Vocab: häirima

to disturb

to disturb, to interfere, to bother, to disrupt

Building blocks

• häiri- disturb

• -ma - infinitive ending

It’s borrowed from the Finnish häiritä (to disturb, to bother, to bug).

How to use it

1. To disturb someone's peace or concentration:

   • “See müra häirib mind.” (This noise disturbs me.)

2. To bother or annoy someone:

   • “Miks sa mind alati häirid?” (Why do you always bother me?)

3. To disrupt an event or process:

   • “Tehniline rike häiris kontserdi kulgu.” (Technical malfunction disturbed the course of the concert.)

4. To interfere with something:

   • “Vihm võib ehitustöid häirida.” (Rain can interfere with construction work.)

5. To cause discomfort or unease:

   • “Mõned helid häirivad mu kassi.” (Some sounds bother my cat.)

Who or what you disturb is in the Partitive case (third base form):

• “Külm ilm ei häiri mind (Partitive Sg).” (Cold weather doesn’t bother me.)

Examples

See uudis võib avalikkust häirida

Literally: “This news can public disturb”

Idiomatically: “This news can disturb the public”

See - Pronoun - Nom Sg, "this"
uudis - Noun - Nom Sg, "news"
võib - Verb - 3P Present Sg, "can"
avalikkust - Noun - Partitive Sg, "public"
häirida - Verb - da-Infinitive, "disturb"

Ilutulestik häirib mu koera

Literally: “Fireworks disturbs my dog”

Idiomatically: “Fireworks disturb my dog”

Ilutulestik - Noun - Nom Sg, "Fireworks"
häirib - Verb - 3P Present Sg, "disturbs"
mu - Pronoun - Genitive Sg, "my"
koera - Noun - Partitive Sg, "dog"