Lessons for English speakers

Learn to read Estonian

A short, active path into reading Estonian: four new vowel letters and nine real words decoded before anything is explained, endings where English has little words, the verb that never changes after ei, and two short stories before your first book.

13 core sections · ≈ 33 min + 3 optional lookups · ≈ 46 min with everything

Endings where English has little words

≈ 3 min

What you'll learn

Estonian has almost no words for in, into, out of, on, to, from. The noun takes an ending instead.
Six endings cover what the two stories need: -s -sse -st for inside, -l -le -lt for on and at.
The ending hangs on a stem that can differ from the dictionary word: metsmets → metsaMET-sah.
Having is done with the on-ending: mul onmool ohn is “I have”, literally “on me is”.
Recognise the front of the word and read the ending; you never have to build one.

English puts the little word in front: in the forest. Estonian puts it on the back: metsasMET-sahs. A grammar book lists fourteen such endings; six carry almost every sentence in a fable.

Three endings for inside, three for on and at

Ending	What it does	Example
-s	in, inside	metsasMET-sahs“in the forest”
-sse	into	metsasseMET-sahs-seh“into the forest”
-st	out of, from	metsastMET-sahst“out of the forest”
-l	on, at	puulpoohl“on the tree”
-le	onto, to	puulePOOH-leh“onto the tree”
-lt	off, from	puultpoohlt“off the tree”

Read them as three questions and their two answers: where at, where to, where from. The inside set is for being within something; the on-set is for surfaces, places and — as the have-example shows — for people who have things.

The stem the ending hangs on

metsmets“forest”

metsa-MET-sah

a vowel appears

rebaneREH-bah-neh“fox”

rebase-REH-bah-seh

the n turns into an s

lindlind“bird”

linnu-LIN-noo

the middle of the word changes shape — this is the one that catches readers

puupooh“tree”

puu-pooh

and plenty do not change at all

I have a house.

Mul on maja.

mool ohn MAH-yah

Estonian has no verb for have. It says mul onmool ohn — “on me is” — with the on-ending stuck to the person: mul I have, sulsool you have, taltahl he or she has. A name takes it too: Daral on nälg.DAH-rahl ohn nalg“Dara is hungry.” — literally “on Dara is hunger”.

Read the ending, not a preposition

Ta tuleb metsast.
Which inside-ending is on the end?
Show answer +Hide answer −
Ta tuleb metsast.tah TOO-leb MET-sahst“He comes out of the forest”
Lind on puul.
A surface, not an inside.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Lind on puul.lind ohn poohl“The bird is on the tree”
Mul on sõber.
Estonian has no verb for this.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Mul on sõber.mool ohn SUH-ber“I have a friend”