Vocab: kaebama

to complain

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to complain, to tell someone about something bad, unpleasant, troubling or bothersome, to claim damages in court, to say something accusatory about someone

Building blocks

• kaeba- - complain

• -ma - infinitive ending

It’s similar to Finnish kaivata (to need, to want, to long for, to ask for), both verbs are likely derived from Proto-Finnic kaibat'ak.

How to use it

1. When talking about inconveniences or dissatisfaction:

• "Ma kaeban naabrite korterist tuleva müra üle." (I am complaining about the noise coming from the neighbors' apartment.)

2. When filing a complaint in the administrative court:

• “Klient kaebas reisifirma kohtusse.” (The customer sued the travel agency.)

3. When saying something accusatory about someone:

• “Ära kaeba minu peale õpetajale!” (Don't complain about me to the teacher!”)

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Things to note when using laenama:

1. What you complain about is in the Genitive case (second base form) + you add the word üle “over” (idiomatically translates to “about”)

2. If you use the word kaebama as “to sue”, whom you “sue” is in the Genitive case (second base form)

3. If you use the word kaebama as “to sue”, to where you sue someone to (for example: administrative court) is in the Illative case (ending -sse)

4. Whom you complain about is in the Genitive case (second base from) + you add the word peale “onto” (idiomatically translates to “about”)

5. To whom you complain is in Allative case (ending -le)

Let’s break down the example sentences used above and see these cases in use ⬇️

Examples

Ma kaeban naabrite korterist tuleva müra üle

Literally: “I complain neighbours apartment-from coming noise over”

Idiomatically: “I am complaining about the noise coming from the neighbors' apartment”

Ma - Pronoun - Nominative Sg, "I"
kaeban - Verb - 1P Present Sg, "complain"
naabrite - Noun - Genitive Sg, "neighbours"
korterist - Noun - Elative Sg, "from apartment"
tuleva - Noun - Genitive Sg, "coming"
müra - Noun - Genitive Sg, "noise"
üle - Adverb - Indeclineable, "about"

Klient kaebas reisifirma kohtusse

Literally: “Customer complained travel agency court-into”

Idiomatically: “The customer sued the travel agency”

Klient - Noun - Nominative Sg, "Customer"
kaebas - Verb - 3P Past Sg, "complained ("sued")"
reisifirma - Noun - Genitive Sg, "travel agency"
kohtusse - Noun - Illative Sg, "into court"

Ära kaeba minu peale õpetajale!

Literally: “Don’t complain me onto teacher-onto”

Idiomatically: “Don't complain about me to the teacher!”

Ära kaeba - Verb - 2P Imperative Mood Negative Sg, "don't complain"
minu - Pronoun - Genitive Sg, "me"
peale - Adverb - Indeclineable, "about"
õpetajale - Noun - Allative Sg, "onto teacher"