Estonian/Word Formation

Each word is formed from some stem, to which are attached some combination of prefixes, suffixes, an infixes that further specify fundamental meaning. Furthermore, within the context of a phrase or sentence, each word takes on additional prefixes, infixes or suffixes that add situational meaning. The Estonian Language Institute publishes with each grammatical dictionary a list of morphological types (muuttüübid) that provide a classification number for these situational forms for nouns, adjectives and verbs according to a type number for words that decline or conjugate in a similar way. There are 26 types for words that decline (nouns and adjectives) and 11 types for words that conjugate (verbs).