kolimine - moving

Sorry it has been such a long time since my last post. I was enjoying the summer but now it is time for getting back to work and that includes working on my Estonian and posting on this blog.

I recently moved lately into an apartment in Tallinn and in the process I learned lots of new words. These will be the topic of today's post.

First things first, the verb to move is kolima (da = kolida, 1sg = kolin, -nud = kolinud). The act of moving is kolimine. The word for apartment/ flat is korter (Gsg = korteri, Psg = korterit, Ppl = kortereid). The word maja (maja, maja, maju/majasid) is used to refer to the apartment block (English: building).

As young people, we are naturally renting our apartment. To rent an apartment is korterit üürima thus ma üürin korterit (I am renting an apartment). You can also say üürile võtma thus me võtame selle korteri üürile (We will rent this apartment).

To express 'renting out' its üürile andma (give for rent) thus ma annan korteri üürile / mul on korter üürile anda (I am renting out an apartment / I have an apartment to rent). There is an alternative for this, it's välja üürima thus ema üürib oma korteri välja (mother is renting out her apartment).

Then there is the day that all renters dread, the day when you üüri maksma (pay rent) thus ma pean varsti üüri maksma (I have to pay rent soon).

Now to the rooms/ parts of the apartment. We have:

elamistuba - living room
vannituba - bathroom
magamistuba - bedroom

(toa, tuba, tube/tubasid)

We cook in the köök (köögi, kööki, kööke/köökisid). Not to be confused with a kook 'cake' (koogi/koogu, kooki/kooku, kooke/kookisid/kookusid) nor a kokk 'cook' (koka, kokka, kokki/kokkasid). We cook on a pliit (pliidi, pliiti, pliite/pliitisid) and these are either an elektripliit or a gaasipliit.

Can you understand the meaning of the following text? (answer below)

Lisaks kahele magamistoale on meil korteris suur elutuba, köök ja väike vannituba. Köögilambil roheline vari, mistõttu näeb too välja nagu arbuus. Selle tulemusena õhtuti on meie köök ainuke rohelist värvi ruum terves majas.

Now to some of the furniture (mööbel (mööbli, mööblit, mööbleid)) or appliances in the flat. We sit and relax on a sofa diivan (diivani, diivanit, diivaneid) and the carpet vaip (vaiba, vaipa, vaipu/vaipasid) on the floor keeps our feet warm. We sit on a chair tool (tooli, tooli, toole/toolisid) and read a book which we took from the riiul (riiuli, riiulit, riiuleid). In the bathroom we can find the tualett (tualeti, tualetti, tualette/tualettisid), the shower dušš (duši, dušši, dušše/duššisid) and the washing machine pesumasin (pesumasina, pesumasinat, pesumasinaid). If you are lucky you'll have a dishwasher nõudepesumasin but most places don't have one. Every place should have a table laud (laua, lauda, laudu/laudasid) for eating meals and, for security, a security door turvauks (turvaukse, turvaust, turvauksi).

Rent üür (üüri, üüri, üüre/üürisid) is not the only thing you'll have to pay when you move into a new apartment. You'll also very likely have to pay what is known as an ettemaks (ettemaksu/ettemaksa, ettemaksu/ettemaksa, ettemakse/ettemaksu/ettemaksasid/ettemaksusid) which, depending on the agreement, is a mixture of rent-in-advance and the security payment. Also you will have to pay the estate agent maakler (maakleri, maaklerit, maaklereid) a maakleritasu (tasu, tasu, tasusid), their fee for the transaction.


(In addition to the two bedrooms we have in the flat a big living room, a kitchen and a small bathroom. The kitchen lamp has a green colour, therefore it looks like a watermelon. As a result every evening our kitchen is the only green room in the building.)