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Spoken Estonian (eesti kõnekeel)

12/30/2015

In spoken Estonian, especially in informal, fast speech, many words are shortened. This can make spoken language difficult to understand for people who have learned Estonian from textbooks.
Here are some examples of words which are frequently pronounced differently in fast speech.

Numbers
The word kümmend is often shortened to kend, and the letter h between two vowels is often dropped (with or without a change to the vowel sounds):
Kaeksa = kaheksa
Üeksa = üheksa
Öeksa = üheksa
Kend = kümmend
Kakskend = kakskümmend
Kolmkend = kolmkümmend
Viiskend = viiskümmend
Kaheksakend = kaheksakümmend
Üheksakend = üheksakümmend
Öeksakend = üheksakümmend

Past tense verbs
In fast speech, some sounds (frequently le, t or i) are dropped in the past tense:
Jõuds = jõudis
Leids = leidis
Murds = murdis
Mõts = mõtles
Mõtsin = mõtlesin
Ossin = ostsin
Tahsin = tahtsin
Tõssin = tõstsin
Üts = ütles
Ütsin = ütlesin

Past participles
The -nud ending can become -nd (or other sounds such as t, k) can be dropped):
Lasnud = lasknud
Old = olnud
Olnd = olnud
Osnud = ostnud
Pold = polnud
Rääkind = rääkinud
Käind = käinud
Läind = läinud
Tahnud = tahtnud
Tulnd = tulnud

Adverbs
Adverbs, especially those ending in -lt, often get shortened:
Aint = ainult
Kinlasti = kindlasti
Lissalt = lihtsalt
Lissat = lihtsalt
Prakselt = praktiliselt
Tõenäst = tõenäoliselt
Tegelt = tegelikult

Ea and ää
Ea can become ää (this is also a common change in the southern dialects, and, for some words, acceptable even in written language). Ae and äe also sometimes change to ää, and in fast speech sometimes e sounds like ä:
Hää = hea
Kääs = käes
Lähäb = läheb
Nääd = näed
Präägu = praegu
Pää = pea
Pääl = peal
Pääv = päev
Sääl = seal
Vähä = vähe

Diphthongs
Some other diphthongs are changed into single (long or short) vowels; usually this means that the second vowel sound disappears:
Sel = seal
Pel = peal
Peb = peab
Lääb = läheb
Kääb = käib
Vä = või
Kõge = kõige
Ku = kui
Kudas = kuidas
Kudagi = kuidagi
Kule = kuule
Mudugi = muidugi
Nääteks = näiteks
Teene = teine
Öölda = öelda
Võõbolla = võib-olla
Tõõsti = tõesti

Just one sound
Some common words are shortened in fast speech so that they sound like a single sound (vowel or consonant):
a = aga
e = ei
i = ei
m = ma
n = on

Common words and phrases
Some common phrases run together as if they are a single word, and some common words are shortened:
A = aga
Maitia = ma ei tea
Mitteriti = mitte eriti
Mitterilist = mitte erilist
Nongi = nii ongi
Sedet = seda, et
Taegaa = head aega
Trommikust = tere hommikust
Trõhtust = tere õhtust

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Negative sentences, and some Tammsaare (eitussõnad)

12/26/2015

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Estonian has a wide variety of words to use when making a statement negative. These words may or may not be accompanied by the actual word for "no" (ei). In other words, if you do not know these words, it can be difficult to tell the difference between a positive statement in Estonian and a negative one... they are not words to be ignored, because they literally change the meaning of a sentence to its opposite.
Examples given below come from book one of A. H. Tammsaare's five-part epic, "Tõde ja õigus".

ei

pole

mitte

ega

ära,
ärge

eba-

teps

alles

Ei means "no". Unlike some of the other Finnic languages, Estonian does not conjugate this word; it's always ei.
Examples:
Sinu raha ma ei taha. = I don't want your money.
Töö on töö, leib on leib, ei põlga ühte ega teist. = Work is work and bread is bread; I don't sneer at either one.
Seda mulda ei kaeva keegi ei päiva- ega aastapalgaga. = This earth was not simply shoveled for a day's pay or a year's pay.

Pole means the same as ei ole; in other words, "it isn't", "it's not", or "they aren't". Etymologically, it comes from the phrase ep ole, where ep is an older conjugated form of ei (third person singular).
Examples:
See pole naiste töö lehma soost välja vedada. = Pulling a cow out of the marsh isn't women's work.
Kivi, mille põllult korjad või mööda lauda vankrile veeretead, polegi nagu kivi. = The stones he scooped from the field and rolled onto planks in the wagon were no ordinary stones.

Mitte means "not", "non", or "not one". Etymologically, it is related to the word mis ("what").
Examples:
Kehalt kõhnavõitu, mitte pikk. = He was on the skinny side, not tall.
Aga nagu mees mehega, mitte nagu saunamees peremehega. = Just man to man, not cottager against master.

Ega means "nor", "not either" or "not also"; in other words, it is the negative form of the word "and" or "also" (samuti mitte; ja ei).
Ega loom rumal ole, küll ta teab, kuhu ta läheb. = Animals aren't stupid - they know where to go. (This is a great example, because ega is used here on its own; it's the only indication that the sentence is negative.) A more literally translation might have said "And animals aren't stupid..."
Need ei anna ju piima ega võid. = They don't give milk or butter. In this example, and in the following examples, ega is used along with ei.
Töö on töö, leib on leib, ei põlga ühte ega teist. = Work is work and bread is bread; I don't sneer at either one.
Seda mulda ei kaeva keegi ei päiva- ega aastapalgaga. = This earth was not simply shoveled for a day's pay or a year's pay.

Ära is used to give a negative command in the sina-form. If you are using the teie-form, it changes to Ärge.  Both words mean "don't."
Examples:
Võia võid peale, ära paljalt söö, pühade aeg. = Put some butter on it, don't eat it plain - this is a holiday.
"Ärge talle haiget tehke," palus perenaine tagant järele. = "Don't hurt her," the mistress pleaded as they left.
"Ää ole nii ebausklik," manitses Andres. = "Don't be so superstitious," Andres warned. (Ää  is an older, very colloquial form. In regular speech or writing this would normally be "Ära ole nii ebausklik," manitses Andres.)

Eba is a prefix which is used in much the same way as the prefixes "un-", "dis-", or "ab-" in English. It makes the root word negative, or forms an opposite.
Examples:
"Mitte ammu, mõne päeva eest," vastas Mari ebamääraselt. = Not long ago. A few days," anwered Mari evasively.
"Ää ole nii ebausklik," manitses Andres. = "Don't be so superstitious," Andres warned.
In both of these examples, the prefix eba- reverses the meaning of the previous word (määraselt, usklik). Other examples for eba, which show the negative form more clearly, include ebareaalne (unreal) and ebanormaalne (abnormal). Note that ebausk means "superstition" (the opposite of usk "faith, religion"), while umbusk means "disbelief" (the opposite of usk "belief".

Teps means "not at all"; it is usually used along with other negative words. It comes from an older phrase, mitte eps, although (as with pole from ep ole) the original phrase has disappeared completely; in modern language a common phrase is teps mitte.
Examples:
Ja meie ei või teile teps midagi teha, et oleks teile õieti tehtud. = And there's nothing we can do to you, which is only right.
Sina ei pea mitte hunti paluma, vaid valvake ja paluge, et teps ei tuleks kiusatus. = Do not pray to the wolf, but guard your son to keep him from temptation. (Here the word teps isn't even translated, but it adds emphasis: "no temptation at all".

Alles has various meanings, including "yet," "only", and "still". It is therefore not technically a negative word, but it is included in this list because, even when it has a positive meaning in Estonian (as it does in the examples from Tammsaare below), it can sometimes require a negative statement in the English translation.
Examples:
Alles nüüd katsuti lehma jalule ajada. = Only then did they try to shove the cow up onto her feet. Literally, it means "not until now did they try to drive the cow to her feet". [Implied: they didn't try before that.]
Soo on ju alles külm. = The marsh is still cold. [Implied: it won't be cold in the future.]
Oled alles noorukene. = You're still young. [Implied: you won't be young in the future.]
The examples from Tammsaare above do not fully show how alles can be used with a negative meaning; a better example might be Suvesoe tuleb alles mai lõpust, "warm summer weather won't come until the end of May" or "warm summer weather comes only at the end of May and not before." Alles mai doens't mean "until May"; it means "not until May" or "not before May". Avatud alles kell 14.00 doesn't mean "open until two o'clock", it means "not open until two o'clock", in other words "closed until two o'clock"; this is where it's helpful to recognize the "negative" translation of alles. (When discussing times, it can help to think of it as a synonym for alates: "starting from").

Sources (allikad):
Eesti etümoloogiasõnaraamat; Tõde ja õigus I by A. H. Tammsaare (1974 edition); and Truth and Justice: Andres and Pearu, translated by Inna Feldback and Alan Peter Trei (2015 edition).

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Käeosad (hands and their parts)

12/16/2015

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Vocabulary for describing hands:

Move the cursor over the image to see the words! Viige hiirekursori pildi peale sõnade nägemiseks!

The words are listed below in the nominative (nimetav), genitive (omastav) and partitive (osastav) singular cases.

Hand (singular)
Hand (plural)

Arm (singular)
Arm (plural)
Forearm
Upper arm
Elbow

Finger (singular)
Fingers (plural)
Thumb
Index finger
Middle finger
Ring finger
Little finger / pinky

Palm
Wrist
Knuckle
Fingernail

Käsi / Labakäsi
Käed / Labakäed

Käsi / Käsivars
Käed / Käsivarred
Küünarvars
Õlavars
Küünarnukk

Sõrm
Sõrmed
Pöial
Esimene sõrm
Keskmine sõrm
Nimetu sõrm
Väike sõrm

Peopesa
Ranne
Sõrmenukk
Küüs

Käe /Labakäe
Käte / Labakäte

Käe / Käsivarre
Käte / Käsivarte
Küünarvarre
Õlavarre
Küünarnuki

Sõrme
Sõrmede
Pöidla
Esimese sõrme
Keskmise sõrme
Nimetu sõrme
Väikese sõrme

Peopesa
Randme
Sõrmenuki
Küüne

Kätt / Labakätt
Käsi / Labakäsi

Kätt / Käsivart
Käsi / Käsivarsi
Küünarvart
Õlavart
Küünarnukki

Sõrme
Sõrmi / Sõrmesid
Pöialt
Esimest sõrme
Keskmist sõrme
Nimetut sõrme
Väikest sõrme

Peopesa
Rannet
Sõrmenukki
Küünt

Image source (pildi allikas): Wikimedia Commons and interactive vocabulary made with Thinglink.

Note: the word käsi means both "hand" and "arm". If you want to refer to the hand specifically, you can say labakäsi; to refer to the arm specifically, you can say käsivars. The arm between the hand and elbow can be called küünarvars (forearm); the arm between the elbow and shoulder is õlavars (upper arm). "Elbow"is küünarnukk. The general word käsi works just fine for all parts of the hand and arm when you don't need to be that specific.
There is also an older synonym for käsi, käbar (plural käbarad), which is sometimes used in place of käsi, particularly in colloquial speech and older expressions. Like käsi, it means both "hand" and "arm".

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Spoken Estonian (eesti kõnekeel)

Negative sentences, and some Tammsaare (eitussõnad)

Käeosad (hands and their parts)

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Spoken Estonian﻿ (eesti kõnekeel)

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Spoken Estonian (eesti kõnekeel)

Negative sentences, and some Tammsaare (eitussõnad)

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