Estonian compound words are usually made of two nouns, the first one in the nominative (nimetav) or genitive (omastav) case, the second one in the nominative (nimetav) case. Compound words in Estonian are often creative and descriptive. Some of the more interesting and descriptive compound words include: pesu (wash) + karu (bear) = pesukaru (washbear) raccoon kilp (shield) + konn (frog) = kilpkonn (shieldfrog) turtle jõe (river) + hobu (horse) = jõehobu (riverhorse) hippopotamus nina (nose) + sarvik (horn) = ninasarvik (nosehorn) rhinoceros raud (iron) + tee (road) = raudtee (ironroad) railroad pistik (plug) + pesa (nest) = pistikupesa (plugnest) outlet
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For those not yet familiar with the Estonian case system, don't panic. You don't actually have to memorize 75 forms of the word "eighty", or of any other word. But it is true that there are 75 forms of the word "eighty"*. Here's how: there are 14 cases in Estonian. Each case has a singular and plural form, making 28 total. The numbers, in addition, have cardinal (one, two, three) and ordinal (first, second, third) forms, which makes two sets of 28. That makes 56, but in some cases there are more than one possible form. For the word "eighty" (or for any similar number word), many plural cases have two forms, and the total is 75 forms. On the bright side, there are fairly consistent rules to how cases are formed, so for most words you can form the all the other cases by learning only three forms (nominative, genitive, and partitive). *Why did I choose the number eighty? Because it's the one I encountered recently that was giving me trouble. I was trying to figure out the adessive plural of the ordinal number; in other words, I wanted to say "in the eighties". No, English doesn't use the ordinal number for this, but Estonian does: it means "in the eightieth (years)." By the way, the correct form for "in the eighties" is kaheksakümnendatel.
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 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".
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).
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.
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".
Basic vocabulary for things in the kitchen:
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) cases.
Image source (pildi allikas): Wikimedia Commons and interactive vocabulary made with Thinglink.
Yesterday I wrote about the words for the eight directions used in Estonian and related Finnic languages. An interesting aspect of these words is that although all of the Finnic languages have them, there are many words for which the meaning has shifted by forty-five degrees in some of the languages. This is believed to be due to differing weather conditions in different regions around the Baltic Sea; wind and other weather conditions were used to determine direction rather than the stars. (Some of the Karelian words still include the word for "wind", tuuli, along with the direction: pohjatuuli, lounaštuuli.)
All of the Finnic languages have in common related words for "north": Estonian (standard and most dialects, including Võru): põhi Votic: põhja Finnish: pohjoinen Ingrian: pohja Ludic: pohď Livonian: pūoj Veps: pohjoine Viena Karelian: pohjoine South Karelian: pohjońi Tver Karelian: pohjatuuli Aunuse Karelian: pohďaine Estonian's word for "northeast," kirre, is rather unique, shared only with Ingrian and Votic. The other Finnic languages have words for "northeast" as well, but they aren't etymologically related to Estonian's word kirre. Estonian (standard, but not some of the dialects): kirre Ingrian: kirre Votic: cirre The Finnish word is koillinen, related to Viena Karelian's koilińi, South Karelian's koiľľińi, and Aunuse Karelian's koiľľińe. Estonian's word for "east," ida, is shared by many other Finnic languages. However, it some of these other languages its meaning is "northeast" rather than "east". Estonian (standard, but not some of the dialects): ida, meaning: east Estonian (Lüganuse dialect): ida, meaning: northeast Estonian (Kihnu dialect): idä, meaning: northeast Votic: itä, meaning: east Finnish: itä, meaning: east Ingrian: itä, meaning: east Livonian: idā, meaning: northeast The Estonian word for "southeast," kagu, is shared by only a few of the Finnic languages, and means "southeast" in all of them (no meaning shifts here): Estonian (standard and some of the dialects): kagu Estonian (Lüganuse dialect): kakko Votic: kaako Ingrian: kaakkoi Finnish: kaakko The Estonian word for "south," lõuna, has many shifts in meaning; in some Finnic languages it means "south," in others "southeast," and in others "southwest": Estonian (standard, but not some of the dialects): lõuna, meaning: south Estonian (Lüganuse dialect): lõunet, meaning: south Estonian (Kihnu dialect): lõona, meaning: southeast Võru: lõunõq, meaning: south Votic: lõunaz, meaning: south Finnish: lounas, meaning: southwest Ingrian: lounaz, meaning: south Livonian: lȭnag, meaning: southeast Viena Karelian: lounaštuuli, meaning: southwest South Karelian: lounaštuuli, meaning: southwest Tver Karelian: louna, meaning: southwest Aunuse Karelian: lounaine , meaning: southwest The Estonian word for "southwest," edel, means either "south" or "southwest" in other Finnic languages: Estonian (standard, but not some of the dialects): edel, meaning: southwest Estonian (Lüganuse dialect): ädal, meaning: southwest Estonian (Kihnu dialect): edäl, meaning: south Votic: etelä, meaning: southwest Finnish: etelä, meaning: south Ingrian: etteelä, meaning: southwest Livonian: jedāl, meaning: south Veps: ehtbok, meaning southwest The Estonian word for "west," lääs, similarly means either "west" or "southwest" in other Finnic languages: Estonian (standard, but not some of the dialects): lääs, meaning: west Estonian (Lüganuse dialect): läns, meaning: west Estonian (Kihnu dialect): liäs, meaning both south and southwest Estonian (Muhu dialect): leas, meaning southwest Votic: länsi, meaning: west Finnish: länsi, meaning: west Ingrian: läns, meaning: west Livonian: lēņtš, meaning: southwest Last but not least, Estonian's word for "northwest", loe, means either "west," "northwest", or, in some cases, both: Estonian (standard, but not some of the dialects): loe, meaning: northwest Estonian (Lüganuse dialect): loode*, meaning: northwest Estonian (Kihnu dialect): luõdõ, meaning: northwest Võru: loodõh, meaning: northwest Votic: looõ, meaning: northwest Finnish: luode, meaning: northwest Ingrian: looe, meaning: northwest Ludic: luodeh, meaning west Livonian: lūod, meaning: northwest Veps: lodeh, meaning both west and northwest Viena Karelian: luoteh, meaning both west and northwest South Karelian: luodeh, meaning west, and luueh, meaning northwest Aunuse Karelian: luodeh, meaning both west and northwest Sources (allikad):
Eesti etümoloogiasõnaraamat Väike murdesõnastik Eesti murrete sõnaraamat UIT Sátnegirjjit and related sites Netidigisõnad and Nettidigisanat Az égtájnevek vizsgálata a karjalai nyelvjárásokban Image source (pildi allikas): Jimpaz via Wikimedia Commons. Most languages have words for the four cardinal directions (north, east, south west), and use these words in compounds to create the four inter-cardinal directions (northeast, northwest, southwest, southeast). Languages which have eight distinct and unrelated words for both sets of directions are few and far between. Estonian is one of those few that does. Many of the other languages that do have eight distinct words for the directions are related to Estonian: Finnish, Ingrian, Karelian, Livonian, Ludic, Veps, and Votic. In addition to the Finnic languages, Breton and Sanskrit also have eight unrelated words for the eight directions. (Interestingly, the Breton word for "south", kreisteiz, also means "noon," just as the Estonian word for south lõuna does.) Indonesian and Malaysian have a specific word for southeast, tenggara, but use the words for east (timur) and west (barat) in the words for southwest, northwest, and northeast (barat daya, barat laut, and timur laut). Most other languages of the world simply combine the words for the four cardinal directions to create the other four directions between them, like English does. English: northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest. Spanish: noreste, sureste, suroeste, noroeste. French: nord-est, sud-est, sud-ouest, nord-ouest. German: Nordosten, Südosten, Südwesten, Nordwesten. Swedish: nordost, sydost, sydväst, nordväst. Russian: северо-восток, юго-восток, юго-запад, северо-запад. Chinese: 东北,东南,西南,西北. Estonian: kirre, kagu, edel, loe. Finnish: koillinen, kaakko, lounas, luode. compass directions: Estonian and Finnish / ilmakaared: eesti ja soome. Image source (pildi allikas): Jimpaz via Wikimedia Commons. The eight directions in Estonian are: põhi (north), kirre (northeast), ida (east), kagu (southeast), lõuna, (south), edel (southwest), lääs (west), and loe (northwest).
Several of these words (notably kirre, lääs, and loe) have significant changes in other case forms, so I will list the relevant forms below. North: nimetav ainsus (nominative singular): põhi omastav ainsus (genitive singular): põhja osastav ainsus (partitive singular): põhja osastav mitmus (partitive plural): põhju / põhjasid Northeast: nimetav ainsus (nominative singular): kirre omastav ainsus (genitive singular): kirde osastav ainsus (partitive singular): kirret osastav mitmus (partitive plural): kirdeid East: nimetav ainsus (nominative singular): ida omastav ainsus (genitive singular): ida osastav ainsus (partitive singular): ida osastav mitmus (partitive plural): idasid Southeast: nimetav ainsus (nominative singular): kagu omastav ainsus (genitive singular): kagu osastav ainsus (partitive singular): kagu osastav mitmus (partitive plural): kagusid South: nimetav ainsus (nominative singular): lõuna omastav ainsus (genitive singular): lõuna osastav ainsus (partitive singular): lõunat osastav mitmus (partitive plural): lõunaid Southwest: nimetav ainsus (nominative singular): edel omastav ainsus (genitive singular): edela osastav ainsus (partitive singular): edelat osastav mitmus (partitive plural): edelaid West: nimetav ainsus (nominative singular): lääs omastav ainsus (genitive singular): lääne osastav ainsus (partitive singular): läänt osastav mitmus (partitive plural): lääsi Northwest: nimetav ainsus (nominative singular): loe omastav ainsus (genitive singular): loode osastav ainsus (partitive singular): loet osastav mitmus (partitive plural): loodeid If Estonians of the past had been the ones to influence international cartography, the maps we use today might have been considered upside down. Putting north at the top of a map and south at the bottom is now universal. But, historically and linguistically, it was the other way around for Estonian-speakers: "north" was associated with "down," not "up". The word põhi (põhja) means "north" as well the "bottom" of something. In compounds it can also mean "fundamental" or "primary," something which serves as the basis for something. This is true in Finnish as well: pohja means both "bottom" or "base", pohjoinen and pohjois mean "north", and Pohjola means both the "northlands" and, in Finnish mythology, "the Underworld". Some of the Estonian words and phrases that use põhi and põhja with the meaning of "bottom, base, floor" or "fundamental, base" include: põhi (põhja) = north, bottom, basis merepõhi = seafloor orupõhi = valley floor põhjavesi = ground water topeltpõhi = false bottom põhjani = completely, to the end põhjast põhjani = thoroughly, from top to bottom põhjani tungima = to get to the bottom of põhja jõudma = to bottom out põhimik = substrate põhikool = primary school, elementary school põhiliselt = fundamentally, basically põhiline = essential, primordial The world lõuna means "south," and also refers to "midday" or "noon". (Although an argument could be made that this is the time when the sun is highest in the sky, and therefore the opposite of põhi "base, bottom," it's also the time when sun is farthest south in the Northern Hemisphere: the opposite of põhi "north".) Interestingly, "lounas" in Finnish also means "noon," but in terms of directions it refers to "southwest," not "south"; and in Livonian the cognate "lȭnag" (lõõnag) means "southeast." (More on the eight directions of the Finno-Ugrian world in another post.) "Noon" or "midday" in modern Estonian is more commonly "keskpäev," but the word lõuna is still commonly found in other words and phrases referring to noontime: lõuna = south, noon, midday pärastlõuna = afternoon pealelõuna = afternoon enne lõunat = before noon lõunasöök = lunch, midday meal lõunat sööma = to eat lunch lõunastama = to dine, to eat lunch lõunavaheaeg = lunch break Sources (allikad): the many dictionaries available at Keeleveeb.ee
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