The Estonian Language Blog

Southern Estonian features

2011-10-30T06:22:00.000-07:00

I decided to write this post to share with fellow learners some interesting points I came across whilst reading Jaan Kaplinski's children's collection of short stories Põhjatuul ja lõunatuul. The first little tale is called Siga taevatamme all (Pig under the sky-oak) which tells the tale of a pig who escapes from his pen and goes wandering in the countryside and I want to reproduce some of the lines here and discuss them a little.

As a learner of Estonian I am quite certain you very familiar with the demonstrative pronoun see and all its forms: selle, seda, sellese, ses/selles etc. However, I wonder if you have come across too. While this pronoun is perfectly acceptable in standard Estonian its usage is far less common and gives the piece a more distinctive southern Estonian feel.

The second 'southern feature' I would like to draw your attention to is the use of a double ä versus the standard ae diphthong. It's archaic Estonian and as such is not a feature of the modern standard language but, again, is quite common amongst southern Estonians speaking the state language (riigikeel). Also, in running through the few shortish sentences I will point out other features that are of general interest and not stereotypically southern.

Misuke suur õun sääl puu otsas kasvab (Missugune suur õun seal puu otsas kasvab.)
'What a big apple grows in that tree over there'.

Misuke is colloquial for missugune. Notice that seal is rendered as sääl, a distinctly southern form. Puu otsas means 'in a tree, up a tree.' There is an Estonian expression that incorporates this phrase: Mina olin puu otsas kui pauk käis! 'I was up the tree when the bomb went off', i.e. 'I haven't the foggist what happened/ I wasn't involved.'

Peaks uurima, kus tolle tamme tüvi on.'
(I) must investigate where this oak's trunk is.'

Remember that the -ma form of a verb is used after peama (see here and here for a discussion). Tolle is the genitive singular of too just like selle is the genitive singular of see. The word tüvi can mean 'trunk' as in 'tree trunk' but it can also mean 'the root of a word' as in: Sõna töölt tüvi on töö 'The root of töölt "at work" is töö'.

Siga oleks tahtnud toda tõru üles otsida, aga kust sa ikka otsid.
'The pig would have wanted to search for this acorn but where would you look?'Toda is the partitive singular form.

Taevas ei olnud ühtegi tõru, ainult üks suur ümmargune tuline õun paistis säält [sealt].
'There wasn't any acorn in the sky at all, only one big round firey apple shining from there'.Here sealt is rendered as säält.

Peaks ikka sulgu tagasi minema: sääl ei ole küll õuna ja tõrusid ülevalt alla kukkumas...
'I must indeed return to the pen: there isn't of course any apples nor acorns falling from above'.

Here again seal is rendered as sääl. Notice the use of the inessive case marker -s at the end of the verb alla kukkuma 'to fall down' to make alla kukkumas 'in the act of falling down'. Estonian verb infinitives can take the inessive ending to state what action is currently happening.

Lapsed on laulmas 'The children are engaged in singing'
Mul on kõik olemas 'I have everything'.

...aga kindlasti küna juba ootamas, hääd rokka ja kartuleid täis
'but for certain the trough is waiting full of good feed and potatoes.'

Here head, partitive singular (or nominative plural) of hea is rendered as hääd. For southerns it is common also to say pää rather than pea 'head' as in the town Otepää 'Bear's Head' (the symbol of the town is a bear's head).

I hope that you learned something from today's post and that the end one will come shortly (after after half a year's wait!).

Nägemiseni! Until the next time!

oapasteet

2011-02-27T09:01:00.000-08:00

Oapasteet on üks minu lemmiktoite. See on odav ja tervislik ja väga hea asi selle pasteedi juures on see, et ta valmib kiiresti. Ma ei söö piimast määrdeid kuna ma olen vegan. Mõnikord söön vegan margariini - taimerasvast määret, aga iga päev seda ma ei söö. Siiski ma tarvitan heameelega oapasteeti peaaegu iga päev. Täna hommikul kasutasin pasteedi tegemiseks valgeid ube, aga head pasteeti tehakse ka punastest ja pruunidest ubadest.

Pasteediks läheb vaja:

ube, sidruni (või laimi) mahla, tüümani, koriandrit, soola ja pipart. See on kõik.

Ma söön seda pasteeti täisteraleivaga (rafineeritud valgest jahust toodetes pole miskit toitvat) või toorete köögiviljadega, näiteks porgandi- või sellerikangidega. Head isu!

my favourite sandwich

2010-10-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

Mu lemmik võileib

Mu lemmik võileib on sada protsenti vegan ja sada protsenti maitsev. Ma ei ole päris kindel, kas see on tervislik või mitte, aga see on tõesti hea!

Selleks läheb vaja:

Oliive; õli; tofut (50 grammi); viilutatud leiba; tomatit; soola ja pipart.

Lõika tomat ja tofu viiludeks. Mõnedest eesti poodidest saab osta tilli-ja peterselliga tofut. Ma ostan viilutatud oliive ilma kivideta.

Pane pann pliidi peale ja vala õli pannile. Ma kasutan oliiviõli. Kui õli on kuum, pane kaks leivaviilu panni peale. Mulle meeldib väga Leiburi Rukkipala. Vaata ette, et leib liiga kauaks pannile ei jää. Pruunista mõlemalt poolt. Kui leib on valmis, aseta see taldrikule. Võta tofut ja pane see leivatükile, siis aseta tofule viilutatud tomatit, seejärel viilutatud oliive ja natukene soola ning pipart. Kõige lõpuks aseta teine tükk leiba võileivale peale ja lõika võileib kaheks. Head isu!

description of people

2010-10-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

Ma näen pildi peal naist ja meest. Nad on noored, võib-olla kolmekümne ja neljakümne aasta vahel. Paistab, et nad töötavad büroos, sest neil on soliidsed riided seljas.

Mees on väga pikk, või naine on väga lühike, sest mees on palju pikem kui naine, kuigi naisel on kõrged kontsad jalas. Naisel on helepruunid juuksed. Mehe juustel on sama värv, aga tal ei ole neid palju peas. Tal on siiski väike habe ja väikesed vuntsid.

Naisel on tumepruun kampsun ja tumepruun seelik seljas*. Tema kingad on ka pruunid, mitte tumepruunid vaid helepruunid.

Mehel on ülikond seljas. Ülikonna värv on tumesinine. Tal on helesinine särk ka seljas. Särgi koos tal on purpurne lips. Tal on mustad kingad jalas

* Ma ei ole kindel, kas see on kampsun ja seelik, või kleit? No, vahet pole.

-v present participle

2010-10-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

The present participle in Estonian is formed by added the suffix -v to the stem of the -ma infinitive. It is used as an adjective, similar to the adjectival use of -ing in English.

kasvama 'grow'
stem = kasva-
present participle = kasvav 'growing'

kasvav poiss, puu 'growing boy, tree'

It can also be translated by a relative clause:

kasvav poiss, puu 'the boy/tree that grows/is growing'

(Note that this similarity to the English -ing is different from the gerund, which is formed by adding the -des forms to the -da infinitive. We have already discussed this in this post, back in February.)

Some more examples:

-ma Infinitive ------------------- -v Participle

luge/ma 'read' ------------------- luge/v 'reading'
õppi/ma 'study' ------------------- õppi/v 'studying'
tööta/ma 'work' ------------------- tööta/v 'working'
lenda/ma 'fly' ------------------- lenda/v 'flying'

Töötav ema 'A working mother' Lendav lind 'A flying bird' Rõõmustav uudis 'A gladdening bit of news' "Lendav hollandlane" "Flying Dutchman"

Note that the names for the cases (kääned) in Estonian employ this suffix. For example, nimetav kääne 'naming case' (nominative), omastav kääne 'owning case' (genitive), saav kääne 'becoming case' (translative). Their names are far more transparent than their English counterparts which come from Latin.

Being primarily used to describe a noun the ending is declined like an other adjective. The genitive form always ends in -a.

õppiv laps 'studying child'
õppiva lapse 'of the studying child'
õppivale lapsele 'for the studying child'

If the stem of the -ma infinitive ends in a consonant, for example jooksma 'run' (stem = jooks) then an -e is inserted between the stem and the participle ending to ease pronunciation.

jooks/ev tüdruk 'running girl'

compare:

jooksva tüdruk/una 'as a running girl'

Kestev mõju 'A lasting influence' Kestvad lokid 'Lasting curls'
Jooksev vesi 'Running water' Jooksval lindil 'On a running (assembly) line'

If the final consonant of the stem follows a short vowel, this consonant is doubled before the participle ending -ev.

nutma 'cry'
stem = nut-
nuttev beebi 'a crying baby'

Note, however:

nutvad beebid 'crying babies' (no need for -ev ending and thus no doubling of the consonant)

tappev põld 'killing field'
tapvad põllud 'killing fields'

There is also the passive present participle that ends in -dav or -tav. It often corresponds to the -ible and -able endings of English adjectives.

Söödav seen 'edible mushroom'
Joodav vesi 'drinkable water' (not to be confused with joogivesi 'drinking water')
Nähtav enamus 'A visible majority'
Elukardetav relv 'Lethal weapon (lit. life endangering firearm)'
Raskesti arusaadav 'Hardly understandable'

I worry

2010-09-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

My boss taught me an interesting expression that today that uses the verb muretsema. This verb normally means 'to worry'.

muretseda - 'da' form
muretsen - I worry
muretsesin - I worried
muretsenud - 'nud' form
muretsetakse - one worries
muretseti - one worried

Õpilane muretses oma hinnete pärast 'The student worried about their grades'
Ema muretseb oma poja pärast 'The mother worries after her son'

However it can also be used in the sense of 'acquiring sth' as in the example below:

Ma muretsesin endale uue auto 'I acquired myself a car'.

The path or method to acquisition is unspecified and quite often refers to either being given something or stealing it.

The sentence above literally means 'I worried myself a car'. Kind of fits if you imagine the situation of a kid stealing it. Now acquired, he worries about getting caught. Or especially in these days when money is tight and a new car would just be adding to the bills to be paid.

kolimine - moving

2010-09-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

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.)

Feeling sick

2010-06-14T02:34:00.000-07:00

My partner is sick today - she has a sore throat and a bad cough. I had to go to the pharmacy this morning so I thought I would run through some phrases of the same theme in today's post.

Ma olen haige - I am sick

This is the most basic way to say you feel sick. Alternative ways to say this include:

Ma ei tunne ennast hästi - I don't feel well.
Ma tunnen end halvasti - I feel badly.

To be more specific about how you feel (or someone else feels) you could say:

Mu naisel on kurk haige - My wife has a sore throat
Tal on köha - She has a cough
Mu lapsel on nohu - My child has a cold
Mul on peavalu - I have a headache
Mu mehel on palavik - My husband has a temperature
Mul käib pea ringi - I feel dizzy

The following is for when you are about to get sick (thrown-up):

Mul on süda paha - I feel nauseous

And when at the pharmacy:

Siin on mu retsept - Here is my prescription
Kas teil on midagi peavalu vastu? - Have you anything against a headache?

to go

2010-06-03T02:21:00.000-07:00

One thing that I have always found sticky about Estonian is how to translate to go. Estonian has two basic verbs to express the meaning behind the English verb go. These two verbs are minema and käima. These are the -ma forms, the -da forms being minna and käia. See this post and this post if you are unsure of this distinction. We will start with the verb minema.

Formation Present

The conjugated form of minema is tricky for the beginner of Estonian because the stem of the verb is lähe, and not *mine as would otherwise be expected. This can be explained by a study of language change in Estonian that need not concern us here. Thus, the present indicative of minema is:

Singular: ma lähen, sa lähed, ta läheb
Plural: me läheme, te lähete, nad lähevad

The verb minema necessitates that use of the illative case (an inner locative case, characterised by the ending -sse and denoting movement into; see this post) or the allative case (an outer locative case, characterised by the ending -le and denoting movement towards).

Examples

Ma lähen Tartust Tallinnasse. I am going from Tartu to Tallinn.

Very often however, Estonians prefer to use the short form of the illative.

Tüdruk läheb kooli. The girl is on her way to school.
Me läheme kinno. We are on our way to the cinema.

The verb minema can also be used in conjunction with another verb as in the example below. In this case the second verb takes the -ma infinitive.

Ma lähen jalutama. I'm off for a walk.

Formation Past

The simple past form of minema has a similar but different stem from the present. You would expect the past form to be ma lähe/si/n. However, the stem is instead läk which combines with the past infix -si- to become läksi-.

Singular: ma läksin, sa läksid, ta läks
Plural: me läksime, te läksite, nad läksid

Pere läks kolmapäeval Pärnusse. The family left for Pärnu on Wednesday.
Ema läks tööle. Mother went to work.
Lapsed läksid poodi. The children went to the shop.

Minema and Käima

Now, the thing to realise about minema is that is signifies movement toward/ into an object or a place without reference to the return journey. This leads to trouble for the learner when they wish to translate the process of habitual going or to say that they travelled somewhere and have since returned. Before we illustrate this distinction, let us first take a look at the conjugation of the verb käima. You will be happy to know that its formation is much more regular than that of minema.

Present (käi- = stem)
Singular: ma käin, sa käid, ta käib
Plural: me käime, te käite, nad käivad

Past (käi/si- = stem)
Singular: ma käisin, sa käisid, ta käis
Plural: me käisime, te käisite, nad käisid

Before we take about the distinction between the use of minema and käima it should be noted that whereas minema takes the illative (-sse) or allative case (-le), käima takes the inessive (-s) or adessive case (-l).

Examples

Ma lähen kooli. I am on my way to school.
Ma käin koolis. I go to school (regular occurrence) = I attend school.

Isa läks tööle. Father went to work.
Isa käis tööl. Father went to work and returned.

Pere läks Tartusse. The family left for Tartu.
Pere käis Tartus. The travelled to Tartu and came back again.

That is why it's okay to write someone a note on the fridge where you say ma läksin linna 'I left for town' but when you return and see that person again you must say ma käisin linnas 'I've been to town and back again'.

Hopefully that goes some small way to explaining how to to translate to go in Estonian. It takes a while to get into your head and even after a few years I still slip up now and then, so donät worry if you are having touble with it, especially when you mix in the case change as well. It'll all come with time, I hope!

------------

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post. Hopefully there will only be a short gap between this and the next post.

Locative cases

2010-04-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

Cases

Estonian nouns and adjectives decline for two numbers (singular, plural) and up to 14 cases (14 for nouns and 10 for adjectives).

These 14 cases can be broken down into two main types: Grammatical cases and Semantic cases.

There are three grammatical cases in Estonian: Nominative, Genitive and Partitive.

The Semantic cases are the 3 Inner Locative cases: Illative, Inessive, Elative; the 3 Outer Locative cases: Allative, Adessive, Ablative; and 5 others: Translative, Terminative, Essive, Abessive, and Cominative.

In today's post we are going to take a look at the 6 locative cases. For some reason, the mention of cases seems to freak out learners whose mother tongue lacks a large case system. However, it shouldn't. It could be said that Estonian really only has three true cases: Nominative, Genitive and Partitive. The other 11 are merely suffixes that attach to the genitive. These suffixes are perfectly regular as is their attaching to the genitive form. The system is largely agglutinating rather than fusional (in the case of Latin). In this way, you might go as far as saying that these 11 suffixs are rather like prepositions that are widespread in the Germanic and Romance languages. Personally, I find the Estonian system of suffixes rather than extensive use of prepositions in English to be far more transparent and easier to follow. (That is not to say that Estonian doesn't also have its own array of adpositions, but those will be the topic of another day).

Overview of Locative Cases

So, back to focusing on the locative cases.

Inner Locatives
Illative: sisseütlev 'into-saying' -sse ; answers questions: kuhu? 'whither?', kellesse? 'into whom?', millesse? 'into what'
Inessive: seesütlev 'in-saying' -s ; answers questions: kus? 'where?', kelles? 'in whom?', milles? 'in(side) what?'
Elative: seestütlev 'in-saying' -st ; answers questions: kust? 'whence?', kellest? '(out) of whom?', millest? '(out) of what?'

Outer Locatives
Allative: alaleütlev 'onto-saying' -le ; answers questions: kuhu? 'whither?', kellele? '(on)to whom?', millele? '(on)to what'
Adessive: alalütlev 'on-saying' -l ; answers questions: kus? 'where?', kellel? 'on (top of) whom?', millel? 'on (top of) what?'
Ablative: alaltütlev 'off-saying' -lt ; answers questions: kust? 'whence?', kellelt? 'off/ away from whom?', millelt? 'off/ away from what?'

I plan to give an overview of all the locative cases, case by case. In this post we will look at the illative and the other locative cases will follow in later posts.

Formation of the Illative

As mentioned above, the illative is the case that indicates the space, object or person to which a motion occurs. It can translated as 'to' or 'into'. The ending for the illative is -sse and this is, like all locative cases, attached to the genitive form of the noun or adjective in question.

Nominative: -------- Genitive -------- Illative
maja 'house' -------- maja    -------- maja/sse
voodi 'bed'   -------- voodi   -------- voodi/sse
sadam 'harbour'   --- sadama-------- sadama/sse
süda 'heart'   ------- südame-------- südame/sse

Some words that end in -se in the genitive have a shortened illative where this -se syllable is dropped.

õpilane 'student' -------- õpila/se -------- õpila/se/sse or õpila/sse
lühikene 'short' -------- lühike/se -------- lühike/se/sse or lühike/sse
küsimus 'question' -------- küsimu/se -------- küsimu/se/sse or küsimu/sse
võitlus 'struggle' -------- võitlu/se -------- võitlu/se/sse or võitlu/sse

Examples

Most often translated by 'to' or 'into':

Me sõidame homme Tallinnasse 'We are going to Tallinn tomorrow'.
Ma lähen täna õhtul teatrisse 'I am going to the theatre this evening'.
Laps hüppas karbisse 'The child hopped into the box'

[aabram: ----- 'laps hüppas karbisse' is unnatural, while 'laps hüppas karpi' is normal.]

It can also serve other purposes as the examples below show:

Ta ei usu Jumalasse 'She doesn't believe in God'
Naine armus mehesse 'The woman fell in love with the man'
See ei puutu minusse 'It does not concern (involve) me'

'Short' Illative

As well as the usual illative forms shown above, nouns can also take a shorter illative form. These 'short' illative forms end in -de, -te, -he, -hu or simply a vowel.

Over the words shown above, two have short illative forms:

maja -------- majja
mina -------- musse

Here are some more words:

Nominative      ----------------- Illative
keel 'language' ----------------- keelesse / keelde
meel 'sense, mood, mind' ------ meelesse / meelde
suur 'big'           --------------- suuresse / suurde
uus 'new'            --------------- uuesse / uude
käsi 'hand'           --------------- käesse / kätte
vesi 'water'          --------------- veesse / vette
pea 'head'          --------------- peasse / pähe
suu 'water'          --------------- suusse / suhu

Often, but not always, the short illative form ends in the same vowel as that of the genitive:

Nominative      ----------------- Illative
linn 'town' ----------------- linnasse / `linna
kool 'school' ----------------- koolisse / `kooli
küla 'village'    --------------- külasse / `külla
maja 'house'    --------------- majasse / `majja
tuba 'room'      --------------- toasse / `tuppa
tuli 'fire, light'   --------------- tulesse / `tulle

Note that the preceding consonant or vowel is often lengthened to the third degree. `Linna is pronounced with an extra-long 'n' and `kooli is pronounced with an extra 'o'.

The Eesti keele süntesaator will give you all the forms of the declined noun that you request. Thus you'll be given both the normal and the the short illative. Entering in pood 'shop', jõgi 'river', you'll be returned with both poesse and poodi, jõesse and jõkke. Given the choice between the two forms (i.e. if the 'short' form exists), the short form will win out, so much that you'll even forget that there is a longer form. It also has an effect on what word will be used for a given entity. The two most common words for 'shop' are pood and kauplus. They both tend to be used as much as each other in the nominative but in the illative, the short illative form of pood (poodi) will win out over the long illative (poesse) and both forms of kauplus (kauplusse, kauplusesse).

[aabram: ------ Some short illatives are never used for 'into ...' and almost exclusively for 'concerns ...'. For example you never say 'ma läksin poesse', you say 'ma läksin poodi'. But you can say 'mis sellesse poesse puutub, siis...'. In the same vein 'laps hüppas karbisse' is unnatural, while 'laps hüppas karpi' is normal.]

Eesti keel ja meel

2010-04-13T02:47:00.000-07:00

I said when I started this blog that I would not just concern myself with grammar and vocabulary but also discuss resources available to learn this beautiful language of Estonian.

One of the best resources that I have come across for learning Estonian is Eesti keel ja meel (Estonian language and mind). The idea of the course is to introduce the foreigner to the language, culture, people and places of Estonia. The course is available to buy on DVD, or to use free online. All you need to do is register and you get an email with a log-in and password in less than a minute.

The website includes: an hour long introductory video in Estonian; a gallery of photographs; a basic grammar, grammar exercises; a lexicon, and audio training using the scenes and dialogues taken from the film. You can use the site to practise all linguistic skills.

Eesti keel ja meel is available in 9 languages. These are English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Hugarian, Greek, Romanian and Russian (though, strangely not in Spanish, Finnish nor Swedish).

What I like about the website is that it is free and fun. The video is interesting and entertaining and the grammar information gives an excellent overview of the language for those who want to pursue Estonian past the basic conversational phrases.

I would say that this website should be used in conjunction with another course. While the video is interesting it can be a little overwhleming for the beginner who is normally more interesting in building up from basic phrases such as greetings and then moving on to talking about oneself and ones home and family. Eesti keel ja meel will give you an excellent introduction to quick-paced conversational and colloquial Estonian and thus compliments nicely, rather than replaces, a more traditional beginner's course.

So, if you haven't used the website before, you should definetly check it out.

clothes and putting them on

2010-04-05T06:19:00.000-07:00

The Estonian phrase riidesse panema means 'to put on clothes'. Estonian has two words for clothes: riided and rõivad. The former is the general word for clothes whilst the latter tends to be reserved for fashionable or formal wear.

The command Put on clothes! / Get dressed! is Pane riidesse! using the 2nd person singular imperative form of panema 'put' and the illative (sisseütlev) of riided. In a hurry you may hear someone say: Pane kiiresti riidesse 'get dressed quickly'; or in winter: Pane paksult riidesse! ‘dress warmly [lit. fatly/ thickly]’.

When making a statement about what item of clothing we are putting on, we use the genitive case (omastav). When giving an order to someone as to what item of clothing to put on, we use the nomative form (nimetav). In the case of plural nouns (shoes, gloves, trousers etc.) we use the nominative form in both instances. It is normal in Estonian to also mention the body part to which the item of clothing is put, i.e. put your scarf on your neck instead of simply put your scarf on. This body part takes the illative case. Below you can find common body parts in their nomative and illative case forms as well as common items of clothing in their nomative and genitive forms [plural nouns are just listed in their nominative form].

Don't forget that you can make use of the excellent tool Eesti keele süntesaator to get the singular and plural case forms of nouns and the conjugation of verbs [input in their -ma form].

Body Parts
(NOM, ILL)

selg, -a 'back' [ill. same as gen.]
kael, -a 'neck' [ill. same as gen.]
jalg, -a 'foot, leg'
pea, pähe 'head'
käsi, kätte 'hand, arm'

Items of Clothing
(NOM, GEN)

mantel, mantli 'coat'
jope, - 'jacket'
kampsun, -i 'cardigan, jumper, pull-over'
särk, särgi 'shirt'
sall, -i 'scarf'
müts, -i 'hat'
püksid 'trousers'
kingad 'shoes'
kindad 'gloves'
kleit, kleidi 'dress'
seelik, -u 'skirt'
pluus, -i 'blouse'
sokid 'socks'
sukad 'stockings'

Phrases:

Note that in Estonian we don't use possessive adjectives as we do in English.

Ma panen jope selga 'I am putting on my jacket' [lit. I put the jacket to the back]
Pane jope selga! 'Put on your jacket!' [lit. Put the jacket to the back]

Ma panen kampsuni selga. 'I am putting on my jumper'
Pane kiiresti kampsun selga! 'Put on your jumper quickly!'

Me paneme särgid selga 'We are putting on our shirts'
Paneme särgid selga! 'Let's put on our shirts!'

Te panete paksult riidesse 'Ye are getting dressed warmly'

Pange paksult riidesse! '(Ye) get dressed warmly!'

Ta paneb salli kaela 'He is putting on her scarf'
Pane sall kaela! 'Put on your scarf!'

Ta paneb kleidi/ seeliku selga 'She is putting on a dress/ skirt'
Las ta panna kleidi/ seeliku selga 'Let/ Leave her put on her dress/ skirt'

Ta paneb kiiresti sukad jalga 'She is putting on her stockings quickly'
Pane kiiresti sokid jalga 'Put on your socks quickly'

Ma panen kindad kätte 'I am putting on my gloves'
Sa paned kingad jalga 'You are putting on your shoes'

Ta panen mütsi pähe 'He is putting on his hat'
Pane müts pähe! 'Put on your hat!'

phrases

2010-03-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

I really like the coursebook Naljaga pooleks by Mare Kitsnik and Leelo Kingisepp. The reason is that the audio dialogues are humorous and the language is fun and everyday. The title translates along the lines of With Half a Laugh. All in all it's a very extensive and interesting course for learners who also have completed a basic course in the language.

Below are some phrases taken from the first chapter of the coursebook.

Vabandage, et ma nii hilja tülitan.
I'm sorry to disturb you so late.

Mulle tuli see järsku meelde.
I just remembered it.

Sool on otsas.
We/ I have run out of salt.

Pole tänu väärt!
You're welcome!

See on tühiasi!
Don't mention it!

No peaks ikka saama.
It should be OK.

Ei, mis te nüüd!
No, no problem!

Üks hekt!
One moment!

Ma olen teid vist täiesti ära tüüdanud!
I must be really annoying you.

Selles häda ongi.
That's the problem.

Kui ma tohiksin paluda.
Could I ask for a favour?

Peaaegu oleksin unustanud.
I have almost forgotten.

-da infinitive

2010-03-09T00:53:00.000-08:00

I discussed the -ma infinitive in my last post. In this post I will deal with the -da infinitive.

Forms of the infinitive

While it is called 'the -da infinitive' the infinitive form can end in either -da, -ta or simply -a. View:

luge/da 'read', rääki/da 'talk', laul/da 'sing'
tõus/ta, seis/ta 'stand', vasta/ta 'answer'
vii/a 'take, transport', käi/a 'walk', müü/a 'sell'

If the stem of the verb already ends in d or t, this consonant is not normally repeated in the suffix, i.e. suffix only appears as a. See:

and/a 'give', sõit/a 'ride, drive', saat/a 'send'. The -ma infinitive forms of the verbs are and/ma, sõit/ma and saat/ma, in which all the consonant appears in the verb stem. Note however, that in a limited number of instances, the verb stem is doubled. Know that a double consonant is of the third degree (see here). Examples: võt/ma, võtt/a 'talk', kat/ma, kat/ta 'cover'.

Use

The -da infinitive is with the following verbs or constructions:

a) verbs expressing a wish, an intention, or a possibility.

aitama, aitan 'help' --- oskama, oskan 'be able, know how' --- jõudma, jõuan 'have time, manage'
jaksama, jaksan 'have strength' --- otsustama, otsustan 'decide' --- paluma, palun 'beg'
kavatsema, kavatsen 'plan' --- proovima, proovin 'attempt' --- käskima, käsin 'command'
laskma, lasen 'let' --- lootma, loodan 'hope' --- lubama, luban 'permit, promise'
mõistma, mõistan 'understand how' --- mõtlema, mõtlen 'think' --- märkama, märkan 'notice'
nägema, näen 'see' --- püüdma, püüan 'strive' --- saama, saan 'get, be able'
soovima, soovin 'wish' --- suutma, suudan 'manage' --- tahtma, tahan 'want'
teadma, tean 'know' --- tohtima, tohin 'have permission' --- võima, võin 'have leave, be able'

Examples:

Ma ei jõua töötada 'I cannot bear [manage] to work'.
Ta mõistab õigel ajal lõpetada 'He understands (how) to end at the right time'.
Kas sa oskad bridži mängida 'Do you know how to play bridge?'
Mida võin teile pakkuda? 'What may I offer you?'
Kas soovite natuke puhata? 'Do you wish to rest a little?'
Ma tahan teada, mis see tähendab 'I want to know what this means'.
Kas ma saan sind aidata? 'Can I help you?'
Palun sind siia tulla? 'I beg you to come here'.

Exceptions:

Note that in the following the -ma infinitive is used.

Ma saan hakkama 'I can manage.'
Palun teid tantsima 'I invite you to dance'.

b) verbs expressing an emotion or feeling.

armastama, armastan 'love' --- kartma, kardan 'fear'
jalgema, julgen 'dare' --- meeldima, meeldin 'like, appeal'

Ma armastan jalutada värske õhu käes 'I love to (go for a) walk in the fresh air.'
Kas sulle meeldib teatris käia? 'Do you like to go to the theatre? [Does going to the theatre appeal to you?]'
Üliõpilane kardab minna eksamile '' The student is afraid to go to (take) the test'.
Ta julgeb ütelda, mis ta mõtleb 'He dares to say what he thinks.'

c) impersonal expressions:

on aeg 'it is time' --- saab 'it is possible' --- tohib 'it is permitted' --- on raske 'it is hard'
on kasulik 'it is beneficial, useful' --- tuleb 'one ought to, one must' --- võib 'one may'
on tarvis 'it is necessary' --- on vaja 'it is necessary' --- on valus 'it is painful'

On aeg tõusta 'It is time to get up'
On raske leida paremat kohta 'It is hard to find a better place'
Suvel on kasulike supelda 'It is beneficial to go swimming in the summer'
Seda pole tarvis teha 'That is not necessary to do'
Tõde on valus kuulda 'The truth is painful to hear'

Exceptions:

Nüüd peab koju minema 'Now one must go home'. The impersonal expression peab 'one must' takes the -ma infinitive.

d) after the conjunction et, when in means 'in order to' (normally it is translated by 'that'):

Ma sõidan maale, et puhata 'I am driving to the country, in order to rest.'

e) when the infinitive is used as the subject in a sentence, or when it modifies a subject:

Eksida on inimlik 'To err is human'. Mul on lust laulda 'I have a desire to sing'.

Stem

In cases the two infintives have the same stem:

luge/ma, luge/da 'read' --- õppi/ma, õppi/da 'learn, study' --- rääki/ma, rääki/da 'talk'

In other cases, the stems may be different.

If the stem of the infinitives ends in -oo or -öö in the -ma infinitive, this will be -uu or üü in the -da infinitive, respectively.

Examples:

too/ma --- tuu/a 'bring'
söö/ma --- süü/a

Other examples of differences between the stems of the two infinitives follow:

jooks/ma --- joos/ta 'run'
tege/ma --- teh/a 'do'
mõtle/ma --- mõ(t)el/da 'think'
ole/ma --- oll/a 'be'
oota/ma --- ooda/ta 'wait'
tule/ma --- tull/a 'come'
ütle/ma --- ütel/da, öel/da 'say'

Source: Juhan Tuldava, Estonian Textbook, 1994

-ma infinitive

2010-03-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned before about the fact that Estonian verbs have two infinitives, "the -ma forms" and "the -da forms". In this post I would like to discuss the situations in which the -ma forms appear. In a later post I will deal with the -da forms. Note: In Estonian, infinitives are of one form unlike in English where the infinitive comes in two parts, i.e. 'to read', 'to speak' etc.

Infinitive and Present forms

Oftentimes the stems of the -ma infinitive and the present are different. Compare the following:

luge/ma --- loe/n 'I read'
rääki/ma --- räägi/n 'I speak'
taht/ma --- taha/n 'I want'
õppi/ma --- õpi/n 'I learn'
tead/ma --- tea/n 'I know'
sundi/ma --- sunni/n 'I force/ compel'
pida/ma --- pea/n 'I have to'

The verb 'go' has two completely different stems:

mine/ma --- lähe/n 'I go'

Uses

The -ma infinitive is used with the following verbs:

1) after verbs of motion:

minema, lähen 'go' ---- tulema, tulen 'come' --- jooksma, jooksen 'run'
sõitma, sõidan 'ride, drive' --- istuma, istun 'sit' --- panema, panen 'put, set'

Ma lähen jalutama 'I go (out) for a walk [in order to walk]'
Ta jookseb vaatama, mis seal juhtub 'She runs to see what is happening there'.
Me istume laulma 'We sit in order to sing.'
Pane masin käima 'Turn on the machine [Set the machine to go]'.

2) after these following verbs:

hakkama, hakkan 'begin' --- juhtuma, juhtun 'happen' --- jätma, jätan 'leave (behind)'
jääma, jään 'remain' --- kutsuma, kutsun 'invite, call' --- kõlbama, kõlban 'be suitable'
pidama, pean 'have (an obligation) to' --- sundima, sunnin 'force, compel'
õpetama, õpetan 'teach' --- õppima, õpin 'learn, study'

Ma hakkan kohe minema 'I will begin to go right away'.
Jää seisma! 'Stop! [Remain in order to stand].'
Kutsu lapsed sööma 'Call the children to (come and) eat'
Sa pead siia tulema 'You have to come here.'
Ma õpin joonistama 'I am learning to draw.'

3) After certain adjectives and participles:

harjunud 'accustomed, used to' --- sunnitud 'forced, compelled' --- nõus 'willing'
osav 'capable, skilled' --- valmis 'ready'

Ma olen valmis aitama 'I am ready to help'.
Ta on nõus tulema 'S/he is willing [agrees] to come'.
Me oleme harjunud kõvasti rääkima 'We are used to talking loudly.'

Source: Juhan Tuldava, Estonian Textbook, 1994

Estonian impersonal

2010-03-02T02:59:00.000-08:00

Introduction

The Estonian impersonal (umbisikuline tegumood or impersonaal) is a valence-reducing construction with no overt subject and a distinct non-active verbal morphology. It is among the world's most common type of impersonal construction, a construction whose two central characteristics is that 1) it lacks an overt subject and 2) its implied impersonal agent displays a strong preferance for human agency.

The Estonian impersonal has a full conjugational paradigm with indicative, conditional and jussive forms, as well as inflecting for tense. An example using the verb rääkida 'talk' is given below:

Present Indicative: räägi-ta-kse 'one talks'
Past Indicative: räägi-t-i 'one talked'

Present Conditional: räägi-ta-ks 'one would talk'
Past Conditional: räägi-ta-nu-ks 'one would have talk'

Jussive: räägi-ta-gu 'let them talk'

Present Perfect: on räägi-tud 'people have talked'
Past Perfect: oli räägi-tud 'people had talked'

Formation

The present and past impersonals are formed by using the stem of the -tud participle and adding -takse and -dakse (present) and -ti and -di (past). If the verb's tud-partciple was of the form tud then the impersonal will take -takse or -ti and if the verb took the form dud then the impersonal will end in -dakse or -di. See some examples below:

luba/tud 'allowed' ---- luba/takse (luba/ti)
keela/tud 'forbidden' ---- keela/takse (keela/ti)
kirjuta/tud 'written'---- kirjuta/takse (kirjuta/ti)
laul/dud 'sung' ---- laul/dakse (laul/di)
saa/dud 'received' ---- saa/dakse (saa/di)
mõel/dud 'thought' ---- mõel/dakse (mõel/di)

For some verbs the -d- in the -dakse suffix is replaced by a lenghtening of the l, n, or r consonant that precedes it (the exception is like the -da infinitive with a -kse- ending).

ol/dud 'been' ---- ol/lakse
tul/dud 'come' ---- tul/lakse
min/dud 'gone' ---- min/nakse
pan/dud 'put' ---- pan/nakse
sur/dud 'died' ---- sur/rakse

For some verbs with one syllable stems, the -d- in the -dakse disappears with no replacement. This is especially likely when there is a shift in vowel sound. Here again, the impersonal is in effect the -da infinituve with a -kse ending.

too/dud 'brought' ---- tuu/akse
loo/dud 'created' ---- luu/akse
joo/dud 'drunk' ---- juu/akse
söö/dud 'eaten' ---- süü/akse
löö/dud 'struck' ---- lüü/akse

Examples without vowel shifts:

käi/dud 'walked' ---- käi/akse
müü/dud 'sold' ---- müü/akse
vii/dud 'transported' ---- vii/akse

Two verbs drop the -t- of the -takse suffix.

teh/tud 'done' ---- teh/akse
näh/tud 'seen' ---- näh/akse

Use

The impersonal construction can appear either with an object or without.

With an object:
Kassa avatakse kell 8. 'The cashier's window is opened at 8 [One opens...]'
Sind oodati. 'You were awaited [One waited for you.]'
Ojamaa saart kutsutakse Läänemere pärliks 'The Island of Gotland is called the peral of the Baltic.'
Meest mõõdetakse mõistusest 'A man is measured [judged] by his reason [intellect].'

Without:
Tullakse ja minnakse. 'People come and go [There is coming and going].'
Võidakse küsida, miks see nii on 'One can ask why it is so.'
Siin lauldakse ja seal tantsitakse. 'People sing here and dance there [There is singing here and dancing there].'

The object of an impersonal can be either 'total' or 'partial'. In non-impersonal declarative sentences, total objects normally take the genitive. However, in an impersonal that lacks an overt subject, the total object appears in the nominative as if it were the subject of the clause. Partial objects appear, per usual, in the partitive. Compare:

Siin ehitatakse uut maja. 'Here a new house in being built' [partial object due to its unfinished nature].
Uus maja ehitati kiiresti valmis. 'The new house was built (to completion) quickly' [total object as action is completed].

It is not only transitive and intransitive verbs that can be impersonalised but also modals (a) and unaccusatives (b)

(a) Õlletehas võidakse reostuse eest sulgeda. 'The brewery may be closed because of pollution.'
(b) Tihti pettutakse illusioonide ja tegelikkuse erinevuse tõttu. 'One is often disappointed because of the difference between illusions and reality'.

More on the Estonian impersonal and the difference between the impersonal and true passives in later posts.

Sources:
Estonian Textbook by Juhan Tuldava, 1994.
Valency Reduction in Estonian, Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, by Virve-Anneli Vihman, 2004

the languages and dialects of Estonia

2010-02-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

Language variation and change have always interested me. Even before I started studying linguistics I was interested in the topic, and now it fascinates me even more. The Estonian Institute has a great publication on the Estonian language and is a very good introduction to the history and the structure of the language. If you haven't already read it, you should certainly check it out here. Below is how to say: Our nightingale has gone elsewhere this year in all the languages and dialects that are native to Estonia. In the standard (state) language you say the sentence as such: Meie ööbik on tänavu mujale läinud (Our nightengale is this.year to.elsewhere gone). But in other languages and dialects?

Hiiumaa: Meide ööbik aa seaesta maeale läin
Saaremaa: Meite ööbik oo siasta mäale läind
Muhumaa: Meite üöbik uo sieoasta mõjale läin
Läänemaa: Meite ärjälend oo tänäkond maale läin
Vigala: Mede künnilind uu tänabö maeale läind
Kihnu: Mede künniljõnd ond tänävasta maalõ läin
Harju-Risti: Mete üöbik oo tänabu maeal läin
Kuusalu: Meie üöbik on tänävu muuale mend
Järvamaa: Me õitselind on tänavu maale läind
Põhja-Virumaa: Meie kirikiut one tänävu mojale lähänd
Vaivara: Mei sisokaine ono (olo) tänä vuo mojale mennö
Kodavere: Meie sisask one tänävuade mõjale lähnud
Karksi: Mee kiriküüt' om täo muial lännü
Southern-Tartumaa: Meie tsisask om tinavu muiale lännu
Võrumaa: Mii sisask um timahavva muialõ lännüq
Setomaa: Mii sisas'k om timahavva muialõ l'änüq

List thanks to the Estonian Institute and Urmas Sutrop

to be, to have, nouns and adjectives

2010-02-27T10:42:00.000-08:00

I will try to keep a balance on this blog between material for beginners, intermediate learners and more advanced ones. There will try to be something for everyone. Eventually (when I get my hands back on my Estonian linguistics materials) there will even be stuff of interest to native speakers. And as I said on my blog Corcaighist, if anyone (learner or native) is interested in writing a guest post that would be great as well.

~ . ~

In this post I will run though how to construct basic sentences in Estonian, showing you how to say 'I am x' and 'I have y'. You will also find what some basic forms of the Estonian pronouns are and how to ask 'yes/ no question'. So, without further a-do, let's start!

Pronouns

There are two nominative forms of the Estonian pronouns, the short forms and the long forms. The long forms are emphatic and are used when one wants to emphasise the pronoun. In English one stresses the pronoun, as in you in the following example: I play the guitar. What instrument do you play?

ma --- mina --- 'I'
sa --- sina --- 'you' (singular)
ta --- tema --- 'he / she'

me --- meie --- 'we'
te --- teie --- 'you' (plural)
nad --- nemad --- 'they'

You will notice that Estonian does not make a gender distinction in the third person singual pronoun - ta means both 'he' and 'she'.

Olema - The verb 'to be'

Here follows the present conjugation of olema. Notice the singular endings 'n' and 'd' and the plural endings 'me' and 'te'. These are important to learn by heart as they are used in the conjugation of all Estonian verbs in the present tense. All verbs that is except olema. The endings for the third person for all other verbs are 'b' and 'vad' but don't concern yourself with these now. Notice also that the third person form of olema is on regardless of number. The present tense of olema is formed by removing the infinitive ending -ma (giving you ole) and replacing it by the personal endings.

ma/ mina olen
sa/ sina oled
ta/ tema on

me/ meie oleme
te/ teie olete
nad/ nemad on

Note: In Estonian we sometimes do not even have to mention the pronoun as the ending on the verb tells us what person and number is being talked about. This is similar to in Spanish how soy means 'I am' so you don't even have to mention the pronoun yo 'I'.

I am can be translated into Estonian, depending on the context, by: ma olen, olen, and mina olen.

How to say 'I have...'

In Estonian, like in Finnish, Latvian and Irish, but unlike French, German and English, there is no verb to have. This is a common occurance cross-linguistically and many languages' verb to have dervives from verbs used to express grasping (as in Proto-Germanic), carrying and holding. In Estonian like in Finnish, Latvian and Irish one employs the verb to be plus a case ending or a preposition to indicate location. The subject of the sentence is the item that is possessed. The four examples all mean: I have a car.

Irish: Tá carr agam (Is car at-I).
Latvian: Man ir auto (I-to is car).

Finnish: Minulla on auto (I-at is car).
Estonian: Mul on auto (I-at is car).

But enough about other languages. Let's have a look at how to express this in Estonian for all the pronouns. The structure in Estonian is: pronoun-ADE on object where pronoun refers to the possesser, ADE is the case ending, on is the third person form of the verb olema 'to be' and object refers to the item that is possessed. Notice that the singular pronouns and the third person plural all have a longer (emphatic) form, while there is only one possible form for the first and second person plural pronouns.

mul on... --- sul on... --- tal on...
minul on... --- sinul on... ---- temal on...

meil on... --- teil on... --- neil on...

------------------------- nendel on...

This form uses the adessive case (shortened to ADE) and is one of the locative cases. Its name in Estonian is alalütlev kääne 'on-saying case'. Its basic meaning is translated as 'on' as in 'on the table', laual in Estonian (laud = table). Its characteristic ending is -l. Don't worry about this linguistic terminology. The most important thing is being able to use the structure.

Some Nouns

We already came across the noun auto which means 'car'. Here are some other nouns that are less internationally recognised. Note: all nouns listed are in the singular nominative case which is the base and 'dictonary' form of the noun. In this post we will not deal with plural nouns or nouns in cases other than the nominative.

õpetaja 'teacher'
õpilane 'school'
koer 'dog'
kass 'cat'
maja 'house'
raamat 'book'
pliiats 'pencil'
poiss 'boy'
tüdruk 'girl'
mees 'man', 'husband'
naine 'woman', 'wife'

Now we can start to form some simple sentences. The basic sentence structure is SUBject VERb OBJect (or in the case of I have... sentences, PROnoun-ADE on object. See the examples below:

Ta on õpetaja. 'S/he is a teacher.'
Ma olen õpilane ja mul on pliiats. 'I am a student and I have a pencil.'
Meil on auto ja teil on maja. 'We have a car and you (pl.) have a house.'
Ma olen naine. Sa oled mees. Ta on poiss ja ta on tüdruk. 'I am a woman. You are a man. He is a boy and she is a girl.'

You will notice that Estonian does not have a direct translation of a. Neither does it have a direct translation of the. (Estonian has other words that function similar to English a and the, but we'll leave those for a later lesson). The Estonian word for and is ja. (This is not to be confused with the word for yes which is jah or jaa).

Now try making your own basic sentences! Translate the following into Estonian (answers are at the end of the post):

1. I have a dog and you have a cat.
2. He is a teacher and he has a book and a pencil.
3. The student is a boy.
4. They have a house.

Some Adjectives

Here are some adjectives to help us make our sentences a little more interesting. Note: all adjectives listed are in the singular nominative case which is the base and 'dictonary' form of the adjective. In this post we will not deal with plural adjectives or adjectives in cases other than the nominative.

hea 'good'
halb 'bad'
rõõmus 'happy'
kurb 'sad'
huvitav 'interesting'
igav 'boring'
sinine 'blue'
must 'black', 'dirty'
valge 'white'
kollane 'yellow'
uus 'new'
ilus 'beautiful'
noor 'young'
vana 'old'
suur 'big'
väike 'little'

In terms of word order, adjectives in Estonian work as in English.

The man is sad. The sad man. The pencil is blue. A blue pencil.
Mees on kurb. Kurb mees. Pliiats on sinine. Sinine pliiats.

Some examples:

Meil on uus õpetaja. Ta on noor naine. Ta on ilus ja rõõmus.
We have a new teacher. She is a young woman. She is beautiful and happy.
Neil on vana ja must maja. 'They have an old and black/ dirty house'.
Ta on hea õpilane. 'S/he is a good student'.

See if you can translate the following sentences (again answers are below):

5. I have a black pencil. You have a yellow pencil. He has a blue pencil.
6. The book is interesting.
7. We have an old book. The book is boring.

Asking a 'yes/ no question'.

Asking a question that demand either a 'yes' or a 'no' in Estonian is very easy. You simply put the question word kas before the subject and you leave everything else the same. Example:

Kas sa oled õpilane? 'Are you a teacher?'
Kas ta on noor poiss? 'Is he a young boy?'
Kas neil on huvitav raamat? 'Do they have an interesting book?'

Negative of olema.

Of course, it's useless to be able to ask a question without being able to understand the answer, or understand a question without being able to answer.

Making a verb negative in Estonian is also easy. (And you thought this was a hard language?! ) You make the present tense form of the verb negative by adding ei 'no' before the verb and leaving the verb in its present stem devoid of personal endings. For example. In the sentences below we see an example of a question, a positive declaration and a negative declaration. We drop the -n ending from olen 'I am' so it becomes ole. Thus, (ma) olen becomes (ma) ei ole. This is the same for all persons and numbers, even the third person.

Kas ma olen noor? Jah, ma olen noor. Ei, ma ei ole noor.
Am I young? Yes, I am young. No, I am not young.

M(in)a ei ole õpilane. 'I am not a student'.
S(in)a ei ole rõõmus. 'You (sg.) are not happy'.
T(em)a ei ole hea õpetaja. 'S/he is not a good teacher'.
Me(ie) ei ole. 'We are not.'
Te(ie) ei ole. 'You (pl.) are not.'
N(em)ad ei ole. 'They are not.'

M(in)ul ei ole... 'I do not have...'
S(in)ul ei ole... 'You (sg.) do not have...'
T(em)al ei ole... 'S/h does not have...'
Meil ei ole... 'We do not have...'
Teil ei ole... 'You (pl.) do not have...'
Neil/ Nendel ei ole... 'They do not have...'

[As Tatsutahime points out, sentences in the form I do not have a... require the object not possessed to be in the partitive case. e.g. Mul on koer 'I have a dog', Mul ei ole koera 'I do not have a dog'. We will discuss this is a later post].

See if you can translate the following sentences:

8. I have a little beautiful cat. The cat is black and white.
9. Do you have a dog?
10. The man is not happy. He is sad.
11. The car is blue and new.
12. Is the blue car new? No, the blue car is old. The yellow car is new.
13. Is the book interesting? The book is not interesting. The book is boring.

Answers.

1. Mul/Minul on koer ja sul/ sinul on kass.
2. Ta/ Tema on õpetaja ja tal/ temal on raamat ja pliiats.
3. Õpilane on poiss.
4. Neil/ Nendel on maja.
5. Mul/ Minul on must pliiats. Sul/ Sinul on kollane pliiats. Tal/ Temal on sinine pliiats.
6. Raamat on huvitav.
7. Meil on vana raamat. Raamat on igav.
8. Mul/ Minul on väike ja ilus kass. Kass on must ja valge.
9. Kas sul/ sinul on koer?
10. Mees ei ole rõõmus. Mees on kurb.
11. Auto on sinine ja uus.
12. Kas sinine auto on uus? Ei, sinine auto on vana. Kollane auto on uus.
13. Kas raamat on huvitav? Raamat ei ole huvitav. Raamat on igav.

[Some of these sentences are a little stilted. This is because I tried to keep the lesson as short and as simple as possible. In later lessons I will discuss on the use of the possessive adjectives and how to say this and that, these and those].

gerund (-des Form)

2010-02-26T12:37:00.000-08:00

Estonian has two infinitives, the so called -da infinitive (endings in -a, -ta, -da) and the -ma infinitive. Apart from having to know when to use the two infintive forms (on which I will post in the future) one needs to learn the form of the stem as this can be different between the two infinitives. In this post I want to discuss forming the Estonian gerund. The Estonian gerund is formed from the stem of the -da infinitive. It has three endings: -des, -tes, and -es.

-da ---- -des

laul/da 'to sing' ---- laul/des 'singing'
tööta/da 'to work' ---- tööta/des 'working'

-ta ---- -tes

joos/ta 'to run' ---- joos/tes 'running'
ooda/ta 'to wait' ---- ooda/tes 'waiting'

-a ---- -es

tull/a 'to come' ---- tull/es 'coming'
minn/a 'to go' ---- minn/es 'going'

Now let's look at some examples of how to gerund is used. The gerund in Estonian is used differently from how it operates in English. In English the gerund can be thought of as a verb used as a noun, e.g. speaking in: I like speaking Estonian. In Estonian the gerund is used to indicate some action that takes place at the same time as another. This is better understood by seeing the Estonian gerund in action. The gerund is marked in bold in the Estonian examples.

Me istume vaikides. 'We sit (while) being quiet'.
Süües tõuseb/ kasvab isu. 'While eating, the appetite increases'.
Õnnetus ei hüüa tulles. 'An accident does yell (to signal) that it comes'.
Laps tuleb joostes koju. 'The child comes running home'.
Lauldes ja mängides läheb aeg kiiresti. 'While singing and playing time passes quickly'.
Aeg läheb lennates. 'Time goes flying [Time flies]'.

Mida tühjem tünn, seda suurem on mürin sõites.
'The emptier the barrel, the bigger the rumble while travelling'.

Kord tänaval jalutades kuulen korraga, et keegi läheneb mulle selja tagant kiiresti joostes.
'Once on the street I suddendly hear while walking, that someone approaches from behind my back quickly running'.

For those interested in Estonian morphology from a diachronic perspective, the gerund originated from the inessive case (ending in -s) of the -da infinitive. This form was used to answer the questions kus? 'where' and milles? 'in/ at what?' No other case forms of the -da infinitive survive in the modern language.

Source: Estonian Textbook by Juhan Tuldava, 1994, pg. 137-138

basic phrases with the BBC

2010-02-25T06:08:00.000-08:00

The BBC Quick Fix website has 12 phrases to allow tourists to Estonia learn and use some basic phrases on their visit. You can access the phrases and listen or download the audio by this link.

These phrases are:

Jah yes
Ei no
Tere tulemast! Welcome!
Meeldiv teid kohata. Pleased to meet you.
Tere! Hello!
Head aega! Goodbye!
Tänan teid. Thank you!
Minu nimi on... My name is...
Kas te räägite inglise keelt? Do you speak English?
Vabandage, ma ei räägi eesti keelt. I'm sorry, I don't speak Estonian.
Palun aidake. Please help.
Vabandage, kus asub tualettruum? Excuse me, where is the toilet?

locative cases and postpositions

2010-02-25T05:04:00.000-08:00

When you wish to emphasis or clarify the location of an object you can make use of postpositions instead of case endings. To do this, one removed the locative case ending from the noun and replace it with the proper postposition, leaving a space between the noun (now in the genitive case) and the postposition. The following examples use the Estonian nouns kapp 'cabinet' and laud 'table'.

kapisse (kappi) = kapi sisse 'into the cabinet'
kapis = kapi sees 'in the cabinet'
kapist = kapi seest 'out of the cabinet'

lauale = laua peale 'onto the table'
laual = laua peal 'onto the table'
laualt = laua pealt 'onto the table'

A native speaker, Myst, points out that the 'long illative' kapisse has fallen out of use in the modern spoken language, in favour of the 'short illative' kappi. That gives me another idea for a future post when I look at cases, the 'short' v. the 'long' illative. Thanks Myst!

Note: The observent student will notice that the case endings -sse, -s, -st, -le, -l, -lt have jumped from the noun to the postposition. For example, peale, peal, and pealt simply mean 'onto the head', 'on the head', and 'off the head' respectively. The Estonian word for head is pea. It is related to the Finnish and Võro words for head pää as in the Southern Estonian town of Otepää (Otõmpää in Võro) which means 'Head of the Bear'.

A native speaker, Kata, adds the following: 'There certainly is a historic connection with the noun 'pea' and the postpositions you named. Today the postposition have only one meaning. For example 'onto the head' would be 'pea peale': Ta elu pöörati pea peale. [Her/His life turned onto the head (lit. Her/His life turned upside-down.]

And one more historical note. I am currently reading a Estonian translation of a novel, published in 1937. "Ta vaatas tema peale" [S/he looked him in the face (lit. onto the head)] is a common way of expression. The case has shifted within the 70 years and now contemporary Estonians would say: "Ta vaatas teda." [S/he looked at her/him]' Thanks for the input Kata!

Here are some examples of the Estonian locative cases and postpositions in action:

Karu tuleb koopa seest [= koopast] välja 'The bear comes out of the cave'.
Ma mõtlen sõbra peale [= sõbrale] 'I am thinking of my friend'.
Räägi kõik südame pealt [= südamelt] ära! 'Tell everything that is on your heart [Get everything off your chest!]'.
Vean kihla kümne dollari peale [= kümnele dollarile] 'I will bet you ten dollars'.
Must valge peal [= valgel] 'Black on white'.

All note the use of käsi 'hand' as a postposition:

Kelle käes [= Kellel] on minu ajaleht? 'Who has my newspaper? [In whose hand is my newspaper?]'
Ma küsin venna käest [= vennalt] 'I will ask (of) my brother'.

Source: Estonian Textbook by Juhan Tuldava, 1994, pg. 100.