Genitive case in Estonian

When to use the genitive case in Estonian?

The genitive case (omastav kääne in Estonian) is one of the basic case forms. It is used first and foremost to indicate the possessor or owner of something. In English, this would be indicated by adding 's to the end of a word: man's, child's, etc.

The genitive case answers the questions kelle? 'whose, belonging to whom?' and mille? 'belonging to what?'. As in English, the possessive word comes before the object possessed.

Estonian uses the genitive in many cases where English uses the preposition 'of''. 

Two genitive forms can stand side by side. The adjective that modifies a noun must also be in the genitive case.

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How to form the genitive singular in Estonian?

The genitive singular always ends in a vowel. However, there are no set rules for which vowel a word will end with. Normally in the dictionaries the genitive form is also added and when you encounter a new word, you just have to learn both the nominative and the genitive. Fortunately, if you know the genitive form, you can construct all the remaining singular case forms (except the partitive). 

Word ending with a consonant

A word ending with a consonant in the nominative singular will always end with one of four vowels (a,e,i,u) in the genitive singular.

Word ending with a vowel

A word ending with a vowel in the nominative singular usually keeps the same vowel (the word remains the same).

 However, there are quite a few exceptions.

Words ending with -ne

Most words ending with -ne in the nominative singular take the ending -se in the genitive singular.

 Some two-syllable words ending in -ne do not change.

Foreign names

Foreign names ending in a consonant usually take the ending -i in the genitive singular.

Foreign names ending in -s sometimes take the ending -e in the genitive singular. 

How to form the genitive plural in Estonian?

The genitive plural is generally derived from the stem of the partitive singular case. 

There are two endings: -de or -te. 

The -de ending

If the partitive singular ends with a vowel, the genitive plural has the ending -de, which is added to the partitive singular form.

• Rooside sõjad. --- The wars of the roses. (lit: the roses' wars)
• Vendade sõprus on tugev. --- The brothers' friendship is strong.
• Nende majade aknad on suured. --- The windows of these houses are large. (lit: these' house's windows are large) 

If the partitive singular ends in -d, the genitive plural has a -de ending in place of this -d.

• Teede kvaliteet Eestis on hea. --- The quality of roads in Estonia is good. (lit: the roads' quality)
• Tartu on heade mõtete linn. --- Tartu is the city of good thoughts. (lit: goods' thought's city)
• Puude lehed on rohelised. --- The leaves of the trees are green. (lit: the trees' leaves)

The -te ending

If the partitive singular ends in -t, this -t is replaced by the suffix -te in the genitive plural.

• Raamatute hinnad on kallid. --- The prices of the books are expensive. (lit: the books' prices)
• Arvutite suurused on erinevad. --- The sizes of the computer are different. (lit: computers' sizes)
• Uute inimeste CV-d on laual. --- The CVs of the new people are on the table. (lit: news' people's CVs)

 Congratulations! You have learned the most difficult case in Estonian. Train your skills with exercises!