411 REFERENCE · Wikibooks
Estonian/Partitive
Reference material by Wikibooks contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
Osastav kääne
As we'll try to cover the first three cases as heavily as possible before moving on, in this lesson we'll talk about accusing partitive and total direct objects. The English language uses "of" to mark part of a noun, for instance it can be used to form the direct object "part of a noun", used with the verb "mark" earlier in this sentence.
The Estonian Accusative case is actually partitive in some verbs. In other verbs the partitive makes no sense, but the Accusative remains the only option despite talking about the whole of something:
Ma tean seda - I know this/that
With some verbs, the Genitive is used to mark the total or final of a direct object.
This clearly does not happen with teadma:
Ma tean selle - this is incorrect
The partitive can talk about part of a direct object (such as uncountable nouns like water) or that of an unfinished action.
Verbs
Here are the verbs we'll be using in this lesson:
English-ma Infinitiveminasinatemameieteienemadto wanttahtmatahantahadtahabtahametahatetahavadto takevõtmavõtanvõtadvõtabvõtamevõtatevõtavadto paintvärvimavärvinvärvidvärvibvärvimevärvitevärvivad
Keep in mind that when using the Genitive case, the question determiner for the noun will always be mille? or kelle? (persons).
Vocabulary
sein - seina - .seina (n) - wall
vesi - vee - vett (n) - water
ära (adv) - perfective situation marker
ära (positional) - away. This sometimes substitutes the adverbial "ära" entirely
.kaasa (adv) - along with (implied Comitative (with-saying, XIV) noun)
Examples
Sa tahad seda Translation You want that (that one)
Ma värvin .seina Translation I'm painting the wall
Ma värvisin seina ära Translation I painted the wall (entirely)
Ma võtan vett Translation I'm taking some water
Ta võtab lapse kaasa Translation He/She takes the child along
Me tahame maja Translation We want a house
Ma värvisin seda Translation I was painting thisNote: here the finished action would require "ära" with the Genitive
Ta võtab vee ära Translation He/She takes the water awayHe/She cuts off the water supply
Ta võtab selle Translation He/She takes this one