Vocab: võlgnema
to owe; to be obligated to pay an amount owed to someone; to feel a debt of gratitude
Building blocks
võlg- - "debt"
-ne- - translative (expresses a change of state)
-ma - infinitive ending
So, "võlgnema" essentially means "to be in a state of owing" or "to owe."
The root of the word - võlg, meaning "debt," is derived from Proto-Finnic *vëlka, which has cognates in other Finnic languages (e.g., Finnish velka meaning "debt").
How to use it
Formal or Legal Context (Financial Debt):
Isik võlgneb pangale 10 000 eurot.
Translation: The person owes the bank 10,000 euros.
Moral or Emotional Obligation (Gratitude):
Ma võlgnen sulle tänu, et sa mulle alati toeks oled olnud.
Translation: I owe you thanks for always being there for me.
What to remember when using the verb “võlgnema”:
To Whom/What you owe something is in the Allative case (ending -le)
See this in use ⬇️
Examples
Ökoloogi sõnul võlgnevad saksa prussakad oma edu erakordsele kohanemisvõimele
Literally: “Ecologist according to owe German cockroaches their success exceptional-onto adaptability-onto”
Idiomatically: “According to the ecologist, German cockroaches owe their success to their exceptional adaptability.”
Ökoloogi - Noun - Genitive Sg, "Ecologist"
sõnul - Adverb - Indeclinable, "according to"
võlgnevad - Verb - 3P Present Pl, "owe"
saksa - Adjective - Genitive Sg, "German"
prussakad - Noun - Nominative Pl, "cockroaches"
oma - Pronoun - Genitive Sg, "their"
edu - Noun - Genitive Sg, "success"
erakordsele - Adjective - Allative Sg, "onto exceptional"
kohanemisvõimele - Noun - Allative Sg, "onto adaptability"