Kloie's thread for questions

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ainurakne
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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby ainurakne » 2019-01-22, 6:19

Linguaphile wrote:
Please give me some apples.

This is where the different variables kind of mess with each other, it's-nominative-because-it's-imperative but it's-partitive-because-it's-some and if I stop and think about it too much it really messes with my brain. :mrgreen: Let's wait for someone else to sort out these apples. In the meantime, let's ask for one at a time (anna mulle õun!) or specify how many or how much (anna mulle kolm õuna! anna mulle kaks kilo õuna!) :mrgreen:
(Seriously though. I found other examples, like anna mulle leiba "give me some bread" and anna mulle särke, "give me some shirts." The first one uses partitive singular and the second one uses partitive plural. I found almost no examples involving apples, so I'm either doing it wrong, or Estonians never ask for apples. If I say palun anna mulle õuna!, will I end up with an undefined quantity of apples, or with just part of an apple, like a small slice or the core and the stem perhaps? Õunu? How about anna mulle mõned õunad?)
Palun anna mulle õunu!

Or if you want to be more explicit, then Palun anna mulle mõned õunad!
Or if you want to be more precise, then Palun anna mulle natuke õunu!, Palun anna mulle paar* õuna! etc...

Palun anna mulle õuna!
I think this mostly deals with apple(s) as a substance rather than discrete pieces. It could be pretty much anything from one or more apples to one or more pieces/slices of apple(s), or even a mashed lump of apple-y substance.


* paar õuna - this means here "couple of apples"; a pair of apples would be paar õunu or üks paar õunu.
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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby kloie » 2019-01-22, 17:59

How do we express the present continuous in estonian?
How do i say I'm taking a stroll in the park?

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby ainurakne » 2019-01-22, 20:58

kloie wrote:How do we express the present continuous in estonian?
How do i say I'm taking a stroll in the park?
We don't.

In case of an action with an object, partitive object may refer to an ongoing action. Otherwise it usually depends on the context. Or you could add some words that refer to the ongoing moment.

I would say just: Jalutan pargis.
Optionally I could add for example "praegu" (right now, at the moment) somewhere in the sentence: Jalutan pargis praegu.; Jalutan praegu pargis.; Praegu jalutan pargis.
Or even: Olen pargis. Jalutan.

You could also use the -mas form of the verb: Olen pargis jalutamas.
But this is usually used to indicate relative present (to some other action), being in a state of doing something or being at a place doing something, rather than actual present continuous.
So don't just blindly translate English present continuous to Estonian -mas form. It will feel awkward and out of place most of the time.
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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby kloie » 2019-01-23, 3:49

What are the relative pronouns in estonian?
And how do i say The book that I've bought is boring?

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby Linguaphile » 2019-01-23, 5:46

kloie wrote:What are the relative pronouns in estonian?


Some of them are:
That/which: mis (and case forms mida, mille, millega, millele, etc.)
Which: milline (millise, millist, millisega, etc.)
When: millal and mil
Who: kes (keda, kelle, kellega, kellele, etc.)
Where: kus (kust, kuhu)

kloie wrote:And how do i say The book that I've bought is boring?

Raamat, mille ma ostsin, on igav.

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby kloie » 2019-01-23, 9:50

Isn't boring-tüütu?
And can i say raamat mille olen ostnud on tüütu?

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby kloie » 2019-01-23, 10:04

How do i say I read/ have read the newspaper?
Lugesin ajalehe?

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby Linguaphile » 2019-01-23, 14:44

kloie wrote:Isn't boring-tüütu?
And can i say raamat mille olen ostnud on tüütu?

Igav is the kind of boring that seems monotonous and doesn't keep your interest; tüütu is the kind of boring that really annoys you (it can also meaning "annoying, tedious, bothersome" etc). Sometimes the two words can also be used together: igav ja tüütu raamat "a boring and tedious/tiresome book". I don't think I would normally use tüütu to describe a book personally. (Maybe if I were forced to read the book and really found it a chore to do so?)

kloie wrote:How do i say I read/ have read the newspaper?
Lugesin ajalehe?

Ma lugesin ajalehe [läbi]. / Ma olen ajalehe [läbi] lugenud.
= I read the newspaper (I've finished, I've read the whole thing) / I have read...

Ma lugesin ajalehte. / Ma olen ajalehte lugenud.
= I read the newspaper (part of it), I was reading the newspaper / I have read....

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby kloie » 2019-01-23, 15:58

What's the difference between juhtima autot and sõitma autoga?

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby Linguaphile » 2019-01-24, 0:57

kloie wrote:What's the difference between juhtima autot and sõitma autoga?


autot juhtima = to drive a car (technically it means something like "to lead the car"; you can use juhtima for leading people, projects, animals and other things too, so think of it as "to lead" or maybe "to direct")
Ma juhin autot = I drive the car (emphasis is on the fact that I'm the one behind the wheel)
Ma juhin bussi = I drive the bus (I'm the bus driver)
Ma juhin laeva = I drive the boat (I pilot/steer the boat)
But these are not especially common (see below).

autoga sõitma = to drive a car; ride in a car; travel by car; go by car (sõitma basically means to go from one place to another but not on foot. You could be the driver, or a passenger. Either way, you are not walking!)
Ma sõidan autoga = I travel by car, I go by car
Ma sõidan bussiga = I travel by bus, I go by bus
Ma sõidan laevaga = I travel by boat, I go by boat

Autoga sõitma is more commonly used than autot juhtima. You'd mainly only use autot juhtima if you wanted to emphasize who was driving (and actually, even for that there are other ways to say it, like roolis olema "to be at the wheel"). If you just want to say "I drove to work this morning," you'd use sõitma. Plus you can say sõidan oma autoga (I travel by my own car), and then it will usually be assumed that you're the one driving it.

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby kloie » 2019-01-25, 18:14

Are the nominative,genitive and partitive the most used cases?

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby Linguaphile » 2019-01-25, 19:38

kloie wrote:Are the nominative,genitive and partitive the most used cases?

Yes... or at least I would assume they are. They are the three grammatical cases. The other eleven cases are all semantic cases, mostly locative (they tell where something is, where it's going or where it's coming from, for example). And with the exception of some "short illative" forms, they are formed by adding the case ending to the genitive form. So the three cases you mentioned are both the most important to learn and the most difficult to learn. Once you know those three forms, the other eleven cases come easily.

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby kloie » 2019-01-26, 20:19

How do i say i have to take the kids to school/ drop the kids off at school?

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby Linguaphile » 2019-01-26, 22:36

kloie wrote:How do i say i have to take the kids to school/ drop the kids off at school?

Ma pean lapsed kooli viima, although there may be a more colloquial way to say it :?:

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby kloie » 2019-01-27, 11:38

What does paistsid veel lahkuva rongi punased tuled mean?

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby Linguaphile » 2019-01-27, 18:48

kloie wrote:What does paistsid veel lahkuva rongi punased tuled mean?

It is saying that the red lights of the departing train were still shining, or were still visible.

paistsid = third person plural past tense of paistma (to shine, gleam, appear, seem)
veel = still, yet
lahkuva rongi = genitive singular of lahkuv rong (departing train)
punased tuled = nominative plural of punane tuli (red light)

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby kloie » 2019-01-27, 23:28

How do i say The car crashed into a telephone pole?

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby Linguaphile » 2019-01-28, 0:04

kloie wrote:How do i say The car crashed into a telephone pole?


Well, I think this is what often happens:

Auto sõitis telefoniposti pikali. = The car crashed into a telephone pole and knocked it over. (lit. car drove telephone-pole prone)

But you can also say:
Auto sõitis vastu telefoniposti. = The car crashed into a telephone pole. (lit. car drove against telephone-pole) without mentioning what happened to the pole.

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby kloie » 2019-01-28, 0:35

So i can't say Auto kukkus telefonipostile?
How do i say She lost her balance and fell into the rive.?

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Re: Kloie's thread for questions

Postby Linguaphile » 2019-01-28, 0:57

kloie wrote:So i can't say Auto kukkus telefonipostile?

I'm not a native speaker but to me, that sounds as though the car fell from above onto the telephone pole.

kloie wrote:How do i say She lost her balance and fell into the river.?

Ta kaotas tasakaalu ja kukkus jõkke.


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