. In singular, the forms are tänav (nominative), tänava (genitive), and tänavat (partitive). This pattern is typical for many Estonian nouns and allows streets to be referenced in different grammatical contexts.

Usage and toponymy are common contexts for tänav. Names of streets often comprise a street name followed by tänav, for example, a street named after a person, place, or occupation may be rendered as “X tänav.” Street naming conventions vary by city, but tänav is consistently used in addresses and navigation. In practical terms, house numbers typically appear after the street name, as in “Tänava 12,” indicating the building on that street.

Etymology of tänav is not firmly established and remains a subject of linguistic note. It is a long-standing element of the Estonian language and has formed the core vocabulary for describing urban routes in Estonia for generations.

See also: Estonian toponymy, street naming conventions, urban geography.