Appendix:Estonian conjugation

See also: Appendix:Estonian nominal inflection

This page is intended to give an overview of the conjugation types in Estonian, and to help editors find the right conjugation table template.

The numbering system is based on the 2018 edition of Õigekeelsussõnaraamat.

General notes

The conjugation of the Estonian language involves the following aspects:

• Person and number: Suffixes added to the stem indicate person (e.g. I, you, he/she) and number (individual or collective), which sometimes makes pronouns optional.
• Mood: Suffixes added to the stem indicate mood (e.g. indicative, subjunctive, reportive or imperative).
• Tense: Suffixes added to the stem indicate tense (present or past). For the indicative mood, the past tense is divided into three: simple past, present perfect and past perfect.
• Voice: Suffixes added to the stem indicate voice (personal or impersonal).

Apart from conjugation, the supine and infinitive forms of verbs can also decline as nouns with the same suffixes.

• The supine form (-ma) has inessive, elative, translative and abessive declensions.
• The infinitive form (-da) has an inessive declension.

There are four verb participles in Estonian: two tenses (present and past) combined with two voices (personal and impersonal).

To achieve the stated conjugation and declension, a verb typically employs four stems. Some verbs may have fewer stems due to identical shapes, while others might have more, as a stem can differ predictably under certain circumstances.

Code	Stem Name	Conjugation		Code	Stem Name	Conjugation
SUP	supine (-ma) stem	-ma (s, st, ks, ta)	supine	IMPERS	impersonal (-tud) stem	-tama	supine
		-s	past indicative (affirmative)			-ti	past indicative (affirmative)
		-vat	present reportive			-tavat	present reportive
		-v	present participle			-tav	present participle
PRES	present (-b) stem	-n, d, b, me, te, vad	present indicative			-takse	present indicative (affirmative)
		-ks	present subjunctive			-taks	present subjunctive
INF	infinitive (-da) stem	-da, des	infinitive			-ta	present indicative (negative)
		-gu, gem, ge	imperative			-tagu	imperative
		-nud	past indicative (negative) past participle			-tud	past indicative (negative) past participle
		-nuks	past subjunctive			-tuks	past subjunctive

ÕS 2018 numbering

Nr		supine	pers. p. pr.	past 3 ind.	past 1 ind.	pres. 1 ind.	infinitive	pers. p. p.	imp. 3	impers. p. p.	impers. pres. indic.	Wiktionary entries
		SUP				PRES	INF			IMPERS
27		elama	elav	elas	elasin	elan	elada	elanud	elagu	elatud	elatakse	341
28		õ̀ppima	õ̀ppiv	õ̀ppis	õ̀ppisin	õpin	õ̀ppida	õ̀ppinud	õ̀ppigu	õpitud	õpitakse	137
29		hȕppama	hȕppav	hȕppas	hȕppasin	hȕppan	hüpata	hüpanud	hüpaku	hüpatud	hüpatakse	90
30		vàidlema	vàidlev	vàidles	vàidlesin	vàidlen	vaielda	vaielnud	vaielgu	vaieldud	vaieldakse	18
31		rabelema	rabelev	rabeles	rabelesin	rabelen	rabelda	rabelnud	rabelgu	rabeldud	rabeldakse	2
32		sèisma	sèisev	sèisis	sèisin	seisan	sèista	sèisnud	sèisku	sèistud	sèistakse	11
33		nàerma	nàerev	nàeris	nàersin	naeran	nàerda	nàernud	nàergu	nàerdud	nàerdakse	6
34		sàatma	sàatev	sàatis	sàatsin	saadan	sàata	sàatnud	sàatku	saadetud	saadetakse	54
		lèidma	lèidev	lèidis	lèidsin	leian	lèida	lèidnud	lèidku	lèitud	lèitakse
35		pètma	pèttev	pèttis	pètsin	petan	pètta	pètnud	pètku	petetud	petetakse	10
		jȁtma	jȁttev	jȁttis	jȁtsin	jätan	jȁtta	jȁtnud	jȁtku	jȁetud	jȁetakse
36		tulema	tulev	tuli	tulin	tulen	tùlla	tulnud	tulgu	tùldud	tullakse	10
37		võ̀ima	võ̀iv	võ̀is	võisin	võ̀in	võ̀ida	võinud	võigu	võ̀idud	võ̀idakse	6
	i	sàama	sàav	sài	sàin	sàan	sàada	saanud	saagu	sàadud	sàadakse
38		kȁima	kȁiv	kȁis	käisin	kȁin	kȁia	käinud	käigu	kȁidud	käiakse	10
	i	sȍöma	sȍöv	sõ̀i	sõ̀in	sȍön	sȕüa	söönud	söögu	sȍödud	süüakse

Tree of conjugation types

SUP		Conjugation		Stems				Additional notes
Prosody	Ending	Type	Subtype	SUP	PRES	INF	IMPERS	Common	Unique
-	-	elama	-	ela	ela	ela	ela	the simplest conjugation paradigm that has four identical stems
SS	se	pesema	-	pese	pese	pèss	pèss	e removed in INF and IMPERS e turning into i in personal simple past	d turning into t in IMPERS suffixes after s
	l/n/re		tulema	tule	tule	tul	tùll		strong in infinitive with -a (e.g. tùlla vs tulnud) weak in impersonal present indicative with -akse (e.g. tullakse)
	ge		tegema	tege	tee	teh	tèhh		infinitive with -a (e.g. teha) personal past participle ending in i (e.g. teinud) weak in impersonal present indicative with -akse (e.g. tehakse)
L open	VV	võ̀ima	-	võ̀i	võ̀i	või	võ̀i	weak in non-3rd-individual simple past (e.g. võisin) weak in collective present indicative (e.g. võime) strong in infinitive (e.g. võ̀ida) t turning into d in IMPERS
			kȁima	kȁi	kȁi	käi	kȁi		infinitive with -a (e.g. kȁia) weak in impersonal present indicative with -akse (e.g. käiakse)
	aa, ää	sàama	-	sàa	sàa	saa	sàa		VV turning into Vi in personal simple past (e.g. sài)
	oo, öö		sȍöma	sȍö	sȍö	söö	sȍö		infinitive with -a, along with o/ö mutating to u/ü (e.g. sȕüa) weak in impersonal present indicative with -akse (e.g. süüakse) VV turning into Vi in personal simple past, along with o/ö mutating to õ (e.g. sõ̀i)
L closed	t	sàatma	-	sàat	saada	sàat	saade	3rd-individual simple past requires a vowel i inserted before -s personal present participle requires a vowel e inserted before -v weak in PRES with ending of an unpredictable vowel, a or e	infinitive with -a g turning into k in imperative suffixes a vowel e added to form IMPERS
	d, sk		lèidma	lèid	leia	lèid	lèi		same as in sàatma, except that weak in PRES and IMPERS with the ending d and k disappear the vowel e not to be added to form IMPERS
	tt, pp		pètma	pètt	peta	pètt	pete		same as in sàatma, except that double consonant written as single when followed by a third consonant
			jȁtma	jȁtt	jäta	jȁtt	jȁe		same as in pètma, except that t disppearing in IMPERS, resulting in an overlong syllable
	r, l		nàerma	nàer	naera	nàer	nàer		infinitive with -da t turning into d in IMPERS suffixes
	s		sèisma	sèis	seisa	sèis	sèis		non-3rd-individual simple past beginning with -i instead of -si
LS	-	õ̀ppima	-	õ̀ppi	õpi	õ̀ppi	õpi	weak in IMPERS	weak in PRES
		hȕppama	-	hȕppa	hȕppa	hüpa	hüpa		weak in INF
SS+le	-	rebelema	-	rebele	rebele	rebel	rebel	e removed in INF and IMPERS t turning into d in IMPERS
L+le	-		vàidlema	vàidle	vàidle	vaiel	vaiel		weak in the part before -le

Related appendices

• Appendix:Estonian nominal inflection