Ablative (-lt)

Level 1

The ablative (alaltütlev) adds -lt and means "off" or "from": Võta raamat laualt (Take the book off the table).

How It Works

1. Form
Add -lt to the genitive stem:

  • laud → laua → laualt (off the table)
  • sõber → sõbra → sõbralt (from a friend)
  • töö → töölt (from work)
  • turg → turu → turult (from the market)

Pronouns: minult or mult, sinult or sult, temalt or talt.

2. Uses

  • Off a surface: Kass hüppas diivanilt maha.
  • From an -l place: Ta tuleb töölt koju. See places that take -l.
  • From a person (getting, asking, hearing): Ma sain kirja sõbralt. Küsi õpetajalt!

3. -lt or -st?
Both mean "from". Match the "from" to the place word: if you are poes (in the shop), you come poest (elative); if you are tööl (at work), you come töölt. With people, use -lt: emalt means "from Mom", while emast means "about Mom". See inner and outer local cases, the adessive and the allative.

Examples (5)

  1. Võta raamat laualt.

    Take the book off the table.

    Word by Word: Take book off-table.

  2. Ma sain kirja sõbralt.

    I got a letter from a friend.

    Word by Word: I got letter from-friend.

    For receiving from a person, use -lt.

  3. Ta tuleb töölt koju.

    She is coming home from work.

    Word by Word: She comes from-work home.

    tööl (at work) → töölt (from work).

  4. Ma ostsin kala turult.

    I bought fish at the market.

    Word by Word: I bought fish from-market.

    Estonian says where the fish came from, so the market is in the ablative.

  5. Küsi õpetajalt!

    Ask the teacher!

    Word by Word: Ask from-teacher!

    küsima marks the person you ask with -lt.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the elative for a person you get something from.

    Ma sain kirja sõbrast.
    Ma sain kirja sõbralt.

    From a person is -lt. Sõbrast would mean "about a friend".

  • Using "out of" for "off" a surface.

    Võta raamat lauast.
    Võta raamat laualt.

    lauast means out of the inside of the table. Off the table is laualt.

  • Marking the person you ask with the partitive.

    Küsi õpetajat!
    Küsi õpetajalt!

    With küsima, the person you ask takes the ablative -lt. Küsi õpetajat! would mean asking for the teacher, as when you ask to speak to someone.

How It Connects

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Ablative (-lt)Level 1

Learn This First

The ablative is the from-member of the outer set.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

-lt