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

the languages and dialects of Estonia

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

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)

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