Estonian/Nouns
The Estonian language includes declension, in which the role of nouns and adjectives in text is shown by their case. Here is a full list of the 14 cases used in Estonian with examples in singular:
| # | Name (eng) | Name (est) | Example noun (singular) | Question (inanimate) |
Example adjective (singular) | Question | Positional | Non-Positional | Derived from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Nominative | Nimetav (naming) | see (this) | mis? | selline (like this) | missugune? milline? |
- | subject | - |
| II | Genitive | Omastav (owning) | selle | mille? | sellise | missuguse? millise? |
- | having-determiner whole |
- |
| III | Partitive | Osastav (partitive) | seda | mida? | sellist | missugust? millist? |
- | direct object partitive |
- |
| IV | Illative | Sisseütlev (into-saying) | sellesse | millesse? | sellisesse | missugusesse? millisesse? |
into | - | II |
| V | Inessive | Seesütlev (in-saying) | selles | milles? | sellises | missuguses? millises? |
in | - | II |
| VI | Elative | Seestütlev (out-of-saying) | sellest | millest? | sellisest | missugusest? millisest? |
out of | - | II |
| VII | Allative | Alaleütlev (onto-field-saying) | sellele | millele? | sellisele | missugusele? millisele? |
onto | dative/giving | II |
| VIII | Adessive | Alalütlev (on-field-saying) | sellel | millel? | sellisel | missugusel? millisel? |
on | having | II |
| IX | Ablative | Alaltütlev (off-of-field-saying) | sellelt | millelt? | selliselt | missuguselt? milliselt? |
off of | taking | II |
| X | Translative | Saav (becoming) | selleks | milleks? | selliseks | milliseks? missuguseks? |
- | - | II |
| XI | Terminative | Rajav (establishing) | selleni | milleni? | selliseni | missuguseni? milliseni? |
up to/until | - | II |
| XII | Essive | Olev (being) | sellena | millena? | sellisena | missugusena? millisena? |
as | - | II |
| XIII | Abessive | Ilmaütlev (without-saying) | selleta | milleta? | selliseta | missuguseta? milliseta? |
without | - | II |
| XIV | Comitative | Kaasaütlev (with-saying) | sellega | millega? | sellisega | missugusega? millisega? |
with | - | II |
Each form of each noun or adjective can only be in one case at a time. A single case can have many different uses. The endings of the last four cases are memorized with the mnemonic "ninataga" (behind the nose).
Pronouns
Estonian pronouns have long and short forms. Here are the singular Estonian pronouns in the first three cases:
| English | Nominative | - short | Genitive | - short | Accusative | - short |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | mina | ma | minu | mu | mind | - |
| you (singular) | sina | sa | sinu | su | sind | - |
| he/she | tema | ta | tema | ta | teda | - |
| we | meie | me | meie | me | meid | - |
| you (plural) | teie | te | teie | te | teid | - |
| they | nemad | nad | nende | nad | neid | - |
First Estonian words
Vocabulary
Pronunciation is written according to Pronunciation respelling key
- ja [ee-a] - and
- laps [ləps] - child
- mees [me-s] - man
- naine [NAEYE-ne] - woman
- poiss [poyss] - boy
- tüdruk [TEW-druk] - girl
- õun [own] - apple
- toit [toyt] - food
Phrases
Here are some phrases that do not include verbs.
Words that are in forms that haven't been learned yet are in bold and can be hovered over to reveal their meaning and case. The meaning of the entire phrase can be revealed by clicking on Translation.
- Mehe ja naise laps
The man and woman's child
A man's and a woman's child
- Lapse õun
The child's apple
A child's apple
- Naine, laps ja õun
Woman, child and apple
- Poisi ja tüdruku toit
The boy's and girl's food