Adjectives with -ne
Täna is today, so tänane is today's. Vill is wool, so villane is woollen.
How It Works
The suffix -ne is one of the most common ways to make adjectives. It has several meanings.
- Made of or containing: vill → villane (woollen), kuld → kuldne (golden), liiv → liivane (sandy), tolm → tolmune (dusty)
- Time or place: täna → tänane (today's), eile → eilne (yesterday's), homme → homne (tomorrow's), siin → siinne (local)
- Measure and age: kolm aastat → kolmeaastane (three-year-old), kaks meetrit → kahemeetrine (two-metre)
- Colours: punane, sinine, kollane, roheline
Stem. -ne usually goes on the genitive stem: villa → villane, tolmu → tolmune. A few one-syllable words use the nominative: kuld → kuldne, raud → raudne.
Forms. The ending -ne becomes -se- before case endings, as in inimene: punane, punase, punast; plural punased, punaste, punaseid. After a consonant, the partitive ends in -set and the plural genitive in -sete: eilne, eilse, eilset; plural eilsed, eilsete, eilseid.
Watch the meaning. Kivine usually means stony, full of or covered with stones: kivine rand. It can also mean made of stone: kivised majad. Kivist maja and kivimaja say made of stone too. Also compare kultuurne (well-mannered) with kultuuriline (cultural).
Examples (6)
- Tänane ilm on ilus.
Today's weather is lovely.
Täna (today) + -ne.
- Kas sa lugesid eilset ajalehte?
Did you read yesterday's newspaper?
Eilne becomes eilset in the partitive.
- Ta kandis villast salli.
She was wearing a woollen scarf.
Villane becomes villast in the partitive.
- Mere ääres oli kivine rand.
By the sea there was a stony beach.
Here kivine means full of stones.
- Mul on kolmeaastane tütar.
I have a three-year-old daughter.
A number phrase + -ne gives age or size.
- Sinine kleit on kallim kui punane.
The blue dress is more expensive than the red one.
Colour words ending in -ne decline the same way: sinise, punase.
Common Mistakes
Keeping -ne before a case ending.
Ma ostsin punaneid õunu.Ma ostsin punaseid õunu.-ne changes to -se- before endings: punase, punast, punaseid.
Leaving a -ne adjective in its basic form before a noun in another case.
Ta kandis villane salli.Ta kandis villast salli.The adjective takes the case of its noun. Salli is partitive, so villane becomes villast.
How It Connects
Learn This First
-ne adjectives decline like -ne nouns.
Related Patterns
- Adjectives with -lik and -line
-line is a close relative that also changes -ne to -se-.
Level 4 - Made Of (Elative)
Another way to say what something is made of: kivist maja.
Level 4 - Telling Your Age
Age adjectives such as kolmeaastane use this suffix.
Level 2 - täna / homme / eileBasic Time Words
The time words behind tänane, homne and eilne.
Level 1 - Abstract Nouns (-us, -dus)
-ne adjectives give nouns in -sus: vaene → vaesus (poverty).
Level 4
Words in This Pattern
Practice Adjectives with -ne in Bubblegum
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