Vocab: häbenema - to feel embarrassed

---

to feel embarrassed; to be ashamed; to feel shame; to be shy or timid; to hesitate or act reluctantly due to shyness or shame

Building blocks

• häbe- - derived from “häbi,” meaning "shame" or "embarrassment"

• -ne- - translative (expresses a change of state)

• -ma - infinitive ending

So literally "häbenema" can be understood as "to enter a state of shame" or "to feel ashamed."

How to use it

What to remember

• The person or thing you feel embarrassed about is in the partitive case (third base form)

• What you're embarrassed to do is in the partitive case, and the verb is in the -da infinitive form

See these in use ⬇️

Ajakirjanik häbenes oma eksimust

Literally: “Journalist was ashamed their mistake”

Idiomatically: “The journalist was ashamed of their mistake”

Ajakirjanik - Noun - Nominative Singular: "Journalist"
häbenes- Verb - 3rd Person Singular, Past Tense: "was embarrassed"
oma - Pronoun - Genitive Singular: "their (one's own)"
eksimust - Noun - Partitive Singular: "mistake"

Laps häbenes laulu laulda

Literally: “Child was embarrassed song to sing”

Idiomatically: “The child was embarrassed to sing a song”

Laps - Noun - Nominative Singular: "Child"
häbenes - Verb - 3rd Person Singular, Past Tense: "was embarrassed"
laulu - Noun - Partitive Singular: "song"
laulda - Verb - da-Infinitive: "to sing"