Estonian Grammar List

Estonian verbs show the person with an ending on the present stem: elan, elad, elab, elame, elate, elavad. After ei the ending disappears: ma ei ela.

Add -lt to the genitive stem to say where something comes off or from: laualt (off the table), sõbralt (from a friend).

Add -l to the genitive stem to say something is on a surface or at a place: laual (on the table), tööl (at work). It also marks times and owners.

An adjective in front of a noun copies the noun's case and number: suures majas, suurtes majades. In the terminative, essive, abessive and comitative only the noun takes the ending: suure majaga.

Add -le to the genitive stem to say where something goes onto or to whom: lauale (onto the table), emale (to Mom).

A neutral Estonian sentence runs subject, verb, object: Mari loeb raamatut. Case endings show who does what, so the order can change to put a different word first or to stress new information at the end.

Add -ga to the genitive stem to say "with": sõbraga (with a friend), kahvliga (with a fork), bussiga (by bus).

Many words change their stem between a strong and a weak form: tuba but toas (in the room), kapp but kapi (of the cupboard), lugema but loen (I read). Dictionaries show the changed forms.

When a number other than üks stands in the nominative, the noun after it goes into the singular partitive: kaks raamatut, kümme minutit. With üks the noun stays nominative: üks raamat.

To say on Monday, on Friday and so on, add the adessive ending -l to the day name: esmaspäeval, reedel. Days are written with a small letter.

Add -st to the genitive stem to say where something comes out of: poest (from the shop). It also marks a topic: filmist (about the film).

There is no word for a or the: raamat means a book or the book. Context, and sometimes word order, tells you which one is meant.

The genitive shows who owns something or what something is part of, as in Mari raamat (Mari's book). Its singular form ends in a vowel and often has a changed stem.

Add -sse to the genitive stem to say where you are going: Tallinnasse, Tartusse. Common words often use a short form instead: kooli, linna, tuppa.

Add -s to the genitive stem to say where something is inside: koolis (at school), Tallinnas (in Tallinn).

The place cases come in two sets of three: inner -sse, -s, -st for inside (majasse, majas, majast) and outer -le, -l, -lt for surfaces, people and some places (lauale, laual, laualt).

Languages are named with keel and a small letter: eesti keel, inglise keel, vene keel. You speak eesti keelt (partitive) and say things eesti keeles (in Estonian).

Add -lane to a country or town to name its people. These words start with a small letter: eestlane, soomlane, tartlane.

To make a sentence negative, put ei directly before the verb and drop the personal ending. ei is the same for every person, and in the simple past it goes with the -nud form: ma ei teadnud.

Nouns have no gender, and tema or its short form ta means both he and she. Ta on õpetaja can be about a man or a woman.

The nominative is the form you find in the dictionary. It is used for the subject of a sentence, and its plural ends in -d.

Estonian counts from zero to ten with null, üks, kaks, kolm, neli, viis, kuus, seitse, kaheksa, üheksa and kümme. After every one of them except üks, the noun goes into the singular partitive.

The partitive is the "part" case. Use it for some amount of something, for an action that is not finished, after numbers and after a negative.

Negation makes the object partitive (Ma ei joo kohvi) and also the thing that is missing in a there-is or having sentence (Siin ei ole poodi. Mul ei ole aega). The subject and a describing noun after olema do not change.

When you talk about some unmeasured amount of a substance, such as bread, milk, water or money, the noun goes into the partitive: Ma ostan leiba. Klaasis on vett.

To make the basic plural, take the genitive singular and add -d. This form is used for plural subjects and after words like need.

Speak to several people, or politely to one person you call teie, by adding -ge or -ke to the stem of the da-infinitive: tulla → Tulge!, vaadata → Vaadake! Use -ke when the da-infinitive ends in -ta, and with a few verbs such as teha (tehke).

In many verbs the present-tense stem is shorter or softer than the ma-infinitive: rääkima gives räägin, lugema gives loen and tegema gives teen. Learn the present form together with each verb.

Estonian has one present tense. Ma loen can mean I read, I am reading or I will read, depending on the context and time words.

Turn a statement into a yes-no question by putting kas in front and keeping the word order. In speech the question can also start with the verb, or end with või or vä.

Estonian has three sound lengths that change meaning. Double letters show that a sound is long, but spelling usually does not show whether it is long or overlong.

To tell one person you call sina to do something, take the I-form of the present and drop -n: tulen gives Tule!, loen gives Loe! The verb minema is irregular: Mine!

Write esmaspäev, jaanuar, eestlane and eesti keel with a small letter. Names of particular places take a capital: Eesti, Soome, Tallinn.

Put the main stress on the first syllable of every native word: TE-re, EES-ti, Õ-pe-ta-ja. Some loanwords, and a few words like aitäh, keep a later stress.

The numbers 11 to 19 add -teist to the number from one to nine: üksteist (11), kaksteist (12), üheksateist (19). They are written as one word and count nouns in the singular partitive.

Tens are the unit plus -kümmend (kakskümmend, 20) and hundreds are the unit plus -sada (kakssada, 200), written as one word. Other parts are written separately: sada kaks, kaks tuhat kakskümmend viis.

The Estonian alphabet is the Latin alphabet plus õ, ä, ö and ü. The letters f, š, z and ž appear only in loanwords.

Estonian adds case endings where English uses prepositions: maja (a house), majas (in the house), majast (out of the house). There are fourteen cases, learned a few at a time.

Estonian has many diphthongs, two vowels in one syllable: leib (bread), poiss (boy), õun (apple), laud (table), hea (good). Say both vowels clearly.

In Estonian, b, d, g and p, t, k show length more than voicing. Between vowels, kabi (hoof), kapi (of the cupboard) and kappi (into the cupboard) differ only in the length of the stop.

The second infinitive ends in -da, -ta or -a, with a few assimilated forms such as minna and olla. It follows most verbs that take another verb, such as tahtma (want), võima (may), oskama (know how) and meeldima (like).

To say am not, is not or are not, use ei ole or the one-word pole for every person. Both are standard. Ei ole is the basic form, and a one-word answer uses Ei ole.

Say where you live with elama and the inessive: Ma elan Tallinnas. Some places use -l instead and must be learned: Saaremaal, Saksamaal, maal.

hästi means well and halvasti means badly. They describe how you do something and answer kuidas: Sa räägid eesti keelt hästi. Mul läheb hästi.

ja means and, aga means but and või means or. Put a comma before aga, but usually not before ja or või.

Answer yes with jah and no with ei. A natural short answer repeats the verb, positive or negative: Kas sa tuled? – Tulen. / Ei tule. In speech yes is often jaa.

ka means also or too. Put it next to the word it adds: Ka mina tulen, or Mina tulen ka. In a negative sentence, ka goes before ei: Mina ka ei tea.

kes is the question word for "who". It changes form by case, so kelle means "whose" and kellega means "with whom".

Home uses kodus for being at home, koju for going home and kodust for leaving home.

kui palju asks how much. mitu asks how many, and the noun after it goes into the singular partitive: mitu last.

kuidas asks how something is done or how it is going. For "how much" or "how big", Estonian uses kui.

kus means "where (at)", kust means "where from" and kuhu means "where to". Pick the one that matches the movement.

Estonian dictionaries list verbs in the ma-infinitive, such as elama or tulema. The same form follows verbs such as pidama (must), hakkama (start), minema and tulema (go or come to do), jääma and õppima (learn to).

Mulle meeldib kohv means I like coffee. The person is in the allative, and the verb agrees with the liked thing: Talle meeldivad kassid. An activity takes the da-infinitive: Mulle meeldib lugeda.

miks means "why". The usual answer starts with sest, "because".

millal means "when". Use it for days and times in general, and use mis kell to ask for the exact clock time.

milline and missugune both mean "which" or "what kind of". They take the same case ending as the noun they go with.

Estonian personal pronouns have short forms ma, sa, ta, me, te and nad for everyday speech, and long forms mina, sina, tema, meie, teie and nemad for contrast, emphasis or a one-word answer. Ta means both he and she.

minema means to go. Its present uses the stem lähe-: lähen, lähed, läheb. The place you go to is in the illative (kooli, Tallinnasse) or, for places that take -l, the allative (tööle).

To say my, your, his or her, use the genitive of the pronoun: minu (mu) raamat, sinu (su) kohv, nende maja. The pronoun never changes to match the noun.

mis is the question word for "what". Like a noun, it takes case endings, so the verb decides which form you use.

Ask the time with Mis kell on? and answer Kell on … . Quarters and halves count towards the coming hour: veerand kolm (2:15), pool kolm (2:30), kolmveerand kolm (2:45).

To say you do not have something, use ei ole or pole and put the thing owned in the partitive: Mul ei ole autot. Tal pole aega.

Estonian has no verb "to have". Say "at me is": the owner takes -l and the verb is on for every owner. Mul on koer means "I have a dog".

olema means to be. Its present forms are olen, oled, on, oleme, olete and on, with the same on for he, she, it and they. It says what something is, where it is and, with the adessive, who has it.

Ma olen õpetaja. Maja on suur. After olema, the word describing the subject is usually nominative, and it becomes plural with a plural subject: Majad on suured.

Palun asks for something, hands something over and answers a thank-you. Aitäh and tänan both say thank you.

see is the everyday word for "this", "that" and "it", and need means "these" or "those". Before a noun they take the same case ending.

siin means "here" and seal means "there". They describe where something is, so they answer the question kus?

Use sina (sa) with one person you know well, and teie (te) with a group or politely with one person. With teie the verb is always plural, but a noun or adjective describing one person stays singular.

Say tere (hello) at any time, or tere hommikust in the morning. Say goodbye with head aega or nägemist, and good night with head ööd. tšau is a casual hi and bye.

tulema means to come. The place you come from is in the elative (koolist) or, for places that take -l, the ablative (töölt). Kust sa tuled? asks where from.

täna (today), homme (tomorrow), eile (yesterday), nüüd and praegu (now), alati (always) and tihti (often) say when without any ending: Homme on laupäev.

ä is an open vowel like the a in cat, ö is e with rounded lips and ü is i with rounded lips. Each one makes a new word: tuli (fire), tüli (quarrel).

õ is a back vowel said with spread lips. Swapping it for o changes the word: kõrv means ear, but korv means basket.

The active past participle ends in -nud: elanud, tulnud, läinud, söönud. It builds the negative past (ei tulnud), the perfect (olen tulnud) and the pluperfect (olin tulnud).

The abessive ending -ta means without: suhkruta (without sugar). The word ilma often goes before it: ilma mantlita (without a coat).

Manner adverbs are made from adjectives with -lt or -sti on the genitive form: aeglaselt (slowly), vabalt (freely), kiiresti (quickly). hea gives hästi.

To say "bigger" or "more beautiful", add -m to the genitive form: suurem, ilusam. Learn the few special forms such as pikem, vanem, parem and väiksem.

kui means "than" after a comparative: Tallinn on suurem kui Tartu. The word after kui takes the same case as its partner in the sentence.

The impersonal present says an action happens without naming who does it: Eestis räägitakse eesti keelt. It ends in -takse, -dakse or, in a few common verbs, -akse.

A few very common verbs change their stem in the past: minema gives läksin, läks; sööma gives sõin, sõi; jooma gives jõin, jõi; tooma gives tõin, tõi.

A handful of everyday verbs have da-infinitives you cannot guess from the ma-infinitive. Learn them as pairs such as sööma, süüa and tegema, teha.

Dictionaries give a noun's key forms because the other case forms are built from them. Learn at least the nominative, genitive and partitive singular.

Learners' dictionaries list four key forms of each verb, and most other forms are built from one of them.

The verb endings -n, -d, -me and -te already show who is acting, so ma, sa, me and te are often left out: Tulen homme. Kas räägid inglise keelt? The pronouns ta and nad are usually kept.

To suggest doing something together, use the we-form of the present: Teeme pausi! Proovime uuesti! For minema, the neutral form is läheme, and the everyday form lähme is what you hear most: Lähme koju!

In a month uses the inessive and in a season the adessive: jaanuaris, mais; kevadel, suvel, sügisel, talvel. Months are written with a small letter.

The negative past is ei plus the -nud form for every person: ma ei tulnud, sa ei teadnud, nad ei olnud kodus. Ei olnud is often shortened to polnud.

The negative perfect is ei ole or pole plus the -nud form: Ma pole seda filmi näinud. It says that something has not happened yet or has never happened.

Most ordinals end in -s: esimene, teine, kolmas, neljas, viies, kümnes. Written with digits they take a period: 3. korrus (the third floor).

Many Estonian verbs team up with a small word, much like English phrasal verbs: aru saama (understand), ära minema (leave), tagasi tulema (come back). In a statement the small word usually comes after the verb.

The singular partitive adds -t, -d or -tt, or is just the stem with no ending. The dictionary's third key form tells you which.

The partitive is the most common object case. Use it for ongoing, unfinished or negated actions and for an open amount: Ma loen raamatut. Ma ei osta raamatut. Ma söön leiba.

In a there-is sentence the new thing is partitive when the amount is open (Klaasis on vett), with an open-ended plural (Pargis on inimesi) and always in the negative (Külmkapis ei ole piima). The verb then stays singular.

Some very common verbs form the simple past with -i- instead of -si-: tulin, tulid, tuli; olin, oli; sain, sai. The he/she form ends in -i, not -s.

Most verbs form the simple past with -si- before the personal endings: elasin, elasid, elas, elasime, elasite, elasid. The he/she form ends in -s alone.

The perfect is olema in the present plus the -nud form: Ma olen Eestis käinud. It links a past event to now, as in Kas sa oled juba söönud?

Most words for positions come after a noun in the genitive: laua peal, laua all, maja taga, poe kõrval. vahel (between) follows two nouns: laua ja kapi vahel.

Some places use the outer local cases instead of the inner ones: tööl (at work), turul (at the market), peol (at the party), maal (in the countryside). Names ending in -maa and most islands also take -l: Saaremaal, Saksamaal.

Most plural cases add the ordinary case ending to the plural genitive. Laste gives lastega and lastel.

The plural genitive adds -de or -te. It shows plural owners, goes with postpositions and is the base for the other plural cases.

The plural partitive ends in -id or -sid, or swaps the final vowel. Many words have both a short and a long form, and both are correct: tube or tubasid.

Personal pronouns take case endings: partitive mind, sind, teda, meid, teid, neid; allative mulle, sulle, talle; comitative minuga, sinuga, temaga. Ma armastan sind. Anna mulle!

A date is an ordinal plus the month: Täna on kolmas mai. On a date both take the adessive: kolmandal mail (3. mail). In a year uses aastal: 2024. aastal.

Many everyday words have a short illative with no -sse ending: kooli, linna, majja, tuppa, keelde. For going somewhere, this short form is usually the natural one.

A soft consonant is said with the tongue raised toward the palate. It is never written, but it separates a few word pairs such as palk (palga) and palk (palgi).

For "the biggest" or "the best", put kõige before the comparative: kõige suurem, kõige parem. kõige stays the same while the comparative takes case endings.

The topic of talking, thinking, hearing or writing goes in the elative: Me rääkisime filmist. Mida sa sellest arvad? Ta kirjutas raamatu Eestist. The question word is millest? (about what?) or kellest? (about whom?).

Age is said with aastat vana or an adjective in -aastane: Ma olen kakskümmend aastat vana. Ta on viieaastane. Kui vana sa oled?

The terminative ending -ni means up to or until: kella viieni (until five), Tartuni (as far as Tartu). It marks the end point of a distance, a time or an amount.

Estonian has no word for the there in there is. Start with the place or time, then on, then the new thing: Laual on raamat. Linnas on uus kohvik.

Parts of the day take the adessive: hommikul, päeval, õhtul and the irregular öösel. Ma töötan õhtul ja magan päeval.

The person who receives something or is addressed goes in the allative: Ma annan sulle raamatu. Ütle talle tere! Helista mulle homme. The question word is kellele? (to whom?).

The translative ending -ks shows what someone or something becomes: Ta sai arstiks. It also marks a purpose (sünnipäevaks) and a time limit (reedeks).

Some verbs, especially verbs of feeling, wanting and waiting, always take a partitive object: Ma armastan sind. Ma ootan sõpra. Ma tahan uut autot.

Weather verbs need no subject: Sajab vihma. Sajab lund. Adjectives follow on: On külm. Täna on soe.

Position words such as alla, all, alt have forms for moving to, being at and moving from: Kass läks laua alla. Kass on laua all. Kass tuli laua alt välja.

When a finished action affects a whole singular thing, the object goes into the genitive: Ma ostsin raamatu. Ta avas akna.

A whole plural object is in the nominative plural: Ma ostsin raamatud (the books). For only some of them, use the partitive plural: Ma ostsin raamatuid.

Nouns and adjectives ending in -ne switch to -se- before case endings and take -st in the partitive: naine, naise, naist.

aga is the everyday but and kuid its more formal twin; after a negative, vaid means but instead: Ma ei ole soomlane, vaid eestlane.

ei pea means do not have to: Sa ei pea homme tulema. To say must not, use ei tohi.

enne (before) and pärast (after) come before a noun in the partitive: enne lõunat, pärast tööd. After a time phrase in the genitive, pärast means in: tunni aja pärast (in an hour).

et introduces what someone says, thinks or knows, with a comma before it: Ma arvan, et ta tuleb. Unlike English that, et is not left out in standard Estonian.

hakkama followed by the ma-infinitive means to begin doing something: Hakkasin eesti keelt õppima. With weather it says something is starting: Hakkab sadama.

juba means already, veel means still (or yet in the negative), and alles means only just or not until: Ta on juba kodus. Ta pole veel tulnud. Ta tuli alles eile. For no longer, use enam: Ta ei ela enam siin.

juurde, juures and juurest mean to, at and from a person or a place: Ma lähen arsti juurde. Ta on arsti juures. Ma tulen arsti juurest.

keegi means someone and midagi (the partitive of miski) something: Keegi helistas. Kas sa tahad midagi süüa?

Estonian has no separate words for nobody and nothing. You use keegi (someone) or midagi (something) with a negative verb: Keegi ei tulnud. Ma ei tea midagi. Adding mitte makes it stronger: mitte keegi, mitte midagi.

Put koos before or after a noun in the comitative (-ga) to stress togetherness: koos vanematega, sõbraga koos. On its own, koos means "together".

kord means one time or occasion. After numbers from two up it is in the partitive: kaks korda, mitu korda. How often per period uses the inessive: kaks korda nädalas. Esimest korda means for the first time.

kui means both when and if: Kui ma koju jõuan, helistan sulle. Kui sajab, jään koju. The present tense is used for the future in both clauses.

siis often opens the main clause after a kui clause, like then: Kui sul on aega, siis tule meile. Kui sajab, siis jään koju. It is optional but very common.

käima means to go somewhere regularly or to make a trip there and back. The place takes a "where" case: Ma käin koolis. Eile käisin poes.

kõik means all or everything, iga means every and mõni means some; iga and mõni take a singular noun. The plural mõned means some, mitmed several, and teised the others.

Estonian has two infinitives, and the first verb decides which one follows. pidama, hakkama, minema, tulema, jääma and õppima take -ma, while tahtma, võima, saama, oskama, tohtima and meeldima take -da: Ma pean minema, aga ma tahan jääda.

After verbs of motion like minema and tulema, the ma-infinitive says what you go or come to do: Ma lähen sööma. With käima, the -mas form is used instead: Ma käin ujumas. Coming back from an activity uses -mast: Tulen ujumast.

A genitive plus oma means mine, yours or someone's when the thing itself is not repeated: See raamat on minu oma. Kelle oma see on? – Mari oma. Here oma acts like a noun and takes plural and case endings: sinu omad, sinu omaga.

Many feelings use the adessive plus on: Mul on külm. Mul on palav. Mul on kõht tühi. Mul on igav. Mul on hea meel.

oma means my own, your own, his or her own and so on, always pointing back to the subject of the sentence: Ta võttis oma raamatu. It never changes form before a noun: oma autoga. Ta võttis tema raamatu means someone else's book.

To say that someone needs something, put the person in the adessive and add on vaja: Mul on vaja uut telefoni. The needed thing is usually in the partitive, and a needed action is in the da-infinitive: Mul on vaja minna.

Quantity words are followed by the partitive: palju raha, vähe aega, natuke vett, palju inimesi.

pidama followed by the ma-infinitive means must or have to: Ma pean minema. Sa pead rohkem magama. In the past it is pidin: Ma pidin minema.

sest gives a reason and answers miks, with a comma before it: Ma ei tule, sest olen haige. In speech sellepärast et is also common.

Estonian "here" and "there" change with direction: siia, siin, siit (to here, here, from here) and sinna, seal, sealt (to there, there, from there).

Put tagasi after a time phrase to say how long ago something happened: nädal tagasi, kaks aastat tagasi, viis minutit tagasi.

English "know" has three Estonian verbs: teadma for facts, tundma for people and feelings, and oskama for skills and languages: Ma tean, kus ta elab. Ma tunnen teda. Ma oskan eesti keelt.

tohtima asks for or gives permission and is followed by the da-infinitive: Kas ma tohin sisse tulla? Its negative ei tohi is the usual way to say must not or is not allowed: Siin ei tohi suitsetada.

võima is may or can, saama is can in the sense of being able to, and oskama is know how to; all three take the da-infinitive: Võin tulla. Ma ei saa täna tulla. Ma oskan ujuda.

To tell someone not to do something, use ära with the singular command (Ära mine!) or ärge with the plural or polite command (Ärge minge!). Commands never use ei.

The des-form shows an action happening alongside the main one, or the way something is done: Ta laulis süüa tehes. It is built from the da-infinitive: lugeda, lugedes.

-gi adds "too" or "even" to the word it is attached to: minagi (me too), lapski (even a child). It becomes -ki after b, d, g, p, t, k, s, h, f, š, z and ž, and it also builds keegi, midagi and kunagi.

The -mas form says someone is busy with an activity or away doing it: Ema on magamas. With käima it means going somewhere to do something and coming back: Ma käisin eile ujumas.

The -mast form says someone is coming back from an activity: Ta tuli ujumast. With verbs like lakkama (stop), keelduma (refuse) and takistama (prevent), it names the action that stops or does not happen.

The -mata form means without doing something, or not done yet: Ta lahkus midagi ütlemata. Mul on raamat veel lugemata. It is the negative partner of the des-form.

To say since a point in time, put that point in the elative and add saadik or peale: Hommikust peale sajab. For a length of time that is still going on, use the present tense with juba: Ma elan siin juba kolm aastat.

The -tud/-dud form describes the thing an action was done to: tehtud töö (work that was done), suletud uks (a closed door). Before a noun it never changes: suletud uksega, keedetud mune.

After adjectives like lihtne (easy), raske (hard) and tore (nice), and after on aeg (it is time), use the da-infinitive: Seda on lihtne öelda. On aeg minna.

In the terminative, essive, abessive and comitative only the noun takes the ending, and the adjective stays in the genitive: suure majaga, uue autoga, tublide õpilastega.

Estonian joins nouns into one written word, and the last part is the main word: a bussipeatus is a kind of peatus (stop). The first part is often a genitive (raamatukogu, lennujaam), but some compounds use the nominative (jalgratas).

Clock times take endings too: kell viis (at five), kella viieni (until five), kella viiest (from five), kella viieks (by five).

Estonian sets off every subordinate clause with commas, whatever word starts it: Ma tean, et ta tuleb. A comma also goes before aga, kuid and vaid, but normally not before ja, ning, või and ega.

Instead of the comparative plus kui, Estonian can put the thing compared in the elative: Mari on Jürist pikem means Mari is taller than Jüri. It is very common with pronouns: Ta on minust vanem.

The conditional adds -ksi- plus the personal ending, or -ks in the third person singular: ma läheksin, sa läheksid, ta läheks, me läheksime. It means would: Ma ostaksin selle.

In some words a consonant changes or disappears in the weak forms: tuba, toa; jõgi, jõe; sõda, sõja; lind, linnu; pank, panga; lugema, loen.

The suffix -ja turns a verb into a noun for the doer: õpetama gives õpetaja (teacher), and müüma gives müüja (seller). It is added to the ma-infinitive stem, and it can also name a device, as in pudeliavaja (bottle opener).

The essive ending -na means as or in the role of: Ta töötab õpetajana. Lapsena elasin maal.

Words such as ära, läbi, valmis and täis show that an action is finished, and they make the object a whole object: Ma sõin leiva ära. Lugesin raamatu läbi. Maja sai valmis.

A length of time is often a nominative plus aega, or a partitive after a number: Ma olin seal nädal aega. Ta elas Tartus kaks aastat. A planned length takes the translative: Ma tulen kolmeks päevaks.

The impersonal past says that people did something, without naming them: Maja ehitati 1920. aastal. It ends in -ti or -di, and its negative is ei plus the -tud or -dud form: ei ehitatud.

The impersonal perfect is on plus the -tud/-dud form: Töö on tehtud. It says that something has been done and the result matters now. The negative is ei ole or pole plus -tud.

In many words a long or overlong sound shortens in the weak forms: kapp, kapi; tükk, tüki; õppima, õpin. In linn, linna the change is heard but not written.

The negative conditional is ei plus the conditional stem ending in -ks: ma ei läheks, sa ei läheks, nad ei läheks. The personal ending is never added after ei.

To say that something is not done, use ei plus the impersonal form in -ta or -da: Siin ei suitsetata. Seda ei öelda nii.

Numbers take case endings, and the noun agrees except after a nominative number: kahes linnas, viie minuti pärast, kolme lapsega. In a compound number every part takes the genitive (kahekümne viie), and from the illative on, usually only the last part takes the ending: kahekümne viiest.

Use the simple past to tell what happened at a known past time: Eile käisin kinos. Use the perfect for experience or a result that matters now: Ma olen seal käinud. Ta on haigeks jäänud.

The pluperfect is olin, olid, oli, olime, olite, olid plus the -nud form: Kui ma jõudsin, oli rong juba läinud. The negative is ei olnud or polnud plus -nud, the same for every person.

The conditional turns a direct request into a polite one: Ma tahaksin kohvi. Kas te saaksite mind aidata? A negative question such as Kas te ei saaks ...? is even softer.

A clause starting with kes (who) describes a person: Mees, kes seal seisab, on mu isa. Kes takes the case of its role in its own clause: keda, kelle, kellega, kellele.

To describe a place, start the clause with kus (where), kuhu (to where) or kust (from where): Linn, kus ma elan, on väike. The verb inside the clause decides which one.

mis links a describing clause to a thing: Raamat, mida ma loen, on huvitav. It changes its ending to fit its job in its own clause, and the clause sits between commas.

The adessive -l marks the person in many set phrases about memory and feelings: Mul on meeles (I remember). Mul läks meelest (I forgot). Mul on kahju (I am sorry). Mul läheb hästi (I am doing well). The verb is in the third person and does not change for the person.

To put a question inside a sentence, use kas for a yes-no question and keep the question word for other questions: Ma ei tea, kas ta tuleb. Küsi, kus ta elab. A comma comes before the question part.

The conditional may drop its personal ending in every person when the subject is clear: ma läheks, me läheks. It is standard in speech and also allowed in writing.

Casual speech uses fillers: nagu (like), noh and no (well), mingi (some, about). Ta oli nagu väsinud. No mis siis? Ootasin mingi pool tundi.

In speech, a statement can become a question by adding a tag: Sa tuled ka, eks? Sa oled eestlane, jah? The colloquial vä works like a spoken question mark: Sa tuled vä?

In a positive statement the conjugated verb tends to stay in second place. When a time or place word comes first, the subject moves after the verb: Eile käisin ma kinos. Homme tuleb Mari.

Replacing -ma with -mine turns a verb into a noun for the activity: lugemine, ujumine, suitsetamine. It changes like other -ne words: lugemine, lugemise, lugemist.

Some verbs always take their complement in the elative, often where English uses in, on or of: Ma huvitun muusikast. See sõltub ilmast. Ma unistan reisist. Ma saan sellest aru. Learn the case together with the verb.

A whole singular object is normally genitive, but it is nominative in commands, with impersonal verbs and in sentences without a subject, such as with tuleb: Osta leib! Leib osteti ära. Tuleb kirjutada kiri.

The past conditional is oleksin, oleksid, oleks, oleksime, oleksite, oleksid plus the -nud form of the main verb: Oleksin tulnud, kui oleksin teadnud. The negative is ei oleks or poleks plus -nud.

Standard written Estonian (kirjakeel) and everyday speech (kõnekeel) differ in short forms, particles and word order. Learners need both: the written norm for reading and writing, and the spoken forms for listening.

To contradict a negative question or statement, repeat the verb and add küll: Kas sa ei tule? – Tulen küll. Sa ei tea seda. – Tean küll!

To say when with eelmine (last), järgmine (next) or see (this), put both words in the adessive: eelmisel nädalal, järgmisel aastal, sel nädalal.

ega continues a negative sentence: Ma ei joo ega suitseta. Tal ei ole aega ega raha. The verb after ega has the same negative form as after ei, and objects stay in the partitive.

enne kui starts a clause about the event that comes second: Pese käed, enne kui sööd. Before a noun, use enne with the partitive instead: enne sööki, enne söömist.

ise stresses the doer or means by yourself: Ma tegin seda ise. Its other forms are used when the action goes back to the subject: Ta pesi end. Ta ostis endale auto. These forms are the same for every person: ma pesen end, sa pesed end.

isegi means even, ainult only, and just exactly or just now: Isegi laps teab seda. Mul on ainult viis eurot. Just seda ma mõtlesin.

A genitive plus jaoks means for, and plus tõttu or pärast means because of: See on sinu jaoks. Vihma tõttu jäi mäng ära. Ära muretse minu pärast!

Small particles add attitude: ju (as you know), küll (surely), vist (probably) and ometi (at last, after all). Ma ju ütlesin! Küll ta tuleb. Ta on vist haige. Tulid ometi!

jääma means to stay: Ma jään koju. With the translative it describes a change, often one that simply happens to you: Ta jäi haigeks. With the ma-infinitive it means to start and stay in a state: Laps jäi magama.

To say "not ... either", keep ka next to the word it adds and put the negation after it: Mina ka ei tea. The short reply "me neither" is Mina ka mitte.

kas ... või offers two options: Kas täna või homme? Ma tulen kas täna või homme. In a reported question it means whether ... or: Ma ei tea, kas ta tuleb või mitte.

To imagine something that is not real now, put the conditional in the kui clause and in the main clause: Kui mul oleks aega, tuleksin. For something that could really happen, use the present instead.

kuigi means "although" or "even though". It starts a clause that admits something that might seem to stop the main action: Ma lähen välja, kuigi sajab vihma.

These words talk about exactly two people or things. kumb asks which one of the two (Kumb sulle meeldib?), mõlemad means both, and kumbki means each of the two, or neither in a negative sentence (Kumbki ei tulnud).

kuna introduces a reason, like since or because. Unlike sest, a kuna-clause can come before the main clause: Kuna oli külm, jäime koju. It can also follow it: Jäime koju, kuna oli külm.

Adding -gi or -ki to question words makes words like kunagi (ever, once), kuskil or kusagil (somewhere), kuhugi (to somewhere) and kuidagi (somehow). With a negative verb they mean never, nowhere or in no way: Ma pole kunagi Pariisis käinud.

kuni starts a clause meaning until or as long as: Oota, kuni ma tagasi tulen. Before a noun it means until, and the noun takes the terminative: kuni reedeni. Before an amount it means up to: kuni 500 inimest.

las makes a soft request, suggestion or permission, like English let: Las ta magab (Let him sleep). Las ma aitan! (Let me help!). The verb after it is usually in the present tense, and a few fixed phrases use the da-infinitive: Las olla!

Lähedal means near and comes after a genitive: jaama lähedal. Kaugel means far and takes the elative: Tallinnast kaugel.

minu arvates and minu meelest both mean in my opinion, and minu teada means as far as I know. The first word is a genitive, so you can also say sinu arvates, tema meelest or arsti arvates.

mitte says "not" about one word or phrase rather than the whole verb: mitte täna, vaid homme; Mitte mina! It also strengthens ei: Ma ei tea mitte midagi.

nagu compares things that are alike: Ta laulab nagu ingel. It can also start a clause: Tee nii, nagu ma ütlesin. To say that something is bigger or smaller than another thing, use kui instead.

nii ... kui ka stresses that something is true of both parts: Ta räägib nii eesti kui ka vene keelt. ka is often left out in simple pairs, and no comma is used.

nii et introduces a result, like English so: Sadas vihma, nii et jäime koju. In nii ... et, nii goes before an adjective or adverb to say how strong something was: Ma olin nii väsinud, et jäin kohe magama.

ning means the same as ja but sounds more formal and is common in writing. When a sentence needs two ands, ja usually joins the small items and ning joins the bigger parts: Ostsin leiba ja piima ning läksin koju.

Soften a request with palun or with ole hea (olge head) followed by a command: Ole hea ja ava aken. Olge head ja istuge.

The conditional of pidama means should: Sa peaksid puhkama. The conditional of võima suggests something: Me võiksime kinno minna. Peaks takes the ma-infinitive, and võiks takes the da-infinitive.

After a person in the genitive, poole, pool and poolt mean to, at and from that person's home: Ma lähen sõbra poole. Ta on vanaema pool. Tulin õe poolt. With a place, poole can also mean towards: linna poole.

pärast seda, kui joins two events, and the kui-clause tells what happened first: Pärast seda, kui ta lahkus, oli toas vaikne. pärast alone cannot start a clause, so seda, kui is needed.

saama means to get, to be able to and to become: Sain kirja. Ma ei saa tulla. Temast sai arst. With no subject, saab plus the da-infinitive means it is possible: Siit saab osta pileteid. It also forms particle verbs such as aru saama.

sama ... kui compares things that are equal: Ta on sama pikk kui mina. nii ... kui does the same and is common in negative sentences: Täna ei ole nii külm kui eile. The adjective stays in its basic form, not the comparative.

et or selleks et says why someone does something, meaning in order to or so that. Use the da-infinitive when the doer is the same: Ma õpin eesti keelt, et rääkida sõpradega. Use a full clause when it is someone else: Räägi aeglaselt, et kõik aru saaksid.

Selline and niisugune mean such or this kind of, and sama means the same. They take the same case as their noun: sellist kleiti, samas majas.

Tuleb with the da-infinitive means has to or must: Seda tuleb kohe teha. The verb stays tuleb (or tuli in the past), and the person who must act goes in the adessive: Mul tuleb homme vara tõusta.

tunduma means to seem: See tundub huvitav. The person who has the impression goes in the allative, and Mulle tundub, et ... is a gentle way to say I think that ...

ükski means not a single one in a negative sentence and any in a question: Ükski buss ei läinud. Kas ükski neist meeldis sulle? Its partitive is ühtki or ühtegi, and mitte ükski adds emphasis.

The -maks form expresses purpose in formal writing: Ta tuli Tallinna, õppimaks ülikoolis. It is built from the ma-infinitive, and everyday language says et ülikoolis õppida instead.

Before a noun, the -nud form describes a state that came from an earlier change: väsinud inimene, kadunud koer, möödunud nädal. In front of a noun it never takes case endings: väsinud lastega.

-us and -dus make nouns for qualities, actions and their results: vabadus (freedom), tarkus (wisdom), kirjutus (a piece of writing), teadus (science).

-lik and -line make adjectives from nouns: sõber gives sõbralik (friendly), laps gives lapselik (childish), ajalugu gives ajalooline (historic), kultuur gives kultuuriline (cultural).

-matu turns a verb into an adjective that means it cannot be done or has not been done: uskumatu (unbelievable), talumatu (unbearable), märkamatu (hard to notice). The adverb adds -lt: märkamatult.

-ne makes adjectives of material, contents, time and measure: kuldne, villane, kivine, tänane, eilne. Many colour words end in it too: punane, sinine, roheline.

The suffix -tu makes adjectives that mean without something: maitsetu (tasteless), lootusetu (hopeless), töötu (unemployed), rahatu (penniless). It is added to the genitive stem of a noun.

A causative verb means making someone do something or making something happen. It is built with -ta- or a short -t-: õppima gives õpetama (teach), naerma gives naerutama (make laugh), sööma gives söötma (feed).

Estonian objects take three cases. The partitive is the most common one; a whole object of a finished action is genitive in the singular and nominative in the plural, and a singular one is also nominative after a command, an impersonal form or tuleb.

To compare how something is done, add -ini or -alt to the comparative: kiirem → kiiremini, aeglasem → aeglasemalt, parem → paremini. More and less are rohkem and vähem.

The suffix -ke or -kene makes a noun small or affectionate: maja becomes majake, laps becomes lapsuke. It is added to the genitive stem and declines like words in -ne: majakese, majakest, majakesed.

Speech shortens common words and endings: ma ei tea becomes mai tea, olnud becomes olnd, selline becomes sihuke or siuke, and kakskümmend becomes kakskend. The meaning does not change.

Some verbs join a fixed noun form to make one meaning: aru saama (understand), meeles pidama (keep in mind), silma paistma (stand out), osa võtma (take part), nõu andma (advise). The parts are written apart and follow the word order of particle verbs.

Formal letters open with Lugupeetud (or Tere in a friendlier style) and close with Lugupidamisega. Estonian puts no comma after either one, and polite Teie and Te are often capitalised when you write to one person.

Fractions add -ndik to the ordinal stem: kolmandik, neljandik. Half is pool, a quarter veerand and one and a half poolteist. Decimals use a comma and large numbers a space: 2,5 and 10 000.

Put the doer in the genitive before a -tud participle to say who did it: Tammsaare kirjutatud romaan, ema küpsetatud kook. This is the natural way to name the doer, instead of poolt.

The impersonal pluperfect is oli plus the -tud form: Kui me jõudsime, oli laud juba kaetud (When we arrived, the table had already been laid). The negative is ei olnud or polnud plus -tud.

The third-person command ends in -gu or -ku and is the same for singular and plural: Tulgu ta homme. Tehku ta, mida tahab. Olgu is also an everyday way to say okay.

International verbs often end in -eerima: reserveerima, kommenteerima, organiseerima. Their forms are regular, and related nouns often end in -tsioon: organisatsioon, informatsioon.

Put the material in the elative (-st): puust laud, kivist maja, klaasist kauss. It stays the same when the noun changes case: kivist majas. A compound says the same thing: kivimaja.

Case endings show who does what, so word order is free to show what matters. The topic comes first and the new or stressed information comes at the end.

Before a noun, the -mata form works like an adjective meaning not done: lugemata raamat, pesemata nõud, maksmata arve. It never changes its ending.

A participle phrase before a noun works like a relative clause: Tallinnas elav sõber (a friend who lives in Tallinn), eile ostetud leib (bread bought yesterday). The -v and -tav forms agree with the noun; -nud and -tud forms do not change.

The -tav form is built like the -tud form, with -av instead of -ud: loetud → loetav, söödud → söödav, tehtud → tehtav. It describes what can be done or is being done: loetav käekiri (readable handwriting), ehitatav sild (a bridge being built).

The present participle replaces -ma with -v (elama → elav) or adds -ev after a one-syllable stem ending in a consonant (laulma → laulev). It works like an adjective and agrees with its noun: magav laps, magavat last.

The quotative (kaudne kõneviis) ends in -vat and reports information heard from others: Ta olevat haige (He is said to be ill). The form is the same for every person, and the negative is ei olevat.

The reported past is olevat plus the -nud form: Ta olevat juba lahkunud (He has reportedly already left). The negative is ei olevat or polevat: Ta ei olevat seda teadnud.

A reported command uses et with the conditional or with the jussive -gu/-ku form: Ema ütles, et ma tuleksin koju. Ema ütles, et ma tulgu kohe koju.

A reported statement uses et, and the verb stays indicative or becomes the -vat form: Jüri ütles, et Sirje sõidab maale. Jüri ütles, et Sirje sõitvat maale. Pronouns and time words change to fit the reporter.

An automative verb says that something changes by itself, with no doer and no object. It is built with -u-, -du- or -ne-: muutma gives muutuma (change), pöörama gives pöörduma (turn), avama gives avanema (open).

In words like mõte (mõtte), hammas (hamba) and ratas (ratta), the nominative has the weak stem and the genitive has the strong one. The singular partitive and the plural genitive stay weak: mõtet, mõtete.

Many adjectives have a one-word superlative that means the same as kõige plus the comparative: suurim = kõige suurem. Build it from the plural partitive: suuri → suurim, ilusaid → ilusaim, õnnelikke → õnnelikem. Hea has parim.

General statements use the impersonal, or a general sa in speech: Siin ei suitsetata. Kui sa iga päev harjutad, siis õpid kiiresti. Estonian has no word like English one.

Estonian has no future tense, and the present plus a time word is normal: Homme sajab. hakkama with the ma-infinitive can mark a future start: Siin hakkab elama uus pere. saab olema is common, but careful style avoids it as a German-style calque.

kui has several meanings: when and if (Kui sa tuled, helista), than (vanem kui mina), as (kui sõbraga) and how (Kui ilus! Kui vana sa oled?). The sentence around it shows which one is meant.

Estonian has no articles, but everyday speech often uses üks (one) a little like a and see (this, that) a little like the: Üks mees tuli sisse. See mees oli väga pikk. Careful writing uses them less.

In some subordinate clauses the verb often moves to the end: Ütle, kui sa aru ei saa. See on mees, kellega ma rääkisin. After et, sest and kuna, a normal statement keeps ordinary word order: Ma usun, et ta tuleb homme.

Some verbs need -ga where English uses to, with or nothing at all: Ma olen sellega harjunud. Ma nõustun sinuga. Ma kohtusin sõbraga. Millega sa tegeled?

Some verbs take the illative (-sse) where English uses in, with or about: Ma usun sinusse. Ta armus naabrisse. Kuidas sa sellesse suhtud? Ta süvenes raamatusse.

The particle of a particle verb usually comes at the end of a main clause, after the object. When the verb itself stands last, the particle comes just before it.

To wish for something that is not true, start with the conditional verb or use kui ... vaid with the conditional: Oleks mul rohkem aega! Kui ma vaid teaksin!

A few position words usually come before a partitive: vastu seina (against the wall), mööda teed (along the road), keset linna (in the middle of town), piki jõge (along the river). vastu and mööda can also follow the partitive.

alates with the elative marks a starting point and kuni with the terminative an end point: alates esmaspäevast kuni reedeni. The case endings alone also work: kella üheksast kuueni.

After a genitive, asemel means instead of or in place of, and kohta means about, per or for: tee asemel kohvi; raamat Eesti kohta; kaks eurot inimese kohta.

The da-infinitive can be the subject of a sentence, like an English -ing word: Eesti keelt õppida on huvitav. The verb is then third person singular.

ehk has two jobs. Between words it means that is or in other words: lingvistika ehk keeleteadus. As an adverb it means perhaps: Ehk ta tuleb homme.

When you want, ask or advise someone else to do something, the et-clause takes the conditional: Ema palus, et ma tuleksin koju. Ma tahan, et sa jääksid.

Et mitte with the da-infinitive means in order not to, when the subject stays the same: Rääkisin vaikselt, et mitte last äratada. With a new subject, use et ... ei plus the conditional.

Jätma with the -mata form says that someone left something undone or failed to do it: Jätsin kirja saatmata. Ära jäta seda tegemata! The object case follows jätma itself.

After a genitive, kaudu means via or through, abil means with the help of, and järgi means according to or by: Tartu kaudu, sõnaraamatu abil, retsepti järgi.

Tahes and iganes after a question word mean -ever or any: kes tahes, mis tahes, millal tahes, kuhu iganes. The question word takes the case the sentence needs, and tahes and iganes never change.

Kõik, mis means everything that: Kõik, mis ta ütles, oli tõsi. Mis also follows see (what) and can point back to a whole idea: Ta jäi hiljaks, mis oli imelik. For people, use kõik, kes.

Küll ... aga admits one point and then adds a contrasting one: Töö on küll raske, aga huvitav. In this pattern, a comma always comes before aga.

mida with one comparative and seda with another means the more ..., the more: Mida rohkem harjutad, seda paremini räägid. A comma separates the two parts, and short forms like Mida varem, seda parem are common.

mistõttu and mispärast mean which is why. They start a clause that gives the result of what was just said: Rong hilines, mistõttu jäin koosolekule hiljaks.

Mitte ainult ... vaid ka means not only ... but also and adds a second, stronger point: Ta räägib mitte ainult eesti, vaid ka soome keelt. A comma always comes before vaid.

Nagu, justkui or otsekui with the conditional means as if, for something that only seems true: Ta käitub, nagu oleks ta ülemus. Tundus, justkui oleks keegi toas.

Niipea kui means as soon as and introduces the event that comes just before the main one: Helistan sulle, niipea kui jõuan. The clause is set off with a comma.

The past conditional of pidama and võima says what should have or could have happened: Sa oleksid pidanud helistama. Oleks võinud hullemini minna.

The past pidi with the ma-infinitive often means was supposed to or is said to: Ta pidi eile tulema. Film pidi olema väga hea. With an accident verb, pidin can also mean I almost: Ma pidin kukkuma.

Saama with the -tud form stresses that something got done and reached its result: Töö sai tehtud. It is mostly spoken, and the doer can be added with -l: Mul sai see raamat loetud.

seepärast and seetõttu (that is why) and seega (so, thus) introduce a result or conclusion after its reason: Sadas vihma, seepärast jäime koju. sest works the other way round and introduces the reason.

selle asemel, et plus the da-infinitive means instead of doing: Selle asemel, et kurta, tee midagi. If someone else does the action, a full clause follows, often in the conditional.

Each other is teineteise (only two) or üksteise (two or more). They have no nominative, so use the case the verb needs: Nad armastavad teineteist. Me aitame üksteist. Nad räägivad üksteisega.

Some linking words need a set case: tänu and vaatamata take the allative, and võrreldes and seoses the comitative: tänu sulle, vaatamata vihmale, võrreldes eelmise aastaga. hoolimata (despite) takes the elative.

In their place meanings, üle, läbi and ümber take the genitive: üle tee (across the road), läbi metsa (through the forest), ümber maja or maja ümber (around the house). Before a number, üle means more than: üle saja inimese.

-gi/-ki on a verb says it turned out just as expected, or stresses the verb: Ta tuligi. Nii see ongi. Ma teadsingi! After a negation it means not after all: Ta ei helistanudki.

Kogu, eri and valmis keep the same form before every noun: kogu linnas (in the whole town), eri riikides (in different countries), valmis kirjaga (with the finished letter). Language words like inglise work the same way.

-kas turns a noun into an adjective meaning full of or rich in: anne → andekas (talented), mahl → mahlakas (juicy). On colour and taste words it means -ish: punakas (reddish), hapukas (sourish).

Formal texts sometimes name the doer of an impersonal action with a genitive and poolt: Otsus võeti vastu valitsuse poolt. It works only with verbs that take an object, and an active sentence is often clearer: Valitsus võttis otsuse vastu.

Written Estonian uses short forms such as nt (näiteks, for example), jne (ja nii edasi, and so on), st (see tähendab, that is), jm (ja muud, and others) and u (umbes, about). You read them aloud as the full words.

News and official texts often replace a relative clause with a participle phrase before the noun: kohtumine, mis toimus eile, becomes eile toimunud kohtumine. These phrases can be stacked into long chains.

Foreign names keep their original spelling. If the name is written with a vowel but ends in a consonant sound, or the other way round, put an apostrophe before the ending: Cambridge'is, Bordeaux'sse.

Casual Estonian clips long words and often adds -kas: telekas (TV), fotokas (camera), ühikas (dorm). It also has words like äge (cool) and tšill (relaxed). Slang words take normal case endings, but they belong in casual speech and messages rather than formal writing.

The formal let's form is the you-all command plus -m: minge gives mingem (let us go), tehke gives tehkem (let us do). The negative is ärgem plus the same form: ärgem unustagem (let us not forget). It belongs to speeches, slogans and formal writing, while everyday speech uses the we-form: lähme, teeme, ärme unusta.

Estonian proverbs are short and old-fashioned. They often drop olema (Kes ees, see mees = Kes on ees, see on mees), set two clauses side by side without kui (Tasa sõuad, kaugele jõuad), and use pairs like kes ... see and kus ... seal.

The des-form has a past: olles plus the -nud form (having done) or the -tud form (having been done). It shows an action finished before the main one, and it is typical of writing: Olles terve päeva töötanud, jäi ta kohe magama. Speech usually says kui ta oli ... or pärast seda, kui ...

Estonian headlines keep only the words that carry the news. A headline may have no verb (Uus rekord Tartu maratonil), may name a speaker with a colon, and often uses the impersonal: Tallinnas avatakse uus sild. Finished events are usually reported in the simple past.

Ega starts a question that hopes for help or fears a bad answer: Ega sa ei tea ...? (You wouldn't happen to know ...?) Ega sa haige ei ole? (You're not ill, are you?) The verb stays in its negative form.

Put the important part next to see and move the rest into a kes or mis clause: See oli Mari, kes helistas. To save the answer for the end, say See, mida ma vajan, on puhkus.

-kesi on a number says how many people are together, with nobody else: Me elame kahekesi (just the two of us live here). It is built on the genitive stem and never changes.

Estonian grades certainty with adverbs, from kindlasti (definitely) through ilmselt and tõenäoliselt (probably) and võib-olla (maybe) down to vaevalt (hardly). After vaevalt, the verb often goes to the end: Vaevalt ta täna tuleb.

The impersonal conditional says that something would be done, without naming who would do it: Seda tehtaks, kui oleks raha. Add -ks to the negative impersonal form: ei tehta gives tehtaks.

Kaupa follows a genitive and says how something is divided: kahekaupa (two at a time), osade kaupa (in parts). After a plural genitive such as tundide, it often stresses a large amount or a long time: tundide kaupa (for hours).

Uks on suletud can mean the door is closed (a state) or the door has been closed (an action). Words that count, date or deny the action point to the action reading.

When two clauses use the same verb, Estonian often says it only once. The second clause keeps only the new parts: Mari läks Tartusse, Jüri Pärnusse.

Adverbs ending in -li say what position a body or thing is in: selili, kõhuli, külili, põlvili, pikali. The same form says both where you are and where you go: Ta lamab selili. Ta keeras end selili.

Estonian often names a device with -i, -r (-ur, -ar) or -k instead of -ja: arvutama gives arvuti (computer), kõlama gives kõlar (loudspeaker), sõitma gives sõiduk (vehicle). The -ja ending usually names a person.

-ik builds nouns for things, places and people: õpik (textbook, from õppima), kohvik (café, from kohv), kaasik (birch grove, from kask). Before endings it adds -u: õpiku, kohvikus.

Some nouns are always plural: püksid (trousers), käärid (scissors), prillid (glasses), pulmad (wedding). To count them, put the number in the plural as well: ühed püksid, kahed käärid.

Officialese (kantseliit) turns verbs into nouns and adds an empty verb: Õpetaja viib läbi lugemisoskuse kontrollimise. Plain Estonian says Õpetaja kontrollib lugemisoskust. Omama is for owning property; for other things you have, use the X-l on construction.

Estonian writes a compound as one word and a phrase as separate words, and the choice can change the meaning: vanaema is a grandmother, but vana ema is a mother who is old. In a compound noun the first part stays the same in every case: vanaemale, but vanale emale.

-la names a building or place by what happens there: haigla (hospital, from haige), söökla (canteen, from söök), parkla (car park, from parkima). These words take the inner cases: haiglas, haiglasse.

Adjectives and nouns with a stressed -ik suffix, such as õnnelik (happy), ohtlik (dangerous) and kunstnik (artist), form the plural genitive with -e: õnnelike, kunstnike. The other plural cases add their ending to it: kunstnikel, kunstnikega. The long form õnnelikkude also exists, but it sounds old-fashioned.

Standard Estonian is closest to the northern central dialects, and other regions sound different. On Saaremaa and Hiiumaa people often say ö instead of õ (söber for sõber), and Võro in the south has vowel harmony and a glottal stop written q. Learners mainly need to recognise these forms.

-le- and -skle- turn a verb into one about doing something again and again, here and there or at leisure: hüplema (hop about), lamasklema (lounge about), mõtisklema (ponder). Many such verbs have their own meaning.

Two or more compounds that share a part write that part only once, and a hyphen marks the gap: laulu- ja tantsupidu (laulupidu ja tantsupidu), eesti- ja venekeelne. The shared part can also come first: sünniaasta, -kuu ja -päev.

Besides the usual -de/-te plural, some words have a vowel plural. You build it from the plural partitive: jalgu gives jalul, silmi gives silmis, sõnu gives sõnul. It appears in writing and in set phrases, while everyday speech uses the -de/-te plural.

To make a negative stronger, add üldse, sugugi or põrmugi: Ma ei ole üldse väsinud (I'm not tired at all). See pole sugugi lihtne (It's not easy at all). Ma ei karda põrmugi (I'm not a bit afraid). sugugi and põrmugi only work in negative sentences; üldse also means at all in questions.

A verb with -ata- describes a single, quick burst of an action instead of a longer one: karjuma (shout) gives karjatama (let out a cry), võppuma (tremble) gives võpatama (flinch). Learn these verbs as vocabulary rather than building new ones yourself.

The case after some verbs changes what they mean. Saama with the translative means become, and with an object it means get. Rääkima kellegagi is talk with someone, and rääkima kellestki is talk about someone.

A small group of verbs, and the adjective kindel (sure), take the inessive: Ma ei kahtle selles. Probleem seisneb selles, et aega on vähe. Learn the case together with the verb.

In standard Estonian, a des-form is understood as done by the subject of the main verb: Koju minnes kohtasin sõpra. If someone else does it, name them in the genitive (Päikese tõustes) or use a kui-clause.

A phrase that measures how long something lasted takes the object cases: Ma töötasin terve päeva. Ta oli haige terve nädala. If a negation denies the amount itself, the phrase goes into the partitive.

The impersonal past conditional is oleks plus the -tud form. It says what would have been done, without naming who would have done it: Kiri oleks eile saadetud, aga postkontor oli kinni. The negative is ei oleks or poleks plus -tud.

After a negative statement, ammugi and veel vähem mean let alone or much less: Ta ei oska veel kõndida, ammugi joosta. The added word takes the same form it would have in the first half. ammugi also has a time meaning, long ago: See on ammugi teada.

ehkki and olgugi et are more formal ways to say although: Ehkki oli hilja, jätkasime tööd. Ta tuli, olgugi et oli haige. Olgugi et is one conjunction, so there is no comma inside it.

ilma et starts a clause meaning without, and its verb is usually in the conditional: Ta lahkus, ilma et oleks hüvasti jätnud. The clause itself sounds positive, because ilma already carries the "without". When the subject is the same, the -mata form is a shorter choice: Ta lahkus hüvasti jätmata.

Kusjuures means and what is more or and at the same time. It adds a detail about what was just said, often something unexpected, and it comes after a comma.

Use mis puutub with the illative (-sse) to say as for or as far as something is concerned. After a comma, the main clause usually starts with siis.

Nimelt means namely or you see. It spells out what was just mentioned or gives the reason for it. Just nimelt means exactly.

olgu is the let-it-be form of olema. At the start of a phrase, it says that something is true in every case: with a question word plus tahes (Olgu ilm milline tahes, me läheme) or with või between the options (Olgu mees või naine, kõik on oodatud).

olema with the -mas form can say that a process is going on right now or is about to happen: Talv on tulemas (Winter is on its way). Hinnad on tõusmas (Prices are rising). It works best with things that happen rather than things someone actively does.

pidama with a partitive object and a translative means to consider someone or something as something: Ma pean teda heaks sõbraks. The impersonal is common in writing: Seda peetakse väga oluliseks.

The negative third-person command is ärgu plus the -gu or -ku form of the verb: Ärgu ta muretsegu. Ärgu keegi arvagu, et see oli lihtne. It also passes on someone else's instruction not to do something: Ema ütles, et me ärgu hilinegu.

Written Estonian has two one-word past forms: -nuks for the conditional past (tulnuks = oleks tulnud) and -nuvat for the reported past (tulnuvat = olevat tulnud). They sound literary and are rare in speech.

A small group of adverbs in -tsi say how or which way something happens: meritsi (by sea), maitsi (by land), jäitsi (over the ice), telefonitsi (by phone), meilitsi (by email), postitsi (by post), käsitsi (by hand). Learn them as words; for most other means, use -ga or kaudu.

Folk tales, legends and humorous retellings can use the bare -nud form, without olema, as a storytelling past: Elanud kord üks vaene mees (once there lived a poor man, so the story goes). It marks the events as told, not witnessed.

Liturgical Estonian keeps older forms: jussives like Pühitsetud olgu sinu nimi and Sinu riik tulgu, words like nõnda and päralt, and old meanings. The Lord's Prayer and a few famous verses are widely known.

Novels and plays use dialect and colloquial speech to show who a character is and where they come from, as in Tammsaare's muarahavas for maarahvas. Read it as deliberate style, not as errors in the standard.

Formal texts link ideas with seejuures (at the same time), muu hulgas (among other things), teisisõnu (in other words), eelkõige (above all), lisaks (in addition) and seevastu (in contrast).

Estonian keeps a few forms of an old case, the instructive, in set phrases: palja jalu or paljajalu (barefoot), lehvivi hõlmu (with coat-tails flapping), avasüli (with open arms). They answer kuidas? and cannot be formed freely.

Academic writing softens its claims with verbs like näima and paistma (Näib, et...), phrases like võib oletada and on alust arvata, and adverbs like tõenäoliselt and arvatavasti. näima and paistma take the -vat form: näivad kinnitavat.

The impersonal command ends in -tagu or -dagu and says that something is to be done, without naming who does it: Uks suletagu! The negative is ärgu ... -tagu. It sounds formal or old-fashioned.

A rare impersonal ma-form in -tama or -dama appears after pidama. In older and official writing it means must be done: Maks peab tasutama tähtajaks. Today it mostly means supposed to be done: Täna pidi tehtama sauna. Plain modern style says Maks tuleb tasuda tähtajaks.

The language reform begun by Johannes Aavik in 1912 gave written Estonian new short forms, such as the one-word superlative (parim, vanim), and new words such as relv, roim and embama. Many of them are now completely ordinary Estonian.

Estonian laws favour impersonal verbs (karistatakse), set phrases (käesolev seadus, kui seadusest ei tulene teisiti) and duties or rights with on kohustatud + ma-infinitive and on õigus + da-infinitive.

Literary Estonian bends word order for rhythm and weight: Kui kaunis oled sa! instead of Kui kaunis sa oled! Learn to recognise these orders and rebuild the neutral sentence from the case endings.

Long words often grow in steps, each adding a suffix or a stem: õppima, õpetama, õpetaja, õpetajaskond. Knowing a few suffixes lets you understand new words by peeling them apart from the end.

Traditional regilaul songs use lines of about eight syllables, alliteration, parallel lines and archaic forms, and they do not rhyme. The national epic Kalevipoeg imitates this style.

The -tavat or -davat form reports something that people in general are said to do: Seal ehitatavat uut kooli (a new school is reportedly being built there). It is rare and bookish; everyday Estonian says Kuuldavasti ehitatakse seal uut kooli.

Võro and Seto differ strongly from standard Estonian. They keep vowel harmony (külä for küla), write a glottal stop as q (latsõq for lapsed) and put the negation after the verb. You meet them in media, songs, literature and place names.

Formal writing often puts several genitives in a row before one noun: Eesti Vabariigi valitsuse liikmete koosolek (the meeting of the members of the Government of the Republic of Estonia). Read the chain from the end, and remember that only the last noun, with any adjective that describes it, takes the sentence's case ending.

Older texts use the "old spelling" (vana kirjaviis), which followed German habits: Jummala Sanna (Jumala sõna, the word of God) in the 1739 Bible. The modern Finnish-style spelling was promoted by Eduard Ahrens from 1843 and became general in the 1870s.

From the 17th century Estonian was written in two standards: a northern one (põhjaeesti or Tallinna keel) and a southern one (lõunaeesti or Tartu keel). After the northern-language Bible of 1739 spread, the northern standard took over, so old southern texts look like a different variety.

Formal and technical Estonian joins several stems into one word, such as keskkonnaministeerium and lasteaiaõpetaja. Read them from the last part backwards. Compounds of four or more parts are usually written apart or with a readability hyphen.

ent (but), sestap (that's why) and nõnda (so, thus) give written Estonian a literary tone. ent is rarer and more literary than aga or kuid, sestap introduces a result, and nõnda is a variant of nii.

olgu with a -nud form concedes a point before overriding it: Olgu ta pealegi oodanud pool tundi, ma ei kiirusta (he may well have waited half an hour, but I am not hurrying). Words like pealegi and kasvõi often come with it.