Grammar: common ambiguous forms

Some endings can be produced by more than one rule

Estonian adds meaning to words by piling on stuff at the end of the word.

Consequently, we can break any word into two parts:

• the “base meaning part” - this word is “about” a table, going, eating, etc

• the “function part” - it’s with/without the thingy, it’s in the past, etc

This is great news because it allows you to skip over words you don’t know!

Just ignore the “base meaning part” - the “function part” tells you how the word connects to other words.

Your best bet when translating is to:

• start at the end of a word and then,

• peel off the function bits and pieces at the end

But, there is a problem!

Some function bits can be ambiguous - different contexts can produce endings that can be interpreted in multiple ways.

Let’s look at this in more detail: