Vocab: läbi lööma

to succeed

to succeed; to break through; to achieve success, recognition, fame; to spend (time or money)

Building blocks

• läbi - “through”

• lööma - “to punch” or “to hit”

So when combined it literally means "to hit through" or “to punch through.”

This concept is similar to the English expression "to break through," where in order to succeed you have to “break through” something. In Estonian, however, you have to “punch through” in order to succeed (imagine punching your way through a wall to reach your goal, rather than patiently waiting for a door to open). It's a great example of how languages express similar ideas with slightly different imagery.

How to use it

1. Achieving success or making a breakthrough:

   • Ta lõi oma uue äriga läbi.

     • Translation: He succeeded with his new business.

2. Overcoming difficulties or challenges:

   • Vaatamata raskustele lõi ta lõpuks läbi.

     • Translation: Despite the difficulties, he finally broke through.

3. Spending money (informal language used in everyday conversation):

   • Ta lõi terve oma palga ühe nädalavahetusega läbi.

     • Translation: He spent his entire salary in one weekend.

4. Validating a ticket:

   • Ma lõin bussipileti läbi.

     • Translation: I validated my bus ticket.

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What to remember when using the compound verb “läbi lööma”:

1. The place where the success occurs (e.g. at work) is in the Adessive Case (ending - l)

See this in use ⬇️

Examples

Andekas laulja lõi konkursil läbi

Literally: “Talented singer punched competition-in through”

Idiomatically: “The new singer stood out/succeeded in the competition”

Andekas - Adjective - Nominative Sg, "Talented"
laulja - Noun - Nominative Sg, "singer"
lõi (läbi) - Compound Verb - 3P Past Sg, "succeeded"
konkursil - Noun - Adessive Sg, "competition-in"
läbi - Adverb - Indeclinable, "through"