Language/Standard-estonian/Grammar/Basic-Sentence-Structure
In this lesson, you will learn about the basic sentence structure in Estonian. Estonian being a Finno-Ugric language, it is different from English and Germanic languages, and this knowledge is essential to understand and construct sentences in Estonian. You will learn about subject-verb-object order, how to form simple sentences and basic questions using common verbs and nouns.
Estonian Sentence Structure
Estonian sentences follow the subject-verb-object (SVO) order:
- the subject comes first
- the verb comes second
- the object comes last
For example:
- "Ma söön õuna." (I eat an apple.) - subject: I, verb: eat, object: an apple.
This order gives a clear indication of who is doing the action, what the action is, and what is the object receiving the action. In Estonian, the word order can change based on the context of the sentence, making it flexible to use.
Simple Sentences
A simple sentence contains a subject and a predicate. The predicate can be either a verb or a verb plus an object.
Forming a Simple Sentence
To form a simple sentence in Estonian, you should:
1. Start with the subject 2. Add the verb to the subject 3. Add the object to the sentence (if necessary)
For example:
- "Tom sööb pirukat." (Tom eats a pie.) - subject: Tom, verb: eat, object: a pie.
Note that if the subject is a personal pronoun, it is not necessary to use it because the verb conjugation indicates the subject. For instance, "Mina joon veini" (I drink wine) can be simplified to "Joon veini" (Drink wine).
Verb Conjugation
In Estonian, verbs are conjugated based on the tense and the subject. Verbs in Estonian have three people in the singular and plural form. These are:
- 1st person: the speaker (mina)
- 2nd person: the listener (sina)
- 3rd person: everyone else (ta, tema)
Each verb has two infinitive forms - the dictionary form and the partitive form. The most commonly used form in Estonian is the dictionary form.
For example, the verb "sööma" (to eat) has the following conjugation in the present tense:
| Pronoun | Present Tense Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Mina | söön |
| Sina | sööd |
| Ta / tema | sööb |
| Meie | sööme |
| Teie | sööte |
| Nad / nemad | söövad |
Using Negation in Simple Sentences
To form a negative sentence in Estonian, the word "ei" is added before the verb.
For example, "Tom ei söö pirukat" (Tom doesn't eat a pie).
Interrogative Sentences
In Estonian, the word order in a question changes, and the auxiliary verb "kas" is used at the beginning of the sentence.
For example, "Kas Tom sööb pirukat?" (Does Tom eat a pie?)
The word "kas" is not necessary for a yes or no question. In informal conversations, it's common to use only intonation to indicate a question.
For example, "Tom sööb pirukat?" (Does Tom eat a pie?)
Word Order in Question Sentences
In questions, the word order changes to verb-subject-object (VSO) order:
- the auxiliary verb comes first
- the subject comes second
- the verb comes last
For example, "Kas Tom sööb pirukat?" (Does Tom eat a pie?) - auxiliary verb: does, subject: Tom, verb: eat, object: a pie.
Practice
Here are some example sentences to practice the basic sentence structure in Estonian:
- Tom joob teed. (Tom drinks tea.) - subject: Tom, verb: drinks, object: tea.
- Ma kuulan muusikat. (I listen to music.) - subject: I, verb: listen, object: music.
- Kas sa mõistad mind? (Do you understand me?) - auxiliary verb: do, subject: you, verb: understand, object: me.
- Lapsed mängivad palli. (The children play ball.) - subject: the children, verb: play, object: ball.
Conclusion
In this lesson, you learned about the basic sentence structure in Estonian, including subject-verb-object order, how to form simple sentences and basic questions using common verbs and nouns. You also learned how to conjugate verbs in the present tense, make negative sentences, and form interrogative sentences. Keep practicing to become comfortable with constructing simple sentences in Estonian. In the next lesson, we will learn about common greetings in Estonian.