Vocab: vaatama

to look

to look, to watch, to view, to face

Building blocks

We can break down vaatama into these parts:

• vaa- look

• -ta- causative (“make somebody look”)

• -ma - infinitive ending

Vaatama is an original Estonian word which is derived from the word valvama (to guard).

It actually used to be a longer word: valvatama > valatama > vaatama

How to use it

Whom or what you are looking at is indicated by the Partitive case.

Examples

Õhtuti ma vaatan uudiseid

Literally: “In the evenings I watch news”

Idiomatically: “In the evenings I watch the news”

Õhtuti - Adverb - "In the evenings"
ma - Pronoun - Nom Sg, "I"
vaatan - Verb - 1P Sg Present, "watch"
uudiseid - Noun - Part Pl, "news"

“Vaatama” is commonly used together with the word “ringi”. The phrase “ringi vaatama” means: to look around.

Lapsed vaatasid aias ringi

Literally: “Children looked in garden around”

Idiomatically: “Children looked around in the garden”

Lapsed - Noun - Nom Pl, "Children"
vaatasid - Verb - 3P Pl Past, "looked"
aias - Noun - Inessive Sg, "in garden"
ringi - Adverb - "around"