South Estonian (Võro and Seto)

Level 6

In Võro, maq tulõ-õiq means ma ei tule (I'm not coming). Endings follow the vowels of the word, and q marks a short catch in the throat.

How It Works

South-eastern Estonia is home to Võro (võro kiil') and Seto. They grew from old South Estonian. Standard Estonian grew from the northern dialects, so these varieties can be hard to follow at first. Võro has its own written standard, and the newspaper Uma Leht (Our Own Paper) is written in it.

Three features stand out:

  • Vowel harmony: a word has either front vowels (ä, ö, ü) or back vowels (a, o, u, õ), and endings follow suit. Võro külä = küla (village), küsünüq = küsinud (asked), hõbõhõnõ = hõbedane (silver). Place names on bilingual signs show it too: Urvastõ for Urvaste, Rõugõ for Rõuge.
  • Glottal stop q: a short catch in the throat, written q. It appears in plurals (latsõq = lapsed, children), in -nud forms (küsünüq) and even in pronouns (maq = ma, saq = sa). It is not a k sound.
  • Negation after the verb: instead of ei before the verb, a particle follows it. maq tulõ-õiq = ma ei tule; maq tulõ-õs = ma ei tulnud.

The vocabulary differs too: South Estonian mõskma means pesema (to wash), and Võro kiil' is keel (language).

Seto is close to Võro. The Seto area lies on both sides of the Estonian–Russian border, and its polyphonic singing, Seto leelo, is on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage (2009).

You do not need to speak Võro or Seto. Aim to recognise them: when q, vowel harmony or -õiq appear, you are reading South Estonian, not a misspelled standard text.

Examples (5)

  1. Maq tulõ-õiq.

    I'm not coming.

    Võro. Standard Estonian: Ma ei tule.

  2. Maq tulõ-õs.

    I didn't come.

    Võro. Standard Estonian: Ma ei tulnud.

  3. Latsõq mässässiq terve õdagu.

    The children romped around all evening.

    Võro. Standard Estonian: Lapsed madistasid terve õhtu. The plural subject and the verb both end in q.

  4. külä, küsünüq, hõbõhõnõ

    village, asked, silver (adjective)

    Võro forms of küla, küsinud and hõbedane. The endings follow the vowels of the stem.

  5. Uma Leht ilmub võru keeles.

    Uma Leht is published in Võro.

    Standard Estonian sentence about the Võro-language newspaper; uma is Võro for oma (own).

Common Mistakes

  • Putting a Võro place-name form into a standard sentence.

    Me sõitsime eile Rõugõsse.
    Me sõitsime eile Rõugesse.

    Bilingual signs show the Võro name Rõugõ, but a standard Estonian sentence uses the standard name Rõuge and declines it: Rõuges, Rõugesse.

How It Connects

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

South Estonian (Võro and Seto)Level 6

Learn This First

Võro and Seto are introduced with regional speech.

Words in This Pattern

setosetovõrusetu