Vocab: imestama

to wonder

to marvel, to be surprised

Building blocks

• ime- wonder

• -sta- causative (“make something be X”)

• -ma - infinitive ending

It’s derived from Proto-Finnic: imeh

How to use it

If the word imestama is followed by a noun (you are wondering about something specific), then it is in the genitive case + you add the word: üle - over (eg. imestama elu üle - wondering over life).

Examples

Imestan tänase ilma üle

Literally: “I am surprised today’s weather over”

Idiomatically: “I am surprised about today’s weather”

When talking about the weather the more accurate term to use when translating into English is: to be surprised (instead of to wonder).

Imestan - Verb - 1P Present Sg, "I am surprised"
tänase - Adjective - Gen Sg, "today's"
ilma - Noun - Gen Sg, "weather"
üle - Adverb, "about"

Imestan, et täna on selline ilm.

Literally: “I am surprised that today is such weather”

Idiomatically: “I am surprised about today’s weather”

Imestan - Verb - 1P Present Sg, "I am surprised"
et - Conjunction - "that"
täna - Adverb,  "today"
on - Verb - 3P Present Sg, "is"
selline - Pronoun - Nom Sg, "such"
ilm - Noun - Nom Sg, "weather"