Vocab: uskuma - to believe
to believe; to believe in the existence or power of someone or something without proof; to believe something to be true; to trust someone or something; to hold an opinion
Building blocks
usk- → “faith” or “belief”
u- → reflexive (an action happening to the subject itself)
-ma → infinitive ending
The root word “usk” is derived from Proto-Finnic usko (“faith”, “belief”).
How to use it
What to remember
Believing in someone/something (confidence or faith)
Whom or what you believe in is in the Illative Case (ending -sse)
Believing something is true (idea, concept, entity)
Whom or what you believe is in the Partitive Case (third base form)
See these in use ⬇️
Examples
Treener usub oma mängijatesse
Literally: “Coach believes his players-into”
Idiomatically: “The coach believes in his players”
Treener - Noun - Nominative Singular: "Coach"
usub - Verb - 3rd Person Singular, Present Tense: "believes"
oma - Pronoun - Genitive Singular: "his"
mängijatesse - Noun - Illative Plural: "into players"Paljud inimesed usuvad vandenõuteooriaid
Literally: “Many people believe conspiracy-theories”
Idiomatically: “Many people believe conspiracy theories”
Paljud - Pronoun - Nominative Plural: "Many"
inimesed - Noun - Nominative Plural: "people"
usuvad - Verb - 3rd Person Plural, Present Tense: "believe"
vandenõuteooriaid - Noun - Partitive Plural: "conspiracy theories"