If you're trying to learn Estonian Plural you will find some useful resources including a course about Plural and Singular... to help you with your Estonian grammar. Try to concentrate on the lesson and notice the pattern that occurs each time the word changes its place. Also don't forget to check the rest of our other lessons listed on Learn Estonian. Enjoy the rest of the lesson!
Learning the Estonian Plural is very important because its structure is used in every day conversation. The more you master it the more you get closer to mastering the Estonian language. But first we need to know what the role of Plural is in the structure of the grammar in Estonian.
Estonian Plurals are grammatical numbers, typically referring to more than one of the referent in the real world. In the English language, singular and plural are the only grammatical numbers.
Grammar Tips:
To form the plural of nouns and adjectives in Estonian it is necessary to memorize words in the 4 principal grammatical cases and use these cases to form the plural of the rest of the grammatical cases (there are 14 cases all in all). The nominative plural is formed from the genitive singular by adding -d, e.g. the nominative case of "raamat" (the book) in the plural is: genitive singular "raamatu" + -d: "raamatud" (books)l. The grammatical cases represent the meaning of prepositions: e.g. "sõpradele" (to friends), "sõpradest" (about friends), "majadest" (from houses).
Here are some examples:
| English Plural | Estonian Plural |
|---|---|
| Plural | Mitmus |
| my book | minu raamat |
| my books | mu raamatud |
| our daughter | meie tütar |
| our daughters | meie tütred |
| I'm cold | mul on külm |
| we're cold | meil on külm |
| his chickens | tema kanad |
| their chicken | nende kanad |
Notice the structure of the Plural in Estonian has a logical pattern. Locate the Plural above and see how it works with the rest of the sentence in Estonian.
While in English, the plural is formed by adding (s) to the singular. In Estonian, to form the plural nominative case of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and numbers we add (-d) to the singular genitive case of the word. Here are some examples:
Sõber (a friend (nom.)) – sõbra (a friend (gen.)) becomes: sõbrad (friends)
Naine (a woman (nom.)) – naise (a woman (gen.)) becomes: naised (women)
Punane (red (nom.)) – punase (red (gen.)) becomes: punased
Auto (car (nom.)) – auto (car (gen.)) becomes autod
See on mu punane auto (this is my red car) becomes: Need on mu punased autod (these are my red cars)
Below is a list of the Plurals and Singulars in Estonian placed in a table. Memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your Estonian vocabulary.
| English Plural | Estonian Plural |
|---|---|
| alligator | alligaator |
| alligators | alligaatorid |
| bear | karu |
| bears | karud |
| bird | lind |
| birds | linnud |
| bull | pull |
| bulls | pullid |
| cat | kass |
| cats | kassid |
| cow | lehm |
| cows | lehmad |
| deer | hirv |
| many deer | palju hirvesid |
| dog | koer |
| dogs | koerad |
| donkey | eesel |
| donkeys | eeslid |
| eagle | kotkas |
| eagles | kotkad |
| elephant | elevant |
| elephants | elevandid |
| giraffe | kaelkirjak |
| giraffes | kaelkirjakud |
| goat | kits |
| goats | kitsed |
| horse | hobune |
| horses | hobused |
| lion | lõvi |
| lions | lõvid |
| monkey | ahv |
| monkeys | ahvid |
| mouse | hiir |
| mice | hiired |
| rabbit | küülik |
| rabbits | küülikud |
| snake | madu |
| snakes | maod |
| tiger | tiiger |
| tigers | tiigrid |
| wolf | hunt |
| wolves | hundid |
Plural and Singular have a very important role in Estonian. Once you're done with Estonian Plural, you might want to check the rest of our Estonian lessons here: Learn Estonian. Don't forget to bookmark this page.
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