Hello, my name is Moonika and I'm from Tallinn, Estonia.
Today I'm gonna teach you some Estonian words, so next time you take your JayWay
trip to Estonia you already know some basic words to use while here.
So why don't we start today's lesson with how to say "hello", which I think is probably the
most important word you need to know. There are two ways how you can say it
in Estonian - one is a more formal way and another one is very sort of casual,
you use only with your friends and family. So we start with the formal one, which is: "Tere".
We say "tere". We kind of roll our
Rs and we don't really use much emotion. We Estonians are very sort of - we don't
really like to show our emotion, so we keep it to ourselves.
And our language is also very sort of monotone. Don't need to use too much emotion.
If you want, of course, you can say "teRe!" That means you're really excited to see someone.
The less formal way, very casual way - this word actually comes from another language
which I'm sure you'll recognize when I say it (but of course we don't say it with as
much emotion as they do) is "Tsau". This is also used for "goodbye",
so if you're with your friends or family and you say "hello" and "goodbye",
you use "tsau". "Tsau!"
So now that we've learned how to say "hello" - "tere" and "tsau",
we can move on to the second word which I think is one of the most important ones to learn.
And this is how to say "thank you". There are also two ways to say it,
so you can choose which one you kind of feel more, you know, comfortable
with or you find it more easier to say. Both are fine, first one would be like:
"Aitäh". "Aitäh".
It's kind of ends on a bit of a stronger note so "ai-TÄH" with an "H", like that.
Or maybe the other one might be a little easier - we say "Tänan".
"Tänan", "tänan".
So you can choose which one you want to use but they both work.
Maybe "aitäh" is more used, but it's up to you.
Now I would like to teach you how to say "goodbye".
People say that when Estonians speak, it all kind of is like one very long word.
It's like we don't take a breather in between the words,
so one sentence might sound to someone like just a very very long word.
Here it's not a long word - but it's actually it's also two words.
But how we pronounce it, it kind of sounds like it's one word.
So how you say goodbye in Estonian is "Head aega". It's - well, it's TWO words - so it's really
"head"...."aega", but how we say is "head-aega". "Head aega."
So you know the more faster you say it,
the more local you sound. So..."head aega!"
Another good word to know and a very polite word, I guess, is how to say "please".
In Estonian we say "Palun". Very simple - "palun".
I think it's easy to learn "palun".
Oh, now let's move on to some shorter words. This is how to say "yes" and "no".
We'll start with, "yes". "Yes" in Estonian you say: "Jah".
This is the correct way to say it - "jaH". It's quite strong, so most people
actually don't say "jaH". It's like when you really
really agree with something you say "jaH" (yaHH) but usually you just say "JAh" (ya)
which also means "and". So - "jah", easy.
And then how to say "no". No, I think, might be the easiest one
for you because it actually sounds exactly like the letter in your alphabet - the first letter A.
So "no" is a just "Ei". "Ei."
Easy? I think so!
And now I would like to teach you the last word, last but not least, is how to say "cheers".
I think in most languages "cheers" is very easy to learn and it's quite catchy.
In Estonian, of course, we have to complicate things.
So this is a little longer word there's an R you need to roll and some people
find it funny - I don't know why, but you can tell me if you find it funny.
So how to say "cheers" in Estonian: we say "Terviseks".
"Terviseks!" Funny? I don't think so. "Terviseks."
I hope you enjoyed today's lesson, I don't want to
overwhelm you because they say Estonian is one of the hardest languages to learn,
so I think we can start with those few ones. And who knows, maybe next time you come
to Estonia I'll be the one testing out your knowledge when you arrive!
So aitäh head aega!