Vocab: halastama

to have mercy (on somebody)

to give quarter

Building blocks

• halas-

• -ta- causative (“make something be X”),

• -ma - infinitive ending

This verb cannot be broken down much further as it is likely derived from Proto-Finnic.

There is an Estonian word “hale” which means pitiful. Therefore the word halastama can mean to have mercy on someone pitiful.

How to use it

To whom you are having mercy on to is in the allative case (ending on “-le”)

Examples

Jalgpallimeeskond ei halastanud konkurendile

Literally: “Football team no had mercy onto competitor”

Idiomatically: “The football team had no mercy on the competitor”

Jalgpallimeeskond - Noun - Nom Sg, "Football team"
ei halastanud - Verb - 3P Past Sg Neg, "no had mercy"
konkurendile - Noun - Allative Sg, "onto competitor"

Ilm halastas matkajatele

Literally: “Weather had mercy onto hikers”

Idiomatically: “The weather had mercy on the hikers”

Ilm - Noun - Nom Sg, "Weather"
halastas - Verb - 3P Past Sg, "had mercy"
matkajatele - Noun - Allative Pl, "onto hikers"