Vocab: võistlema - to compete

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to compete; aiming to test strength and outperform others

Building blocks

• võist- - comes from võistlus, meaning "competition" or "contest"

• -le- - frequentative (indicates repeated or continuous action)

• -ma – infinitive ending

So, võistlema essentially means "to engage in competition."

How to use it

What to remember

1. What you are competing in is in the Inessive Case (ending -s)

2. Whom you are competing with is in the Comitative Case (ending -ga)

3. When competing over something, you use the Genitive case and pair it with the word "pärast" (meaning "over" in this context)

Example

Õpilased võistlesid matemaatikas

Literally: “Students competed mathematics-in”

Idiomatically: “The students competed in mathematics”

Õpilased – Noun – Nominative Plural: "Students"
võistlesid – Verb – 3rd Person Plural, Past Tense: "competed"
matemaatikas – Noun – Inessive Singular: "in mathematics"

Mängijad võistlevad vastastega

Literally: “Players are competing opponents-with”

Idiomatically: “The players are competing with opponents”

Mängijad - Noun - Nominative Plural: "Players"
võistlevad - Verb - 3rd Person Plural, Present Tense: "are competing"
vastastega - Noun - Comitative Plural, "with opponents"

Ettevõtted võistlevad turuosa pärast

Literally: “Companies are competing market share over”

Idiomatically: “The companies are competing for market share”

Ettevõtted - Noun - Nominative Plural: "Companies"
võistlevad - Verb - 3rd Person Plural, Present Tense: "are competing"
turuosa - Noun - Genitive Singular, "market share"
pärast - Postposition - Indeclinable: "for (or "over" in this context)"