Learn the Basics: Estonian

Get ready for Estonia by learning to roll your r's, and picking up a few local words and phrases. Estonian may be one of Europe's trickiest languages, but a little goes a long way. Moonika in Tallinn, our Baltic destination manager, runs you through the basics so you'll be able to impress the locals!
Explore Estonia on a custom tour with JayWay Travel: jaywaytravel.com/estonia
#JayWayEstonia #JayWayBaltics #Estonia #Estonian
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⏲️ Timestamps - Chapters ⏲️
00:00 Intro
00:11 Tere (TEHR-reh) = Hello
00:55 Tsau = Hi
01:18 Aitäh (Ai-tah) = Thank You
01:54 Tänan (TA-nahn) = Thank You (easier)
02:06 Head aega (HEH-ahd AH-eh-gah) = Goodbye
02:50 Palun (PAH-loon) = Please
03:04 Jah (YAHH) = Yes
03:31 Ei (ay) = No
03:50 Terviseks (Ter-vee-seks) = Cheers
04:22 Outro

[@ze_baronkrigler7611]

Ok lets be honest, we all chuckled at Terviseks

[@purplestringsmariamichelac3391]

Good job it doesn't start with "p" instead

[@srexod167]

as an estonian, i bursted out laughing (even tho it is correct)

[@alphawarm37]

@@srexod167lol

[@sarahragsdale5009]

I don’t get the funny part. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@Romiluvsu]

@@sarahragsdale5009 it’s the Seks in the end

[@Xloudy]

Estonian: Aitäh = Thank you Finnish: Ai täh? = Wait, what?

[@laciLaszloM]

Hi....l thought l would come here to see what my estonian cousins are doing/saying/speaking. lve also been looking up Finnish words.....love from Hungary

[@hugorodriguez3121]

In Spanish the way it sounds would be understood as. Here it is!

[@emoore7476]

This is the best lesson ever, the words broken down was really helpful. I wish she could make more of these lessons.

[@JayWayTravel]

Thank you for your kind words :)

[@jesusalvarez4846]

You are so good thanks

[@Xrabbit]

Does Moonika have a instagram or channel to follow?

[@subliminalfragging]

​@@JayWayTravel😊😅

[@TravisBabb]

I seriously wish this girl had an entire series on Estonian

[@vyvienn]

I was lucky to live and teach in Tallinn for four months. Even if you don't understand a peep, you get used to the rhythm and sound of the Estonian language quickly. Honestly, I kind of miss it a bit... :)

[@hmu05366]

@marianaalexa do you still speak Estonian?

[@user-ur8ee1fw6i]

I love Estonia 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

[@labauer5314]

What a whimsical fun language lesson! I love rolling "R"s (I just met a neighbor from Estonia, I said, "I'm going to learn some Estonian" I don't think she believed me. I can't wait to see her again!

[@Toddespiel]

lol how did that go

[@sallehmohamad8271]

ME... From MALAYSiA 🇲🇾 Likes Your Language... Hopefully.. To Visit ESTONiA Year 2021..🌹 💐 🎶 🎹

[@endouceurendouceur318]

Our group of Moldavian students traveled to Tartu by tourist bus from Tallinn during winter vacations in February 1974. I will never forget an old guide/professor Leesment so friendly, showing us proudly the famous University of Tartu. And the lunch somewhere - a Swedish table - was delicious ! Now I like also Saku beer !Unforgettable life lasting memories/trip to Estonia ! And I read the book -"Bye, yellow cat" by Mati Unt.Warm Greetings from Kishinău/Moldavia

[@twerkeamusiclp]

Aitä chun li

[@petardjordjevic9000]

I adore Estonian! Thank you for sharing his basics with us 😀 Greetings from Serbia

[@KushQrox]

Please make more of this lol. This really helpful.

[@SS-605]

I loved the way you explained basics :) Thank you

[@ksktest187]

great job Julia..keep it up

[@kenjader1018]

Thanks for sharing.

[@nantz8050]

What a beautiful language.

[@MrDixosonoma]

Nice video and beautiful language! Greetings from Greece.

[@lesmellier]

Great lessons!!!

[@asechka]

The best Estonian language video so far. Others are boring.

[@Xrabbit]

Very underrated language, hard to find good content out there

[@jessajoyotamias3345]

Love this! Aitah!

[@Moonchild78578]

I am from Estonia it’s so butiful place❤❤❤❤

[@gregcrowe8885]

Thank You ❤️

[@michaelschnittker7388]

Very charming confident presentation, your wry smile & sense of humor throughout was very pleasant!

[@kristabellejarverdafonseca9295]

You are fantastic! Great lesson, reminds me a lot of my Estonian grandparents 😍

[@stuartbrent6506]

Tere hommikust Monica! From Stuart here in England

[@bikashthapa9959]

Aitah Headaega...Really awsemome...waiting for more estonian words....

[@Zoiggelz]

Aitäh for the useful video! I'm actually from Finland and I've considered learning Estonian to some extent since it shouldn't be too difficult because of the language family connection. This was a good start, I only knew aitäh and there beforehand. By the way, you may know this but I find "aitäh" quite funny since if you said that in Finnish, it would sound like saying "huh, what did you say?" in a casual way :D

[@JayWayTravel]

Thank you! :)

[@KohaAlbert]

Some of us actually do occasionally use "Kiitus" or "Kiitust" as well, eg: "Kiitus kokale" is "Praise the chef" (for good meal) Thanks = Tänan = Aitäh To praise = Tänama = Kiitma

[@francismichaelcedenoreyes7222]

@@JayWayTravel tere moonika!how do you say ireally appeciate it and thanks anyway in Estonian?

[@francismichaelcedenoreyes7222]

@@JayWayTravel how do you say please,come in here and please,go out there in estonian?

[@sebastianeest661]

@@francismichaelcedenoreyes7222 Thanks anyway is Aitäh, igatahes

[@connellymwale3202]

iam comiing to estonia. you realy helped me

[@narasimhuluragiri5332]

Thanks for your teaching, good explanation. Good teacher.

[@JayWayTravel]

Thanks. You are welcome!

[@kohlikitchenking1013]

Amazing

[@quranreader7616]

thanks😊

[@anascz.7695]

Great lesson!

[@JayWayTravel]

Thank you! :)

[@cesarequevedo8943]

Very interesting sounds!

[@crystalworld9566]

I got rejected just for don't know Estonian, but this lessons gonna be motivated to me

[@hbela1000]

Thanks.I am Hungarian and Estonian sound good to my ears.

[@MilciadesAndrion]

Great lesson. Aitäh Monika!

[@JayWayTravel]

Thank you! :)

[@attention_shopping]

thanks

[@isabellenicaud3725]

This langage sounds pretty nice to my ears. I love it and I enjoyed repeating after you

[@JayWayTravel]

Thanks Isabelle :) Glad you enjoyed it!

[@POLSKAKOREANKA]

Really liked your lesson :) Hope you make more of them! And see you in Estonia some day :D

[@JayWayTravel]

Thanks! 😃 Our staff thoughout Europe have made a few Language Basics videos, you'll find them all here: kzbin.info/aero/PLTiwkp8IuVAC1TdLfcJesTYo9ip48NiNX

[@JayWayTravel]

Thank you! :) Estonia is definitively a must visit, :)

[@super_traveler]

Thanks this Video, from S.Korean

[@lovemamahouse]

Tere I'm from Malaysia, ai tah.

[@tomie6666world]

Tere I'm from Estonia 😅

[@lovemamahouse]

Terviseks

[@mashroom77]

thank you very much! aitäh :)

[@JayWayTravel]

Thank you! :)

[@VeryFarEast]

I never heard Estonian before...But I can say that i liked very much how it sounds, very pleasant for my ear. Definitely, if I lived in your country I would have learnt it.

[@Ashrafayman1]

I like it, thank you and you are funny !

[@muhamadnova1170]

She keeps the emotion for herself :') she is good

[@JayWayTravel]

That is the Estonian way ;)

[@jhonatanroldantavera5312]

Thanks

[@JayWayTravel]

Thank you! :)

[@MamaBulgaria]

Cool little lesson. Thanks

[@MamaBulgaria]

It is actually very easy to read it and say it right, because it is phonetic

[@rakshithgupta5444]

Wow... amazing video...

[@JayWayTravel]

Thank you :)

[@mariedreamer3977]

I would like so much learn Estonian language as I have Estonian origin!!

[@grantwileyesq.5962]

I found out I have roots from Estonia and The Netherlands. I'm fascinated, but this is pretty tough lol

[@twiwilkes6150]

We pronounce tsau same way with brazilian tchau, i love it :P

[@abimbolaitaloye927]

Aitah for the lesson

[@mustaphabedjeloud3775]

Last but not least, I wanna thank YOU.

[@fagelsinnet]

Great and helpful video. I find it interesting that there are so many Estonian words that sound like Finnish words but have different meanings (false friends). I have seen the word tänan before and thought it was the same as the Finnish word tänään (which means today) but I was wrong. Another funny example is "hallitus" which means government in Finnish but mold in Estonian.

[@JayWayTravel]

Depending on your view of politicians, hallitus might have the same meaning in both ;)

[@tomie6666world]

@@JayWayTravel 🤣🤣😂

[@RodneyEnt]

About funny false friends: Koristage ruumid (Est) - clean up the rooms. Koristage ruumit (Fin) - Make corpses pretty.

[@teresabaptista7016]

Hi Jay. Thank you so much. It was really funny and the way you pronounce "r" is similar to Portuguese "r" pronunciation, rolling it on the tip of the tong and extending the sound. Estonian sound beautifully to my ears. "Cheers" from Portugal :))))

[@a-mr8745]

By the way I love this word: head aega. Really beatiful!

[@KohaAlbert]

Literal would be head=good and aeg=time: "have a good time" or even "let time be good for you"

[@a-mr8745]

@@KohaAlbert Yes this I knew... for Finnish head=hyvä Aega=aika pretty close... but the word used in this meaning is= näkemiin (similar than nägemist)

[@KohaAlbert]

@@a-mr8745 I did not realize your familiar with Finnish :) In a textual conversation, some of us use "kirjutamiseni", similarly to "nägemiseni" meaning "till we write again"

[@a-mr8745]

@@KohaAlbertWhat a great word. We could also say: "kirjoittamisiin" like "tapaamisiin" what's sometimes used (as "näkemiin") but not so much these days.

[@a-mr8745]

Actually I just realised why don't we say "näkemisiin", we say "näkemiin". Well, it's shorter, maybe that's why... That "tapaamisiin" is a direct translation in Finnish for sentence "till me meet again".

[@maileoja6785]

Great job and im from estonian also aitäh kõige eest headaega loodan et saan Eestis sind näha ka

[@videpiik2801]

Im about a quarter estonian and Im really trying to learn the language but I gotta be really patient

[@TheZombaslaya]

It's a cool language but it's so different from anything else

[@pavelkish7142]

MAY LORD JESUS BLESS YOU, MY FRIEND.

[@everyone.likesmemes3801]

Me who know estonian and officially from Estonia I came here for listening how good is this (Bruh)

[@Erik.YT.cc99]

Tare

[@tranvananh6761]

ai tah Moonika, head aega🙂🙏

[@asiftasif9635]

How to say I LOVE YOU in Estonian

[@k8tina]

Ma armastan sind

[@B25611]

Hi dear, thanks so much for your good help. Could you please tell me how to say "wake up" . Thanks in advance.

[@Xrabbit]

How sad that this is the only video about learning estonian because I really enjoyed Moonika way of talk and teach...💔

[@apratimbordoloi4056]

I m from Assam, India and in Assamese language Aitah refers to the grandmother

[@JayWayTravel]

That's very interesting :) Thank you!

[@rembo14]

Okey thank you. I will go do some terviseks. 😄

[@dj-um7el]

I've been learning Estonian recently, and I kinda find it easy.

[@haxucho3065]

same everyone is saying its so hard tho so idk what its gonna be like when i get more advanced :'(

[@dj-um7el]

@@haxucho3065 true. I heard it has Latin origins, so maybe that's why I find it easy. Edit: I'm most likely wrong about this.

[@lolhahable]

@@dj-um7el Estonian has absolutely nothing to do with Latin languages

[@dj-um7el]

@@lolhahable If so, I'm sorry. My bad.

[@Flores573]

Where are you from?

[@rahimkgb2720]

AI-tah my love 😘😉

[@MaruKoer]

Tervitused Eestist! (Greetings from Estonia!) My comment in estonian first, translation in english after that. Lihtne ja selge. Tubli töö, Moonika! Minu kogemus on näidanud, et inimestel, kelle emakeel on inglise keel, on raskusi R-tähe hääldamisega ja nad ei suuda seda tähte keelel veeretada. Samuti on neil raskusi kui sõna lõpeb E-tähega, nad jätavad päris tihti sõna lõpus oleva E-tähe välja hääldamata. Clear and simple. Good job, Moonika! My experience has shown me that people who's mother tongue is english, have difficulties with the R-letter and they can't roll the R-letter on their tongue. Also they are struggling if the estonian word is ending with the E-letter, pretty often they don't pronounce the E-letter out.

[@SamSunnny]

Nice teacher... How can we remember words

[@arunray542]

So whatever you want to say, just go ahead and SAY but don't forget to substract emotions.👍

[@JayWayTravel]

You're halfway to learning Estonian already ;)

[@grethelvaher-dp8mk]

TERE MA ELAN EESTIS ❤😂🎉🎉

[@SagittariusArcherVaperkitten]

Monica do you have a channel where I can watch more Estonian language videos or a place you give lessons

[@kamakirinoko]

Very good introduction! I'm trying to decide whether to learn Latvian, Lithuanian, or Estonian. And ideas on which is easiest for the English speaker? I teach Japanese and use French every day, so maybe that could help you decide which one I'd be best at. But this sounds pretty good!

[@JayWayTravel]

Have you chosen yet? We would dare to say that Latvian might be the "easiest" choice, but is truly hard to say. Because our company focuses on travel rather than strictly languages, we could make choosing the right language easier for you by helping you plan a sort of research trip. To see which one of these languages and cultures actually speaks to you or sparks the needed inspiration :) Feel free to get in touch with our travel experts who can help you put together a Baltics tour suited to your specifics needs and interests or check out some of our Baltics sample itineraries such as jaywaytravel.com/itineraries/10-days-baltic-capitals-tour . We wish you the best in your language-studying pursuits!

[@SakuraScythe]

I absolutely agree with this. As a Latvian, our language IS difficult but not even close in comparison to estonian, maybe closer in terms of difficulty is lithuanian since its sometimes almost the same words.

[@pierrebalandras6320]

Hei, mina olen Pierre, mina elan Prantsusmaal ja ma on 21 aastane ! Täname videot !

[@MrBrudbrud]

"Tsau" like CIAO :)

[@mansourehrezapourian1404]

I love Estonia, and have plan to start my class next week, this is one year we are here, but we feel we should learn your language, thank you for your video, we are very keen to find estonian friend but we could not yet!!! On our bad luck, everywhere is closed now, We are intrested to know more about your culture, expand our relationship, find friends around the world, do you have any suggestions for us to find estonian friends? 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@kapsaline]

I hope you have found some friends here, but if not you could talk with some locals at parties. Clubs def not the best place but bars or some biggers events could be possibility. Now the restrictions are lowering and whole summer will be full of events in different towns especially look out for Jaanipäev (midsummers day) there will be all kinds of events in almost every town and village.

[@mansourehrezapourian1404]

@@kapsaline thank you very much, for the suggestion, yes in cultural events we can find friends, hope every thing come back as before

[@francismichaelcedenoreyes7222]

Tere Monica!¿how can i say in estonian: teacher i really appreciate it and thanks a lot anyway from the bottom of my heart in estonian...?

[@orazaliorazali1000]

❣

[@BooBooSpray]

Aitah, I need learn quick, I like a Estonian and I have to impress her parents, any ways Tanan

[@rogertemple7193]

"I can translate Estonian better with music and the singers, but when it is spoken its to quick to translate and I have been listening to Estonian pop & rock music 2011, I am still slowly learning and I may not ever fully learn it but I still try mainly through the music and the singers,thanks."-🤔🌐🌎🌍🌏🌐..

[@yiannishadjiloizou5501]

Out of this planet!!

[@sebastiaanm9122]

Estonian is such a sexy language. Just think of the expression "Terviseks" (cheers)

[@billbirkett7166]

She's a very likable teacher. I've studied some Finnish and learned maybe about 400 words in that language, and what surprises me about Estonian is how similar it does sound to Finnish, from a phonological perspective, and of course the etymologies are also very similar...maybe it's like the difference between Spanish and Portuguese? It would be interesting to get the perspective of someone who has studied both Finnish and Estonian. Also, I've been curious about visiting Tallinn this summer, and wondering how useful Russian is for getting around? Or is the primary second language English?

[@billbirkett7166]

@@timfiler9936 Why?

[@timfiler9936]

Ah sorry , I was drunk. My bad

[@francismichaelcedenoreyes619]

Tere päevast!how can i say hey,bubby in Estonian!

[@tomie6666world]

In Estonia we say 'hey' as hei. It's not like an original word in Estonia. It has came in from the English language. In Estonia 'husband' is 'mees' which also translates to 'man'. We also have the word 'abikaasa', which is used for a husband AND a wife. This word is like kinda unisex, I guess? But it's usually used in a more formal context. You can also say 'kallis', which basically means 'sweety'. Hubby is like a cute nickname, so the meaning isn't really that different. So you can say it like: ''hei, kallis'' or ''hei, kallike''. You can also say: ''hei meheke'' Hope this helped. 😁

[@mohammedhussain-tn5to]

Tanan to learn Estonia language simple way jay way

[@AntonioBernal-Avgvstvs]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@bulwarkvx6059]

tannks, now ican vist my grielfdine in estoirnai

[@aliim.s.p4151]

Aitäh selle video eest

[@siimtulev1759]

Tsau is both "bye" and "hi". It's not formal word. Only friends between each other say that. It's pretty much like "cya" and "yo"

[@regularpersonLIVE]

3:44 same as Finnish

[@ruanoliveiradasilva1272]

I am from brazil, i mean... i dont know why but i really gonna try to move to Estonia *--‐*

[@panchamsingh6501]

Good morning from Indian

[@edwardr5793]

looking for someone Eesti expert listener i want to translate what are 7. Eesti Laskurdiviis soldier's saying in Steel Division II thank you

[@Omar-lx4pn]

Tere Kõigile☺

[@tomie6666world]

tere tere, vana kere 😁🤣😂

[@Omar-lx4pn]

@@tomie6666world Hi✊🕴🙋 Vana kere Facebook! 😊🙂

[@tomie6666world]

@@Omar-lx4pn 😂👌okay

[@Omar-lx4pn]

@@tomie6666world What is your instagram please!🤔

[@tomie6666world]

@@Omar-lx4pn eliisa109 😅

[@joselomartinez6110]

How can i say come in please and get out this way in Estonian?

[@Emox991]

Thank you Moonika :3 Do you have Instagram?

[@user-in2jf7tx1q]

bro first time hearing about the existence of these people, estonia they said, it sounds like it sister Swedish, but learning germany first is better, because as an immigrant i find germany a great spot to live at, it has also the same type of beauty, all north countries has the same beauty, so estonian is at the last of the language list to learn, let me share the d*mn list, first english ,french ,spanish ,arabic ,mandarin, germany ,turkey or japanese ,swedish, then like as a sauce estonian or indian.

[@zeeta-24-YouTube]

Sounds similar to Finnish 😃

[@Thekovacsfamily.]

😃