Vocab: kahtlema - to doubt
to doubt; to be uncertain; to consider something questionable; to be unsure what to do
Building blocks
kaht → comes from kahtlane (“suspicious, doubtful, questionable”)
-le- → frequentative (indicates repeated or continuous action)
-ma → infinitive ending
So, kahtlema literally means “to act in a doubtful way / to doubt.” It’s derived from the word kaks (“two”). The derivative suggests being “between two” → “kahevahel olema” = to be in two minds.
How to use it
What to remember
The thing being doubted goes in the Inessive case (ending -s)
When unsure about something happening or being true, “kahtlema” is followed by “kas” + a clause
See the examples below ⬇️
Examples
Eksperdi arvamuses ei saa kahelda
Literally: “Expert’s opinion-in cannot be doubted”
Idiomatically: “The expert’s opinion cannot be doubted”
Eksperdi - Noun - Genitive Singular: "Expert's"
arvamuses - Noun - Inessive Singular: "in opinion"
ei saa - Verb - 3rd Person Singular Negative, Present Tense: "cannot"
kahelda - Verb - da-Infinitive: "be doubted"Kahtlen, kas see plaan õnnestub
Literally: “I doubt whether this plan succeeds”
Idiomatically: “I doubt whether this plan will succeed”
Kahtlen - Verb - 1st Person Singular, Present Tense: "I doubt"
kas - Conjunction - Indeclinable: "whether"
see - Pronoun - Nominative Singular: "this"
plaan - Noun - Nominative Singular: "plan"
õnnestub - Verb - 3rd Person Singular, Present Tense: "succeeds"