Small Letters for Days and Nations

Level 1

Estonian uses small letters for days, months, nationalities and languages: Täna on esmaspäev. (Today is Monday.)

How It Works

Small letter

  • Days: esmaspäev, teisipäev, kolmapäev, neljapäev, reede, laupäev, pühapäev (see Days with -l)
  • Months: jaanuar, veebruar, märts, aprill, mai, juuni, juuli, august, september, oktoober, november, detsember (see Months and Seasons)
  • Nationalities and people from a town: eestlane, soomlane, venelane, tallinlane (see Nationality Words)
  • Languages: eesti keel, inglise keel (see Language Names)
  • Holidays: jõulud (Christmas), jaanipäev (Midsummer Day)

Capital letter

  • Countries and towns: Eesti, Soome, Tallinn, Tartu
  • People's names: Mari, Jaan
  • The first word of a sentence: Esmaspäeval töötan kodus. (On Monday I work at home.)

Eesti or eesti? The same word can be written both ways. With a capital, it means the country: Eesti lipp (the flag of Estonia), Eesti pealinn (the capital of Estonia). With a small letter, it refers to the Estonian people or language: eesti keel, eesti kirjandus (literature by Estonians, in Estonian). Other countries work the same way: Soome (Finland), but soome keel (Finnish).

Examples (6)

  1. Täna on esmaspäev.

    Today is Monday.

  2. Minu sünnipäev on mais.

    My birthday is in May.

    mai becomes mais, with a small letter.

  3. Ta on eestlane, aga elab Soomes.

    He is Estonian, but he lives in Finland.

    eestlane has a small letter. Soome, the country, has a capital.

  4. See on Eesti lipp.

    This is the flag of Estonia.

    Eesti has a capital because it means the country.

  5. Laupäeval sõidan Tartusse.

    On Saturday I am going to Tartu.

    Laupäeval has a capital only because it starts the sentence. Tartu is a town.

  6. Me räägime kodus eesti keelt.

    We speak Estonian at home.

Common Mistakes

  • Capitalizing a day of the week.

    Näeme Esmaspäeval!
    Näeme esmaspäeval!

    Days of the week start with a small letter unless they begin the sentence.

  • Capitalizing a nationality.

    Ma olen Eestlane.
    Ma olen eestlane.

    Words for peoples start with a small letter: eestlane, soomlane, venelane.

  • Writing the country with a small letter.

    Ma elan eestis.
    Ma elan Eestis.

    Eesti is the name of the country, so it takes a capital in every case form.

How It Connects

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

Small Letters for Days and NationsLevel 1

Learn This First

Capitalisation is learned once days and nationality words are known.