Diminutive (-ke)

Level 4

Majake means a little house and lapsuke means a little child. Add -ke to the genitive stem, and use -kese- before case endings: majakeses (in the little house).

How It Works

Add -ke or -kene to a noun to make it small, sweet or affectionate. The two forms mean the same; -kene sounds softer and a little more poetic.

How to build it. Start from the genitive form of the noun:

  • maja, maja: majake (little house, cottage)
  • vend, venna: vennake (little brother)
  • sõber, sõbra: sõbrake (dear friend)
  • raamat, raamatu: raamatuke (booklet)

Some words add -u- before the suffix: laps, lapsuke (little child); laev, laevuke (little ship). A few adjectives take it too: kallike (darling), vanake (old dear).

How it declines. The suffix behaves like the ending of inimene: the genitive ends in -kese, the partitive in -kest, the plural in -kesed.

  • majake or majakene, majakese, majakest
  • majakeses (in the little house), majakesega (with the little house), majakesed (little houses)

Meaning. Most often it sounds warm and loving: Tule siia, lapsuke. It can also make something sound small or unimportant: paar raamatukest (just a couple of slim books). Some diminutives are everyday words of their own, such as hetkeke (a moment): Oota hetkeke!

Examples (6)

  1. Metsa ääres oli väike punane majake.

    There was a little red cottage at the edge of the forest.

    maja + -ke.

  2. Oota hetkeke!

    Wait a moment!

    hetk, hetke + -ke; a very common everyday phrase.

  3. Tule siia, lapsuke.

    Come here, little one.

    laps takes -u- before -ke: lapsuke.

  4. Mu vennake on alles kolmeaastane.

    My little brother is only three.

    vend, venna + -ke: vennake.

  5. Nad elavad väikeses majakeses mere ääres.

    They live in a little cottage by the sea.

    Before a case ending the stem is -kese-: majakeses.

  6. Ta andis mulle väikese raamatukese.

    She gave me a little booklet.

    raamatukese is the genitive, used here for a whole object.

Common Mistakes

  • Using -ket instead of -kest in the partitive.

    Ma nägin väikest majaket.
    Ma nägin väikest majakest.

    The suffix declines like inimene, whose partitive is inimest. So the partitive is majakest.

  • Adding -ke to the nominative stem.

    Mu vendke on kolmeaastane.
    Mu vennake on kolmeaastane.

    The suffix joins the genitive stem: vend, venna, vennake.

  • Adding a case ending straight to -ke.

    Ta mängib majakega.
    Ta mängib majakesega.

    Case endings go on the stem -kese-, just like inimesega: majakesega.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Diminutive (-ke)Level 4

Learn This First

-ke declines like a -ne word.

Words in This Pattern

-ke-kene