Locative cases

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 and four case forms: Nominative, Genitive and Partitive (both Singular and Plural). The other 11 cases in the singular are merely suffixes that attach to the genitive singular. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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