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Understanding grammar is key to achieving fluency in any language, and our Estonian Grammar Section is designed to make this process clear and approachable. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced learner, this section provides comprehensive explanations and practical examples to help you grasp the rules and structures of Estonian grammar.

Our step-by-step approach ensures that you build a strong grammatical foundation, allowing you to speak, write, and understand Estonian with confidence. As you progress through the lessons, you’ll gain the skills needed to express yourself accurately and effectively in any situation.

Our goal is to make learning Estonian grammar intuitive and engaging. Each section comes with examples, explanations, and practical tips to help you apply what you learn in real-life conversations.

• Nouns: Gender, Number, and Cases

• Definite and Indefinite Articles

• Adjectives: Agreement and Placement

• Pronouns: Personal, Possessive, and Demonstrative

• Verbs: Present Tense

• Verbs: Past Tense

• Verbs: Future Tense

• Subjunctive Mood

• Passive

• Prepositions and Their Cases

• Adverbs and Their Usage

• Sentence Structure and Word Order

• Negation

• Questions

• Relative Clauses and Conjunctions

Estonian Alphabet and Pronunciation

Pronunciation

In Albanian, the writing and pronunciation correspond with each other.

Special characters

There are two special characters:

• «ç» corresponds to 'tch' , e.g. 'match'

• «ë» corresponds to a closed 'e' similar to 'oyster' or the sound in Oi (ɔɪ) (BE)

Sounds, consisting of two letters:

• «dh» corresponds to 'th' (voiced), e.g. in 'they'

• «gj» is to be pronounced at the same time (simultaneously) «g+j»

• «g» like in 'garage'; «j» is pronounced like the «y» in 'year'

• «ll» corresponds to «l» , e.g. English 'bill'

• «nj» corresponds to the Spanisch letter «ñ» ('eh-nyeh'), e.g. in 'Señor'

• «rr» is pronounced like a rolling «r» (at least) double tonguing

• «sh» is similar to English «sh», it corresponds to 'sh' (unvoiced), e.g. 'shoe'

• «th» corresponds to the English «th» (unvoiced), e.g. 'thunder'

• «xh» is pronounced like a voiced «j» e.g. 'jeans'

• «zh» corresponds to the sound «sh» (voiced), e.g. 'garage'

Stressing

• In words ending on a vocal, the penultimate syllable is stressed

• Words ending on a consonant, the last syllable is stressed

Estonian Grammar

Gender

In Estonian, nouns do not have grammatical gender. This means there is no distinction between masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns, and adjectives or other modifiers do not need to agree with nouns based on gender. For example:

• mees (man) and naine (woman) are simply nouns, with no gender implications for grammar.

This feature makes Estonian easier to learn compared to gendered languages like German or French.

Number: Singular and Plural

Estonian nouns have two numbers: singular and plural. The plural form is created by modifying the stem of the noun, often involving changes to the word's ending.

For example:

• raamat (book) becomes raamatud (books).

• laps (child) becomes lapsed (children).

The plural form is used with specific case endings, so learners must pay attention to both the base form of the plural and its changes across cases.

Cases in Estonian

Estonian has a robust case system with 14 grammatical cases, each serving a specific function in the sentence. Cases determine the role of a noun, such as whether it is the subject, object, or shows possession, direction, or location.

Here are some of the most commonly used cases:

1. Nominative (Basic Form): The default form used for the subject.

   • raamat (book)

2. Genitive (Possession): Indicates possession or relationships.

   • raamatu (of the book)

3. Partitive: Expresses partial objects, ongoing actions, or indefinite quantities.

   • raamatut (some of the book or a book)

4. Illative: Shows movement into something.

   • raamatusse (into the book)

5. Inessive: Indicates being inside something.

   • raamatus (in the book)

6. Elative: Indicates movement out of something.

   • raamatust (out of the book)

Other cases include the allative (onto something), ablative (from onto something), terminative (up to a point), and more, each adding precision to meaning and function.

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