viisimäärsõna

A viisimäärsõna is a type of adverb in the Estonian language that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb to indicate the manner or way in which an action is performed or a quality exists. These words answer the question "kuidas?" (how?). They describe the method, style, or mode of something.

Viisimäärsõnad can be formed in several ways. Many are base adverbs that inherently describe manner, such as "hästi" (well), "halvasti" (badly), "kiiresti" (quickly), and "aeglaselt" (slowly). Others are derived from adjectives, often by adding the suffix "-lt" or "-sti". For example, "ilus" (beautiful) can become "ilusasti" (beautifully), and "tark" (clever) can become "targalt" (cleverly). Some viisimäärsõnad are also comparative or superlative forms of other adverbs, indicating degrees of manner, like "paremini" (better) or "kõige paremini" (best of all).

These adverbs are crucial for adding detail and nuance to sentences. They can express how someone speaks, how something is done, or the nature of a quality. For instance, in the sentence "Ta laulis ilusasti" (She sang beautifully), "ilusasti" is a viisimäärsõna explaining the manner of singing. Similarly, "Auto sõitis kiiresti" (The car drove quickly) uses "kiiresti" to describe the speed of the car's movement. Understanding and correctly using viisimäärsõnad is essential for fluent Estonian communication.