töötajaile

Töötajaile is an Estonian noun form derived from töötaja, meaning employee. It represents the allative case form used to indicate direction toward or for the employee. In standard Estonian, the typical allative forms are töötajale for a single employee and töötajatele for multiple employees. The form töötajaile is not the most common everyday spelling in modern standard usage and may appear in some texts as an older, dialectal, or nonstandard variant; speakers generally use töötajale or töötajatele depending on number.

Etymology and morphology: The word stems from töötaja (employee) plus the allative suffix, which marks direction toward a person or entity. This pattern—base noun plus an allative ending—is regular in Estonian noun inflection and is used across many nouns to express “to/for” the recipient or beneficiary of an action.

Usage: The allative case serves to indicate the recipient, beneficiary, or target of an action—such as giving, addressing, or allocating something. When referring to employees in the singular, the standard form is töötajale; for a group, töötajatele is standard. Töötajaile may appear in some texts as an alternative spelling, a dialectal variant, or in contexts where nonstandard forms are tolerated, but it is not the preferred form in contemporary formal Estonian.

See also: Estonian grammar; allative case; töötaja (employee); noun inflection in Estonian.