võitluse

Võitluse is the genitive singular form of the Estonian noun võitlus, which means struggle, fight, or battle. The base võitlus comes from the verb võitlema (to fight) with the suffix -lus, forming a noun that denotes an action, process, or state. As a grammatical form, võitluse signals possession or relation and is used to link other words to the idea of a struggle, for example võitluse ajal (“during the struggle”) or võitluse teooria (“the theory of the struggle”).

In usage, võitluse appears mainly in compound nouns and noun phrases that name particular struggles. Common examples include klassivõitluse teooria (the theory of class struggle) and vabadusvõitluse ajal (during the liberation struggle). It can also occur in phrases describing broader contexts, such as riikidevahelise võitluse kontekst (the context of interstate struggle) or iseseisvusvõitluse jäljed (traces of the independence struggle). The form is a standard tool in political, historical, and literary Estonian for attributing actions, events, or concepts to a specific struggle.

Note that võitluse itself is not a standalone lexical item with a separate meaning beyond this genitive form; its sense depends on the noun it modifies. For English speakers, it is typically translated as “of the struggle” or “the struggle’s.” The word illustrates how Estonian uses a genitive form to connect and specify various kinds of struggles within discourse.