Vocab: arvama - to think

to think; to believe; to be of the opinion; to suppose; to reckon; to consider something to be true (even without certainty)

Building blocks

• arva- → root related to opinion/guessing (arvamus – opinion)

• -ma → infinitive ending

So literally arvama means: "to form an opinion"

⚠️ arvama vs. mõtlema: if you can replace "think" with "believe" or "reckon", use arvama — if it's more like "ponder" or "think about", use mõtlema.

How to use it

What to remember

• The thing you think or believe is expressed as an et-clause (a "that"-clause)

Example

Arvan, et see on hea mõte

Literally: “I-think that this is good idea”

Idiomatically: “I think this is a good idea”

Arvan - Verb – 1st Person Singular, Present Tense: "I think"
et - Conjunction – Indeclinable: "that"
see - Pronoun – Nominative Singular: "this"
on - Verb – 3rd Person Singular, Present Tense: "is"
hea - Adjective – Nominative Singular: "good"
mõte - Noun – Nominative Singular: "idea"