to grow; to become bigger, taller or stronger; (about plants) to grow, to sprout; to increase in amount or number; to grow up, to develop
Building blocks
kasva- → stem meaning “grow” (related to the noun kasv – growth, height)
-ma → infinitive ending
So literally kasvama means: “to do growing”
⚠️ kasvama never takes an object — the thing itself grows. To grow something (tomatoes, a beard, a business), use kasvatama: Vanaema kasvatab tomateid.
How to use it
What to remember
What something grows into is in the Translative case (ending -ks)
Example
Väike kutsikas kasvas suureks koeraks
Literally: “Small puppy grew big-into dog-into”
Idiomatically: “The little puppy grew into a big dog”
Väike - Adjective - Nominative Singular: "small/little"
kutsikas - Noun - Nominative Singular: "puppy"
kasvas - Verb - 3rd Person Singular, Past Tense: "grew"
suureks - Adjective - Translative Singular: "into big"
koeraks - Noun - Translative Singular: "into a dog"