Vocab: külmetama

to be cold

Building blocks

• külm- - cold

• -ta- causative (“make something be cold”)

• -ma - infinitive ending

The Estonian word "külmetama" is derived from the Proto-Finnic root *külmä, which means "cold". This root is also found in other Finnic languages, such as Finnish "kylmä".

How to use it

You can use the word külmetama:

• To describe the physical sensation of feeling cold:

  • Ma külmetan (I am cold)

• To describe the process of making something cold:

  • Õues külmetab (Literally: Outside is making cold)

Where you are feeling cold is in the Inessive Case (ending -s)

Examples

Külmetasin õues kolm tundi

Literally: “I was cold outside three hours”

Idiomatically: “I was cold outside for three hours”

Külmetasin - Verb - 1P Past Sg, "I was cold"
õues - Noun - Inessive Sg, "outside"
kolm - Numeral - Nom Sg, "three"
tundi - Noun - Part Sg, "hours"

Ma ei taha enam külmetada

Literally: “I don’t want to anymore be cold”

Idiomatically: “I don’t want to be cold anymore”

Ma - Pronoun - Nom Sg, "I"
ei taha - Verb - 1P Present Negative Sg, "don't want"
enam - Adverb, "anymore"
külmetada - Verb - da-Infinitive, "be cold"