Vocab: kätte maksma - to retaliate
to take revenge; to retaliate; to respond to someone's malicious, bad, or unjust act with a similar one; to have negative consequences
Building blocks
kätte - the short illative case of "käsi" (hand), meaning "into the hand" or "into one's possession." In this context, it implies something being returned or repaid.
maksma - "to pay" or "to cost"
Combined "kätte maksma" conveys the idea of "paying back" or "repaying." It can be in the sense of revenge or facing consequences for one's actions.
How to use it
What to remember
The person on whom you take revenge is in the allative case (ending -le)
The thing for which you take revenge is in the genitive case (the second base form) and you add the postposition “eest” (for)
See these in use ⬇️
Ohver maksis oma kiusajale kätte
Literally: “Victim paid their bully-onto hand-into”
Idiomatically: “The victim took revenge on their bully”
Ohver - Noun - Nominative Singular: "Victim"
maksis (kätte) - Compound Verb - 3rd Person Singular, Past: "took revenge"
oma - Pronoun - Genitive Singular: "their"
kiusajale - Noun - Allative Singular: "onto bully"
(maksis) kätte - Adverb-like particle, part of the compound verb "kätte maksma" (to take revenge)
Ebaõigluse eest maksti kätte
Literally: “Injustice for paid hand-into”
Idiomatically: “Revenge was taken for the injustice”
Ebaõigluse - Noun - Genitive Singular: "Injustice"
eest - Postposition - Indeclinable: "for"
maksti – Verb - Impersonal, Past Tense: "was paid" (part of the compound verb "kätte maksma")
kätte – Adverb-like particle, completing the verb "kätte maksma" (to take revenge)