tulema + Elative

The forms of tulema

• ma tulen, sa tuled, ta tuleb
• me tuleme, te tulete, nad tulevad

The negative is ma ei tule. The command is Tule! (Come!), and to more than one person Tulge!. The da-infinitive is tulla: Kas sa tahad tulla? (Do you want to come?)

Where from: kust?

The starting point answers kust:

• the elative -st for most places: koolist, poest, Tallinnast, Eestist
• the ablative -lt for places that take -l: töölt (from work), turult (from the market), Saaremaalt. See Places That Take -l.
• the special word kodust (from home): see Special Home Words

A simple check: the "from" form matches the "at" form. If you are koolis (at school), you come koolist. If you are tööl (at work), you come töölt.

Where to. tulema can also take a destination, in the same "to" forms as minema: Tule siia! (Come here!) Tule meile! (Come to our place!)

tulema or minema? tulema is movement toward the speaker or toward the place you are talking about. minema is movement away. When someone calls you, you answer with tulema: Ma tulen kohe! (I am coming right away!)

Where someone is from. To ask about a person's home, Estonians usually say Kust sa pärit oled? (Where are you from?) The answer also uses the elative: Ma olen pärit Eestist. (I am from Estonia.)