-nuks / -nuvat

Literary One-Word Past Forms

Level 6

Take the -nud form and change -nud to -nuks or -nuvat. tulnuks means oleks tulnud (would have come). tulnuvat means olevat tulnud (is said to have come).

How It Works

Estonian normally builds these two past forms with olema + -nud. Literary style can squeeze each of them into one word:

  • Conditional past: oleks tulnud = tulnuks (would have come)
  • Reported past: olevat tulnud = tulnuvat (is said to have come)

How to make them. Start from the -nud form and change -nud to -nuks or -nuvat: söönud → söönuks, söönuvat; teinud → teinuks, teinuvat; olnud → olnuks, olnuvat.

Person endings. -nuks can take the same endings as the conditional: (ma) teinuksin, (sa) teinuksid, (ta) teinuks, (me) teinuksime, (te) teinuksite, (nad) teinuksid. Like the short conditional, the bare form teinuks can also stand with a pronoun. -nuvat has no person endings: ma teinuvat, nad teinuvat.

Negative. ei tulnuks = poleks tulnud. ei tulnuvat = polevat tulnud.

Where you meet them. -nuks is common enough in novels, essays and journalism: Kui ma oleksin teadnud, tulnuksin varem. -nuvat is much rarer. Both spread with the language reform of the 1910s and 1920s. In conversation, use the two-word forms.

Watch the time. These are past forms. For what would happen now or later, use the ordinary conditional: tuleksin (I would come), not tulnuksin (I would have come).

Examples (6)

  1. Kui ma oleksin teadnud, tulnuksin varem.

    If I had known, I would have come earlier.

  2. Ilma sinuta ei saanuks me hakkama.

    Without you we would not have managed.

  3. Parem olnuks koju jääda.

    It would have been better to stay at home.

  4. Seda ei uskunuks keegi.

    Nobody would have believed that.

  5. Ta sõitnuvat eile Tartusse.

    He is said to have driven to Tartu yesterday.

  6. Kuningas elanuvat sada aastat.

    The king is said to have lived a hundred years.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding oleks to a form that already contains it.

    Ma oleksin tulnuks varem.
    Ma tulnuksin varem.

    -nuks already means oleks + -nud. Use either oleksin tulnud or tulnuksin, not both.

  • Using -nuks for something that has not happened yet.

    Kui mul oleks homme aega, tulnuksin kindlasti.
    Kui mul oleks homme aega, tuleksin kindlasti.

    tulnuksin means I would have come, about the past. For now or the future, use the present conditional tuleksin.

How It Connects

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

-nuks / -nuvatLevel 6Literary One-Word Past Forms

Learn This First

These one-word forms are reform forms for known tenses.