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Estonian is the mother tongue of approximately 1 million people, about 900,000 of whom live in Estonia. Estonian is used daily by several hundred people for whom it is a second language. Estonian is spoken by over 100,000 immigrants in Finland, Sweden, Canada, the United States, Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Estonian is the official language of Estonia and one of the official languages of the EU. It is used in business, politics and science.

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The first word in Estonian was recorded in the Chronicle of Henry of Latvia, written in Latin in the 13th century. It is safe to say that the literary Estonian language originated in the 16th century after the invention of printing. The first partially preserved book in Estonian was printed in 1535 in Wittenberg. The first Estonian grammar was published in 1637.

There are 32 letters in the Estonian language, but C, Q, W,X, Y are used only in loanwords. The letters Ff, Šš, Zz and Žž are also used only in words of foreign origin. The letter reflects the pronunciation in principle, but not all the features of the sound are still transmitted on the letter. A popular legend in Estonia says that once upon a time, Estonian was second only to Italian in its beauty. Anyway, Estonian stands out for the abundance of vowels and the absence of sibilants. There are 28 diphthongs in Estonian, there are words consisting only of vowels and diphthongs. The stress almost always falls on the first syllable. Unlike other European languages, Estonian is not familiar with gender.

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There are many cases in the Estonian language – 14. Nouns are inclined in both numbers (singular and plural), however, the adjective or pronoun accompanying the noun agrees with it only in some cases. Another difficulty for Estonian learners is the presence of two infinitives, the use of which depends on the main word. At the same time, there is no special rule for their use, so you have to rely on memory. The word order in Estonian is not strict enough, but SVO (subject – predicate – complement) is preferred.

For a small language, Estonian has a rich vocabulary. Through contacts with other languages, he borrowed many words. The Estonian language is the result of conscious language development, so it remains a literary and scientific language. Gaps in the vocabulary are actively filled by creating artificial roots.

Many words in Estonian are similar to words in other languages in spelling or pronunciation, but sometimes they do not match in meaning. Therefore, before translating, it is better to clarify the meaning of the word in the dictionary. Estonians are very fond of nature, so there are many words in their language to describe the whistling of the wind and the splashing of water

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7. Estonian has an abundant use of two-syllable verb forms that vary according to person, number and tense.

8. There are no prepositions in the Estonian language. Instead, suffixes and cases are used to express relationships between words.

9. The Estonian language has several dialects, some of which may be difficult to understand for speakers of other dialects.

10. In modern Estonian there are many borrowed words from other languages, especially from English and Russian.

11. The Estonian language has a rich literary history, including the works of famous writers such as Andreev Kivi and Jan Kaplin.

12. Estonian became the official language of Estonia after its independence in 1918.

13. The Estonian language is influenced by neighboring languages such as Finnish, Swedish and Russian, which has affected its vocabulary and grammar.

14. The Estonian language has an extensive vocabulary for describing nature and the environment, which reflects the importance of nature in the culture of this country.

15. The Estonian language is not only a means of communication, but also a symbol of national identity for Estonians.

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1. Estonian belongs to the Finno-Ugric group of languages and is close to Finnish and Hungarian.

2. Estonian has 14 cases, making it one of the most case-based languages in the world.

3. There is a unique phonetic phenomenon in the Estonian language - vowel harmonies, which affect the consonants in words.

4. The Estonian language uses the Latin alphabet, but with additional letters such as "š", "ž" and "õ".

5. Estonians are proud that their language has the highest percentage of words with unique origins among European languages.

6. Estonian has no grammatical gender for nouns, unlike many other languages.

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What is the reason for the spread of the Russian language in Estonia and why, although it is very widely used, does not have the status of an official language?

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What is the reason for the spread of the Russian language in Estonia and why, although it is very widely used, does not have the status of an official language?