Elative (-st)

Level 1

The elative (seestütlev) adds -st and means "out of" or "from": Ma tulen poest (I am coming from the shop).

How It Works

1. Form
Add -st to the genitive stem:

  • pood → poe → poest (from the shop)
  • Eesti → Eestist (from Estonia)
  • külmkapp → külmkapi → külmkapist (out of the fridge)
  • kino → kinost (from the cinema)

2. Uses

  • Out of a place: Võta piim külmkapist. With tulema: Ma tulen poest.
  • Where someone is from: Ta on pärit Eestist. (She is from Estonia.)
  • Topic: Räägi mulle filmist! Me räägime ilmast. See elative for topics.
  • With certain verbs: Ma ei saa sellest aru. (I don't understand it.) See verbs that take the elative.

3. Inner vs outer "from"
The elative is the "from" of the inner cases (-sse, -s, -st). For surfaces, people and places that take -l, use the ablative -lt instead: laualt (off the table), sõbralt (from a friend), töölt (from work).

Later you will also meet the elative in comparisons (mehest pikem, taller than the man; see comparison with the elative) and for materials (puust, made of wood).

Examples (6)

  1. Ma tulen poest.

    I am coming from the shop.

    Word by Word: I come from-shop.

    pood → poe → poest.

  2. Ta on pärit Eestist.

    She is from Estonia.

    Word by Word: She is originating from-Estonia.

  3. Räägi mulle filmist!

    Tell me about the film!

    Word by Word: Tell to-me from-film!

    The elative marks the topic of talking.

  4. Võta piim külmkapist.

    Take the milk out of the fridge.

    Word by Word: Take milk from-fridge.

    külmkapp → külmkapi → külmkapist.

  5. Me räägime ilmast.

    We are talking about the weather.

    Word by Word: We talk from-weather.

  6. Ma ei saa sellest aru.

    I don't understand it.

    Word by Word: I not get from-it understanding.

    aru saama always takes the elative.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding -st to the dictionary form when the stem changes.

    Ma tulen poodist.
    Ma tulen poest.

    The ending goes on the genitive stem poe, so "from the shop" is poest.

  • Using the elative for getting something from a person.

    Ma sain kirja sõbrast.
    Ma sain kirja sõbralt.

    For receiving from a person, use the ablative -lt. Sõbrast would mean "about a friend".

  • Using the inner "from" with places that take -l.

    Ma tulen tööst.
    Ma tulen töölt.

    töö uses the outer cases: tööl, tööle, töölt. So "from work" is töölt.

How It Connects

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

Elative (-st)Level 1

Learn This First

The elative is the from-member of the inner set.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.