Vocab: unustama

to forget

Building blocks

• unu- forget

• -sta- causative (“make something be X”)

• -ma - infinitive ending

The Estonian word unustama (to forget) is derived from the Proto-Finnic word unohtama. It’s related to the word uni (sleep, dream).

Essentially to forget means “make something be a dream”.

How to use it

Unustama (to forget) can be used in a variety of ways. It can be used to describe forgetting something that you have learned, forgetting to do something, or forgetting something that you have experienced.

What you forget is in the Genitive (second base form).

NB! In Estonian, you forget something into (-sse case) something.

Examples

Maaler unustas pintsli koju

Literally: “Painter forgot brush into home”

Idiomatically: “Painter forgot his brush at home”

Maaler - Noun, Nom Sg, "Painter"
unustas - Verb - 3P Past Sg, "forgot"
pintsli - Noun - Gen Sg, "brush"
koju - Noun - Short Illative Sg, "into home"

Kas sa unustasid ukse lukustada?

Literally: “Did you forgot door to lock?”

Idiomatically: “Did you forgot to lock the door?”

Kas - Adverb - "Did"
sa - Pronoun - Nom Sg, "you"
unustasid - Verb - 2P Past Sg, "forgot"
ukse - Noun - Gen Sg, "door"
lukustada - Verb - da-Infinitive, "to lock"