Vocab: põhjendama - to justify
to justify; to explain; to give reasons for; to explain the reasoning behind something
Building blocks
põhje- → comes from põhjus (“reason”)
-nda- → causative (“make something be X”)
-ma → infinitive ending
So põhjendama literally means “to provide a reason” or “to give justification”
How to use it
What to remember
What you justify is in the Partitive Case (third base form)
With what you justify something is in the Comitative Case (ending -ga)
Examples
Õpetaja põhjendas lause komastamise vajadust
Literally: “Teacher explained/justified sentence comma-ing need”
Idiomatically: “The teacher explained the need for a comma in the sentence”
Õpetaja - Noun - Nominative Singular: "Teacher"
põhjendas - Verb - 3rd Person Singular, Past Tense: "explained/justified"
lause - Noun - Genitive Singular: "sentence"
komastamise - Noun - Genitive Singular: "comma-ing (the act of putting a comma)"
vajadust - Noun - Partitive Singular: "need"Õpilane põhjendas vastust näidetega
Literally: “Student justified/explained answer examples-with”
Idiomatically: “The student explained the answer using examples”
Õpilane - Noun - Nominative Singular: "Student"
põhjendas - Verb - 3rd Person Singular, Past Tense: "explained/justified"
vastust - Noun - Partitive Singular: "answer"
näidetega - Noun - Comitative Plural: "with examples"