to accuse, to blame
Building blocks
süüdi- - at fault or guilty
-sta- - causative (“make something be X”)
-ma - infinitive ending
Combining these parts, "süüdistama" essentially means "to cause someone to be guilty," or idiomatically "to accuse."
The root here is “süü” (fault, guilt). It’s derived from Proto-Finnic *süü (reason, blame, fault)
How to use it
Legal context:
Prokurör süüdistas meest varguses.
Translation: The prosecutor accused the man of theft
In a discussion, argument, or conflict:
Eriteenistus süüdistab ürituse turvaaugus kohalikku politseid
Translation: The special service accuses the local police of the security breach at the event.
What to remember when using the compound verb “kokku saama”:
Whom you accuse or blame is in the Partitive case (third base form)
What you accuse someone of is in the Inessive case (ending -s)
See these in use ⬇️
Examples
Naabrid süüdistavad üksteist ega jõua kokkuleppele
Literally: “Neighbors accuse each other nor reach agreement-on”
Idiomatically: “The neighbors accuse each other and cannot reach an agreement”
Naabrid - Noun - Nominative Pl, "Neighbors"
süüdistavad - Verb - 3P Present Pl, "accuse"
üksteist - Pronoun - Partitive Sg, "each other"
ega - Conjunction - Indeclinable, "nor"
jõua - Verb - 3P Present Pl, "reach"
kokkuleppele - Noun - Allative Sg, "agreement-on"
Rahvas süüdistab valitsust korruptsioonis
Literally: “People accuse government corruption-in”
Idiomatically: “The people accuse the government of corruption.”
Rahvas - Noun - Nominative Sg, "People"
süüdistab - Verb - 3P Present Sg, "accuse"
valitsust - Noun - Partitive Sg, "government"
korruptsioonis - Noun - Inessive Sg, "corruption-in"