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Reference

The fourteen cases

Fourteen endings. Three you learn by heart, and eleven you can work out.

How the cases work

One word, eleven endings

You learn three forms of a word by heart. Every other case is one of those three with an ending stuck on, and it's the same ending for every word in the language.

  • raamatusseinto
  • raamatusin
  • raamatustout of

Practice these in the app, on words you are learning, with every answer marked. Sign in, it’s free

raamatu
le
onto
  • raamatulon
  • raamatultoff
  • raamatuksbecoming
  • raamatuniup to
  • raamatunaas
  • raamatutawithout
  • raamatugawith
  • Build a wordPick a word, meet the three forms you learn by heart, then add the other eleven endings one at a time. Each comes with what it means and a real sentence that uses it.

    Three to memorize

    You learn these three with each new word, because no rule gives them to you. The second one matters most: every ending below is added to it.

    • memorizedthe plain wordThe word as the dictionary lists it, and whoever is doing the action.nimetav (1st form), kes? mis?, who? what?
    • memorizedof, and whoseWhose something is. It's also the base the other eleven endings go onto.omastav (2nd form), kelle? mille?, whose? of what?
    • memorizedsome of itSome of something, an action that isn't finished, and anything after a number.osastav (3rd form), keda? mida?, whom? what? (some of it)

    Inside

    -sse, -s, -st

    Into, in and out of. For boxes, buildings and towns, and for languages, months and moods too.

    • -sseintoGoing into something: a room, a new language, a bad mood.sisseütlev (-sse, into), kellesse? millesse? kuhu?, into whom? into what? where to?
    • -sinBeing inside something, and being in a month, a language or a mood.seesütlev (-s, in), kelles? milles? kus?, in whom? what is it in? where?
    • -stout ofComing out of something, and also what a book or a chat is about.seestütlev (-st, out of), kellest? millest? kust?, about whom? out of what? where from?

    On top

    -le, -l, -lt

    Onto, on and off. For tables and shelves, for people, and for how Estonian says someone has something.

    • -leonto, and to a personGoing onto a surface, and the person you give something to.alaleütlev (-le, onto/to), kellele? millele? kuhu?, to whom? onto what? where to?
    • -lon, at, and haveBeing on something, and how Estonian says somebody has something.alalütlev (-l, on/at/has), kellel? millel? kus?, who has it? what is it on? where?
    • -ltoff, and from a personComing off a surface, and the person you get something from.alaltütlev (-lt, off), kellelt? millelt? kust?, from whom? off what? where from?

    Five more, one job each

    -ks, -ni, -na, -ta, -ga

    Becoming, up to, as, without and with. No puzzles here: each ending is one simple idea.

    • -ksbecomingTurning into something, what a thing is for, and by when.saav (-ks, becoming), kelleks? milleks?, becoming who? becoming what?
    • -niup toAs far as some point: a place, a moment or an amount.rajav (-ni, until), kelleni? milleni?, up to whom? up to what?
    • -naasIn the role of something, usually for now rather than forever.olev (-na, as), kellena? millena?, as who? as what?
    • -tawithoutWithout something. The exact opposite of "with", the next one down.ilmaütlev (-ta, without), kelleta? milleta?, without whom? without what?
    • -gawithWith a person, with a tool, and how you got somewhere.kaasaütlev (-ga, with), kellega? millega?, with whom? with what?

    Estonian verbs have just two tenses

    A present and a past. Two more are made with a helper verb, the way English says “have done”. Mood, voice and person are separate switches on top, so you describe any form by saying how each switch is set.

    tenseaeg
    Two tenses the verb makes by itself, for now and before, and two more built with "to be", like "have done". There's no future among them.
    moodkõneviis
    Are you stating it, imagining it, telling someone to do it, or passing on something you only heard? School grammars count four moods, each with its own endings, and some reference books count five.
    voicetegumood
    Whether the sentence says who did it. It looks like the English passive but works differently, so keep the two apart.
    personpööre
    Six persons, each with its own verb ending, so "I" and "you" can often be left out. "He", "she" and "they" usually stay.

    Beyond the endings

    44 points

    Grouped by the kind of word they're about, in the order a course would teach them.

    The verbpöördsõna

    Now and before, "have done" and "had done", and the forms for polite requests, orders and hearsay.

    • To be, and having thingsolema-verb
    • Talking about nowolevik
    • Saying noeitus
    • Saying what happenedlihtminevik
    • Done, and it still matterstäisminevik-nud
    • Done before something elseenneminevik-nud
    • Talking about the futuretulevik
    • Would, could, shouldtingiv kõneviis-ksi-
    • Telling somebody to do itkäskiv kõneviis
    • Passing on what you heardkaudne kõneviis-vat
    • Said without naming whoumbisikuline tegumood-takse
    • Verb words that describe thingskesksõnad-nud
    • The -nud formmineviku kesksõna-nud
    • The -des formdes-vorm-des
    • The two infinitivestegevusnimed-ma
    • Verbs with a small word in frontühendverbid
    • Finished or notaspekt

    Words that take endingskäändsõna

    Nouns, adjectives and numbers: how they change, and how much of a thing you mean.

    • Whole thing, or part of itsihitis
    • Adjectives copy their nounühildumine
    • Comparing thingskeskvõrre-m
    • The mostülivõrre

    The sentencelause

    How sentences join up, what a verb demands after it, and where the commas go.

    • Verbs that demand an endingrektsioon
    • Word ordersõnajärg
    • Joining clauseskõrvallaused
    • Which and who
    • Reporting what somebody said

    Sounding like a personkeelekasutus

    The part no rule covers: which of three correct ways to say something fits the moment.

    • Politeness
    • Reading the room
    • Words that go together
    • Idiom
    • Irony
    • Choosing between near-synonyms

    The singular endings go on the omastav (2nd form), and the plural ones on the mitmuse omastav (2nd form, plural). If the dictionary has no mitmuse omastav for a word, its table shows a gap rather than a guess.

    Numbers and what follows them
    arvsõnad
  • Words that change in the middleastmevaheldus
  • Building words from wordssõnamoodustus-mine
  • Turning a clause into a thing-mine
  • Granting a point
  • Probably, rather than definitely
  • Holding a text together
  • Emphasis
  • Questions that aren't really questions
  • Where the commas gokirjavahemärgid
  • Nobody speaks the textbook
  • Saying whenajamäärused
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