Vocab: rändama

to go on a journey

to travel, to roam, to wander, to migrate

Building blocks

• rända- travel, roam

• -ma - infinitive ending

It’s likely derived from a Baltic language - can be compared with Lithuanian - bristi (to wade) or Latvian - brist (to wade).

How to use it

When talking about travelling from one country to another:

• from where is in the ablative case (ending -lt) - (eg. Saksamaalt - from Germany)

• to where is in the illative case (ending -sse) - (eg. Eestisse - to Estonia)

Examples

Me rändasime ühest riigist teise

Literally: “We travelled from one country into another”

Idiomatically: “We travelled from one country to another”

Me - Pronoun - Nom Pl, "We"
rändasime - Verb - 1P Past Pl, "travelled"
ühest - Pronoun - Elative Sg, "from one"
riigist - Noun - Elative Sg, "country
teise - Pronoun - Short Illative Sg, "into another"

Kured rändavad suurtes parvedes

Literally: “Storks migrate in big in flocks”

Idiomatically: “Storks migrate in big flocks”

Kured - Noun - Nom Pl, "Storks"
rändavad - Verb - 3P Present Pl, "migrate"
suurtes - Adjective - Inessive Pl, "in big"
parvedes - Noun - Inessive Pl, "in flocks"