The words the two stories are made of

Words for the outdoors, and the three animals

The two stories are built out of this short list. Say each one aloud once as you read down the columns.

mägiMA-gi“hill” is worth a second look: its stem is mäe-MA-eh, so on the hill is mäelMA-ehl and onto the hill is mäeleMA-eh-leh. It is also the hill the fables at the end of this path are named for.

The question words

These words open a question. Recognising one tells you what is being asked before you follow the rest of the sentence.

Look at the last three: kus, kuhu, kust ask exactly the three questions the place endings answer — where at, where to, where from — and two of them even end in the same letters as their ending, -s and -st.

The small words that hold a story together

Small words join sentences, say when something happened, and answer yes or no. They repeat constantly, so they pay to know on sight.

aitäh is the everyday thank you, spoken and written alike, and one of the few Estonian words that does not lean on its first beat. tänanTA-nahn — “I thank” — is the formal, written-sounding one. ei is both the answer no and the word that denies a verb, which the verbs section puts to work.

Three you have met before

No hints on the first two — you decoded them near the start.

1. öö
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   ööurr“night”
2. päike
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   päikePAY-keh“sun”
3. Kuhu? or Kus? — which one asks where somebody is going?

   The -s of kus is the -s of metsas — where at.

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   Kuhu?KOO-hoo“Where to?” — Kus?koos asks where something already is.
   Estimated A2. A2Add