Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Speaking Estonian

Vabandage. I am sorry.
Ma ei räägi eesti keelt. I don't speak Estonian.

But I am trying. Every week I have over 2 full hours of eesti keel. It's enjoyable, but I don't think I'll ever really be able to do much beyond say hello and goodbye, please and thank you, and perhaps use the correct change in the market when the clerk says "kakssada viiskümmend seitse." That's two-hundred fifty-seven. Kaks (2) sada (hundred) viis (5) kümmend (turns the word for 5 into 50) seitse (7).
I struggle mightily to understand the differences between me, you, them (no he or she) in both plural and singular form, and how every verb changes depending on who I am talking about. For example, "I study Estonian language" is:
Ma õpin eesti keelt.
You (singular, specifically you) study Estonian is:
Sa õpib eesti keelt.
They study (specifically them, those people right there):
Ta õpib
and of course, the plurals of the above, in the same order are:
Me õpime
Te õpite
Nad õpivad

So far the verb "study" has 6 forms. Don't even ask about studied or studying. In fact, there is no continuous tense, so you can't say studying exactly.

Another fun fact to know and share: unlike English, the object in an Estonian sentence is a different form. In English, "Tom killed the tiger" is not the same at all as "the tiger killed Tom." However, in Estonian, "Tom tappis tigri" is exactly the same as "tiigri tappis Tom," because tiigri is the object form of the noun for tiger.

Vabandage.

2 comments:

  1. Hello,

    My name is Der-Liang Yung, and I m a prospective student to TUT in Estonia. IN fact they have offered me admission to their new MSc program in energetic and material sciences. As you are working at TUT I was wondering if you can give me some insight into the quality and professionalism of education at Estonia's top university. Do graduates of MSc get recognize and employed else in the world? what are the standards of education? I understand if you can't answer with absolute certainty, but your opinion and perception could help shape my decision.

    Also..what is it like living and working in Tallinn?

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. oh yeah...my email is derliangyung@gmail.com

    and I am canadian deciding whether to pursue a full masters degree at TUT for 2 yrs.

    ReplyDelete