Help me with Estonian!!!!

[Demona]

Thank you for your help

Needer Help

my email is stegue@libero.it

I have registered an account, so from now Needer Help is Ronni

Welcome =]
feel as if at home !

[Demona]

Happy to have you in our team, maybe this forum will be a future
Estonian forum ?

are you sure we need that?!

[SubEspion]

I do not think to an Estonian forum at all but I was only an idea but it
cans be a good forum for people who need help in Estonian like the
German forum in French...

[Guest]

Hi all,

I just wanted to ask how many cases does Estonian language have?

[didine]

Hi all,

I just wanted to ask how many cases does Estonian language have?

14 (see previous page).

He's a translation of the names of the cases.

nimetav - nominative
omastav - genitive
osastav - partitive
sisseütlev - illative
seesütlev - inessive
seestütlev - elative
alaleütlev - allative
alalütlev - adessive
alaltütlev - ablative
saav - translative
rajav - terminative
olev - essive
ilmaütlev - abessive
kaasaütlev - comitative

[Guest]

Err .. yes, I saw the previous page but I couldn't believe my eyes I thought it was the whole list of cases for both singular and plural ...

Since you've been of assistance until now, can you please explain me in some way the usage of 14 cases? I can presume the nominative, genitive and cases (supposedly) comparable to Latin, but the rest of them?

Thanks a lot

[didine]

Here's a non-exhaustive list of examples.

Nimetav / Nominative (who, what)
See poiss elab Tallinnas. This boy lives in Tallinn.
Me oleme üliõpilased. We're students.

Omastav / Genitive (whose + object in some cases)
See on õe raamat. It's the sister's book.
Ma ostsin uue mantli. I bought a new coat.

Osastav / Partitive (what (part) + object in some cases + object in negative sentences)
Mul ei ole venda. I don't have a brother.
Klassis on 21 tüdrukut. There are 21 girls in the class.
rühm õpilasi - a group of students

Sisseütlev / Illative (into what, where to)
Läheme sööklasse. We're going to the canteen.
Sõidan homme Tartusse. I'm going to Tartu tomorrow.

Seesütlev / Inessive (where)
Olin kogu päeva kodus. I was at home all day.
Aastas on kaksteist kuud. There are twelve months in a year.

Seestütlev / Elative (where from, what about)
Me tulime täna Narvast. We came from Narva today.
Keegi ei tea temast midagi. No-one knows anything about that.

Alaleütlev / Allative (onto what, to whom)
Pane raamat lauale. Put the book on the table.
Saadan tädidele kirju. I send letters to my aunts.

Alalütlev / Adessive (on what, expression of possession)
Raamatud on laudadel. The books are on the tables.
Mul on kaks venda. I have two brothers.

Alaltütlev / Ablative (from the surface of what, from whom)
Võtke laudadelt raamatud. Take the books from the tables.
Sain sõbralt kirja. I got a letter from a friend.

Saav / Translative (change into something)
Ma tahan saada psühholoogiks. I want to become a psychologist.
Ta jäi kurvaks. He got sad.

Rajav / Terminative (until)
Me jalutasime metsani. We walked up to the forest.
Ootame homseni. We'll wait until tomorrow.

Olev / Essive (state)
Ma olen töötanud trammijuhina. I've worked as a tram driver.
Kolleegina on see naine suurepäine. As a colleague, she's a great woman.

Ilmaütlev / Abessive (without)
Ärge käige talvel mütsita. Don't go out without a cap in winter.
Talvel ei saa läbi ilma soojade jaltsiteta. You won't get through the winter without warm shoes.

Kaasaütlev / Comitative (with, means)
Kas te soovite kohvi suhkruga? Do you want coffee with sugar?
Me sõidame linnas trammiga. We get about in town by tram.

[didine]

Note that Finnish has 15 cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, partitive, inessive, elative, illative, adessive, ablative, allative, essive, translative, abessive, comitative, instructive.

There are different assumptions about the exact number of cases in Hungarian. Most say there are 19: nominative, accusative, dative-genitive, instrumental, essive-modal, translative, causal-final, illative, sublative, allative, inessive, superessive, adessive, elative, delative, ablative, terminative, formal, temporal.

[didine]

Kolmapäeval sõitis Jüri linna - Yuri went to the town on Friday

Isn't it rather Wednesday?

[Demona]

Kolmapäeval sõitis Jüri linna - Yuri went to the town on Friday

Isn't it rather Wednesday?

it certainly is. feel better now? heh

[tobias]

@Demona,

I agree - by no means was I suggesting one should learn Finnish to have easier access to Estonian. (hmmmm ...why not learning Estonian to have it easier later when learning Finnish ) - I personally just find it less frustrating when I understand why some rules have exceptions. Although I speak Finnish, learning Estonian has been difficult, especially where words look the same but sometimes have even opposite or completely different meanings, and one thinks one has undestood something - and in fact hasn't .

The real challenge has been with Estonians themselves - as they love to talk back in English or Finnish... but I guess that is due to my terrible Estonian

I can recommend following links
http://www.eki.ee/books/ekkr/ and http://www.eki.ee/index.html.en. Excellent pages for language learners!

tervitades
Sami

[Demona]

@Demona,

I agree - by no means was I suggesting one should learn Finnish to have easier access to Estonian. (hmmmm ...why not learning Estonian to have it easier later when learning Finnish ) - I personally just find it less frustrating when I understand why some rules have exceptions. Although I speak Finnish, learning Estonian has been difficult, especially where words look the same but sometimes have even opposite or completely different meanings, and one thinks one has undestood something - and in fact hasn't .

The real challenge has been with Estonians themselves - as they love to talk back in English or Finnish... but I guess that is due to my terrible Estonian

I can recommend following links
http://www.eki.ee/books/ekkr/ and http://www.eki.ee/index.html.en. Excellent pages for language learners!

tervitades
Sami

hello,

well, maybe, it does make it easier with the exception, but as you have pointed out with the words: they look the same but mean different things.... (just as it happens in French and English <-----urgh...i hate that! ). isn`t that going to make things even more complicated? besides if, for example, Finnish is not your native lg and you learn Estonian....well i just think that there is a possibility of having two unperfect languages which you wont be confident to use... does that make any sense? *tired*
though, i hope you did get my point =]

Estonians just love to answer back in English/Finnish as soon as they spot that you are not a native ....what do you want? all have to practise their language skills

Regards,
Demona

[tobias]

Hi - that is exactly my point - stick to one language - but however it always helps to build up the understanding of a language once you know the history or some developments of it - like Latin and the romanic languages - you can do without Latin and learn French or Spanish - but having studied Latin it will surely help! - So - once more - I was just trying to make that point - hope you got me now... --- tired too ---

...On the other hand I did not find it a little irritating, when Estonians just wanted to practise their own language skills - how can they expect foreigners to learn Estonian and be interested in Estonian life and culture if attempts to speak their own language just get bluntly pushed aside... Fortunately not all of them show that attitude :-)

[Demona]

Hi - that is exactly my point - stick to one language - but however it always helps to build up the understanding of a language once you know the history or some developments of it - like Latin and the romanic languages - you can do without Latin and learn French or Spanish - but having studied Latin it will surely help! - So - once more - I was just trying to make that point - hope you got me now... --- tired too ---

Hello,

sure i did get your point =]

...On the other hand I did not find it a little irritating, when Estonians just wanted to practise their own language skills - how can they expect foreigners to learn Estonian and be interested in Estonian life and culture if attempts to speak their own language just get bluntly pushed aside...
Fortunately not all of them show that attitude :-)

true, not all. but the tendency exists =] just as in other languages i must say....eh....life is life