A Estonian Vocabulary List For Learners
If you don’t know where to start learning Estonian, we made a Estonian vocabulary list for you. You can use this as your personal list for vocabulary recap every week. The Estonian words are listed by how often they are used. We also provide you with detailed grammatical information, and part of speech. We also provide you with IPA phonetic spelling, so you always know how to pronounce words correctly. Each entry comes with a bilingual sample sentence, so you can see them being used in context. They also provide you with bilingual reading practice.
MostUsedWords Frequency Dictionaries can be downloaded as ebooks from our website. They are also available as paperbacks on Amazon. These dictionaries provide vocabulary in various levels of fluency: beginners, intermediates, advanced, and near-fluent vocabulary for learners. These links above are affiliate links. Meaning, we might get a small commission if you make a purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you.
How Many Words Should You Know To Achieve Fluency At Different Levels?
Beginner – 250 to 500 words should suffice if you are just beginning to learn a language. You'll be able to hold basic conversations and navigate in tourist situations after just one week of studying. 500 words is enough to get you through everyday life in most languages.
Conversational – With only 1,000 to 3,000 words, you can communicate in almost all languages. You can then ask people about their day and tell them how you are doing.
Advanced – You will become more fluent in a language by learning between 4,000 and 10,000 words. This will allow you to use more specific vocabulary to discuss professional topics, current events, opinions and other complex topics. The 5000 most common Estonian words bundle will allow you to take your language skills up a notch.
Fluent – With around 10,000 words in your vocabulary, you can speak about almost any topic with ease. Additionally, you can recognize unfamiliar words with enough knowledge. Save even more and get a bigger discount if you order the 10,000 most common Estonian words at once.
Native – Word counts in different languages are not the same, so it can be difficult to estimate how many words native speakers know. An estimate of the number of words a native English speaker could know ranges between 10,000 and 65,000+
Estonian Vocabulary List
The Foundation
These are the most commonly used words you can find in the Estonian vocabulary. This is the key on how you can construct the most basic sentences or answers to basic questions.
jah means “yes”
mitte means “no”
kas sa saad aru? means “do you understand?”
ma ei saa aru means “I don’t understand”
ma ei tea means “I don’t know”
ma olen eksinud means “I'm lost”
mul pole õrna aimugi means “I have no idea”
Ma ei räägi eesti keelt means “I don’t speak Estonian”
Introduce Yourself
Maybe you found yourself in a situation where you need to meet and chat with someone you don’t know. Here are some ways to introduce yourself to them:
minu nimi on… means “my name is…”
Ma olen… means “I’m…”
mis su nimi on? means “what is your name?”
Ma olen pärit… means “I am from…”
What’s Up
These are ways to ask someone what’s going on with their lives or a specific situation. You can use these Estonian words and phrases to start small talks:
kuidas sul läheb? means “how are you?”
mis toimub? means “what’s up?”
kuidas läheb? means “how‘s it going?”
mida sa teed? means “what are you doing?”
mis toimub? means “what is happening?”
Etiquette Words
Etiquette can bring you to places around the world! Learn these polite Estonian words:
olete teretulnud! means “you’re welcome!”
palun means “please”
vabandage mind means “excuse me”
kahju means “sorry”
aitäh means “thank you”
terviseks means “bless you”
Essential Questions
These are the key questions you might use any time to any context:
mida? means “what?”
WHO? means “who?”
millal? means “when?”
kus? means “where?”
miks? means “why?”
kumb? means “which?”
kuidas? means “how?”
Estonian Pronouns
Pronouns are essential to make our sentences clearer, less awkward, and smoother. It is important to consider the gender of the noun to address them accordingly:
mina means “I”
sina means “you”
ta/ tema means “he”
ta/ tema means “she”
meie means “we”
nemad means “they”
Greetings
It’s a nice thing to know how to greet other people. You can start with a tere!:
tere means “hello”
tere hommikust means “good morning”
tere päevast means “good afternoon”
tere õhtust means “good evening”
head ööd means “good night”
Saying Goodbye
It is polite to say "goodbye" and let the other person know you are leaving before you go:
hüvastijätmine means “goodbye”
näeme hiljemmeans “see you later”
näeme means “see you”
homme näeme means “see you tomorrow”
ole tubli! means “take care!”
head päeva! means “have a nice day!”
varsti näeme! means “see you soon!”
head reisi! means “have a good trip!”
Days of the Week
Talking about specific times or dates, you should know how to say the days of the week:
Pühapäev means “Sunday”
Esmaspäev means “Monday”
Teisipäev means “Tuesday”
Kolmapäev means “Wednesday”
Neljapäev means “Thursday”
Reede means “Friday”
Laupäev means “Saturday”
Other Time Words
Of course you can’t miss the general terms used to address the time! Here are some:
Üleeile means “day before yesterday”
eile means “yesterday”
aasta means “year”
päev means “day”
kuu means “month”
sajand means “century”
tund means “hour”
täna means “today”
nädal means “week”
koit means “dawn”
homme means “tomorrow”
hommikul means “morning”
kesköö means “midnight”
keskpäev means “noon”
minut means “minute”
öö means “night”
Ülehomme means “day after tomorrow”
sekundid means “seconds”
pärastlõuna means “afternoon”
Nuclear Family
Addressing your family member is necessary, isn't it? You should know how to address them in your target language so that when you speak to them or talk about them with others, they would know who you are talking about:
Isa means “father” or “dad”
Ema means “mother” or “mom”
vend means “brother”
õde means “sister”
poeg means “son”
tütar means “daughter”
lähedane pere means “close family”
Personality and Emotions
With these Estonian words, you can describe your feelings and other people’s character:
rõõmus means “joyful”
naljakas means “funny”
tõsine means “serious”
vilets means “shy”
vapper means “brave”
hull means “crazy”
rahulolu means “content”
õnnelik means “happy”
murelik means “worried”
närviline means “nervous”
rahulik means “tranquil” or “calm”
erutatud means “excited”
Start Learning Today!
Although we provided you with a general Estonian vocabulary list in this article, it isn’t enough to achieve a level of actual fluency in the language. Learn more with MostUsedWords Frequency Dictionaries! Each dictionary follows the same layout. The only thing that differs is the range of vocabulary. You can download them as ebooks on our website, or as paperbacks on Amazon.
Each of the dictionaries contains English translations of the Estonian words, accompanied by example sentences to know the right use of words in context. Each word also has IPA phonetic spelling as pronunciation guide, as well as a detailed part of speech information!
- 2500 Most Common Estonian Words for Beginners
- 2501-5000 Most Common Estonian Words for Intermediates
- 5001-7500 Most Common Estonian Words for Advanced Students
- 7501-10,000 Most Common Estonian Words for Near-Fluent Learners
You can expand your vocabulary by learning new words through context. Reading can help you to understand the flow and grammar since this mimics natural language learning and will help you learn new vocabulary by allowing you to use context. You'll be able to retain words quicker if you are exposed to them repeatedly.