Plural Genitive (-de/-te)

Level 2

The plural genitive ends in -de or -te: majade (of the houses), raamatute (of the books), laste (of the children).

How It Works

The plural genitive does the same jobs as the singular genitive, but for more than one:

  • owners: laste mänguasjad (the children's toys)
  • with postpositions: majade vahel (between the houses), sõprade juures (at friends' place)
  • as the base of the plural cases: majade → majades, majadele

The ending is -de or -te. The singular partitive gives a useful rule of thumb:

  • If the partitive ends in a vowel or in -d, the plural genitive usually has -de: maja → majade, kooli → koolide, jalga → jalgade, maad → maade, tööd → tööde.
  • If the partitive ends in -t, the plural genitive usually has -te: raamatut → raamatute, last → laste, inimest → inimeste, uut → uute.

There are exceptions, such as kõnet → kõnede and autot → autode, and some words change their stem: tuba → tubade, sõber → sõprade, lumi → lumede. That is why dictionaries list the plural genitive as a key form.

Some compounds start with a plural genitive: lasteaed (kindergarten, literally 'children's garden').

Examples (6)

  1. Laste mänguasjad on põrandal.

    The children's toys are on the floor.

    Laste shows plural owners.

  2. Majade vahel on väike park.

    There is a small park between the houses.

    The postposition vahel follows the plural genitive.

  3. Õpilaste arv kasvab.

    The number of students is growing.

  4. Me olime nädalavahetusel sõprade juures.

    We were at our friends' place at the weekend.

    Sõber has a changed stem in sõprade.

  5. Tema lapsed käivad lasteaias.

    Her children go to kindergarten.

    Lasteaed starts with the plural genitive laste.

  6. Inimeste arvamused on erinevad.

    People's opinions differ.

Common Mistakes

  • Choosing -de where the word takes -te.

    Õpilasede arv kasvab.
    Õpilaste arv kasvab.

    The partitive of õpilane is õpilast, which ends in -t, so the plural genitive is õpilaste.

  • Building the plural genitive from the nominative.

    Lapsede mänguasjad on põrandal.
    Laste mänguasjad on põrandal.

    Laps has the short plural genitive laste. Learn it as a key form.

  • Choosing -te where the word takes -de.

    Majate vahel on park.
    Majade vahel on park.

    Maja has a partitive with no ending, so its plural genitive takes -de.

How It Connects

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Plural Genitive (-de/-te)Level 2

Learn This First

The plural genitive extends the plural.

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Patterns that build on this one.