Vocab: kehtestama - to enforce

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to establish; to enforce; to make laws, regulations, taxes, etc., official

Building blocks

• kehte- → from “kehtima”, which means “to be valid” or “to be in effect”

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

• -ma → infinitive ending

So, literally "kehtestama" means "to make valid" or "to cause something to be in force." Since "kehtima" means "to be valid" or "to be in effect," adding the "-stama" suffix gives it a causative meaning: "to make something valid"

How to use it

What to remember

• What is enforced/imposed is in the Partitive Case (third base form)

• When something is imposed is in the Adessive Case (ending -l)

See this in use ⬇️

Examples

Linn kehtestab uusi piiranguid

Literally: “City imposes new restrictions”

Idiomatically: “The city will impose new restrictions”

Linn  - Noun - Nominative Singular: "City"
kehtestab - Verb - 3rd Person Singular, Present Tense: "imposes"
uusi - Adjective - Partitive Plural: "new"
piiranguid - Noun - Partitive Plural: "restrictions"

Valitsus kehtestab uue seaduse järgmisel kuul

Literally: “Government imposes new law next-on month-on”

Idiomatically: “The government will impose a new law next month”

Valitsus - Noun - Nominative Singular: "Government"
kehtestab - Verb - 3rd Person Singular, Present Tense: "imposes"
uue - Adjective - Genitive Singular: "new"
seaduse - Noun - Genitive Singular: "law"
järgmisel - Adjective - Adessive Singular: "on next"
kuul - Noun - Adessive Singular: "on month"