Estonian Basic-School Estonian as a Second Language Exam cheat sheet

The recording is played twice; read the questions before the first playing and mark only keywords, not full sentences.

Question order follows the audio order - if you have answered item 3, the answer to item 1 has already passed.

In task types with pictures or short options, eliminate options whose key word is never heard in the recording.

Numbers, times, prices and dates are the most frequent distractors: the speaker often corrects an earlier figure ("mitte kolm, vaid pool neli").

Listen for discourse markers that signal the answer: aga, kuid, siiski, tegelikult, hoopis, välja arvatud.

Negative questions ("Mida ta EI teinud?") require marking the option that is contradicted or absent in the audio.

Estonian has no grammatical gender and no future tense; a present-tense verb plus a time expression (homme, järgmisel nädalal) carries future meaning.

If an answer is missed, leave it and continue - a second playing replays the whole text, not single items.

Skim the questions first, then locate the paragraph containing the keyword; answers are usually paraphrases, not verbatim copies.

True/false/not-stated items: "not stated" means the text gives no information either way, not that the statement is false.

Match headings to paragraphs by the paragraph's topic sentence, normally the first or second sentence.

Gap-fill texts are solved by grammar first (case ending, verb form), then by meaning.

Estonian compounds are written solid (koolimaja, raamatukogu); a long word can often be split into known parts to guess meaning.

Reference words (see, tema, need, selline, viimane) point back to a noun in the previous sentence - resolve them before answering.

Inference items require evidence in the text; an answer that is true in real life but unsupported by the passage is wrong.

Time management: about one minute per item; long texts with many items should be read after shorter tasks.

14 cases: nominative, genitive, partitive, illative, inessive, elative, allative, adessive, ablative, translative, terminative, essive, abessive, comitative; genitive and partitive stems underlie the rest.

Object case rule: total object (genitive or nominative) for completed/quantified actions; partitive object after negation, ongoing action, and mass nouns.

Negation always takes the partitive object and the negative verb form: ma ei loe raamatut.

Verb types: -ma infinitive, -da infinitive and -des form are fixed by the governing verb or expression (hakkama + -ma, saama + -da, õppima + -ma).

Present tense personal endings: -n, -d, -b, -me, -te, -vad; the past tense uses -si-/-i- with the same personal endings except 3rd person singular, which has no ending.

Postpositions govern the genitive (laua all, maja ees); prepositions are rare in Estonian.

Word formation: -mine makes action nouns, -ja makes agent nouns, -lik and -ne make adjectives; diminutive -ke/-kene.

Grading trap: choose the form that fits both the case government of the verb and the sentence's aspect, not the form that merely sounds familiar.

Read the task prompt for three things: text type (kiri, teade, kirjeldus, arvamus), required points, and word limit; missing a required point costs more than a grammar slip.

Greeting and closing formulas: informal tere/head aega, formal lugupeetud + name, lõpetuseks/lugupidamisega.

Formal register uses the polite "teie" form and full sentences; informal messages use sina-form and shorter clauses.

Link your text with connectors: esiteks, teiseks, lisaks, seejärel, seetõttu, kuid, samas, kokkuvõtteks.

Check case endings on objects and postpositional phrases last - they are the most frequent accuracy errors under time pressure.

Write within the stated word count; a text far below the limit loses content points even if it is error-free.

Spell compound words solid and keep vowel harmony of endings consistent with the stem (õpetaja/õpetajaga).

Leave two minutes to reread for agreement of subject and verb, and for the partitive after numbers (kaks raamatut, viis inimest).

Monologue tasks usually allow short preparation; build a three-part skeleton: sissejuhatus, 2–3 arenduspunktid, kokkuvõte.

Buy thinking time with fillers that are themselves correct Estonian: noh, vaatame, ütleme nii, mis puutub …, siis …

Answer the second part of a two-part question explicitly; examiners mark each prompt point separately.

Use the conditional (-ks) and the "would like" pattern sooviksin/ tahaksin for polite requests and hypotheticals.

Pronunciation: Estonian stress is on the first syllable, and quantity (short/long/overlong) distinguishes meaning - hold long vowels and geminate consonants clearly.

In dialogue tasks ask a return question ("Aga sina? Mis sinu arvates?") to show interactive competence.

Self-correction is allowed and preferred to a wrong ending: restart the phrase rather than leave an error uncorrected.

Do not read a prepared text aloud; a memorised monologue that ignores the examiner's follow-up question loses interaction points.