The Fourteen Cases
Where English says "in", "from" or "with", Estonian adds an ending: maja (house), majas (in the house), majast (out of the house), sõbraga (with a friend).
How It Works
A case is a form of a noun that shows its job in the sentence. Estonian has fourteen. Here they are with maja (house):
- Basic cases: nominative maja (a house), genitive maja (of the house), partitive maja (used for partial objects and after numbers). For maja these three look the same, but for most words they differ: raamat, raamatu, raamatut.
- Inner place cases: illative majasse or majja (into), inessive majas (in), elative majast (out of).
- Outer place cases: allative majale (onto, to), adessive majal (on, at), ablative majalt (off, from).
- Other cases: translative majaks (into, becoming), terminative majani (up to), essive majana (as), abessive majata (without), comitative majaga (with).
The good news: the endings are regular and do not change for gender. Most of them are added to the genitive form. For sõber (friend) the genitive is sõbra, so you get sõbras, sõbrale, sõbraga. The stem can change between forms, which is why dictionaries give each noun's key forms. See the key forms of a noun and consonant gradation.
In the plural, the same endings follow -de- or -te-: majades (in the houses).
Start with the nominative, then the genitive and partitive, then the six place cases. See inner and outer local cases. The last four cases (-ni, -na, -ta, -ga) are used less often and have a special rule for adjectives. See adjectives in the last four cases.
Examples (6)
- Maja on suur.
The house is big.
Word by Word: House is big.
Nominative: the basic form, used for the subject.
- Me oleme majas.
We are in the house.
Word by Word: We are house-in.
Inessive -s: in.
- Kass jookseb majast välja.
The cat runs out of the house.
Word by Word: Cat runs house-out-of out.
Elative -st: out of.
- Raamat on laual.
The book is on the table.
Word by Word: Book is table-on.
Adessive -l: on.
- Ma lähen sõbraga kinno.
I'm going to the cinema with a friend.
Word by Word: I go friend-with cinema-into.
Comitative -ga: with. Kinno is a short illative of kino (cinema).
- Ta sai arstiks.
She became a doctor.
Word by Word: She got doctor-into.
Translative -ks: becoming something.
Common Mistakes
Leaving out the case ending, as if Estonian had prepositions.
Ma elan Tallinn.Ma elan Tallinnas.Estonian shows "in" with the ending -s, so you must say Tallinnas (in Tallinn).
Adding an ending to the nominative instead of the genitive stem.
Ma tulen sõberga.Ma tulen sõbraga.Most case endings attach to the genitive form. The genitive of sõber is sõbra, so "with a friend" is sõbraga.
How It Connects
Related Patterns
- Nominative (Basic Form)
Start with the basic form used for subjects.
Level 1 - Genitive (Owner Form)
Learn the owner form, which is also the base for most other cases.
Level 1 - Partitive (Part Form)
Learn the partial form, one of the most used cases.
Level 1 - Inside vs On and At
See how the six place cases are organized.
Level 1 - Key Forms of a Noun
Learn the key forms that let you build every case.
Level 2 - Adjectives with -ni, -na, -ta, -ga
See the special rule for the -ni, -na, -ta and -ga cases.
Level 3
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice The Fourteen Cases in Bubblegum
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