Southern Estonian features

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

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 ma seda 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

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

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

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

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

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.)