A1 · Isikulised asesõnad ja tegusõna olema
Personal pronouns & olema
Learn how to say I, you, he, she, we and they — and make your first sentences with “to be”.
1. Personal pronouns · Isikulised asesõnad
A personal pronoun replaces a person's name: Mari → tema / ta. Estonian has a long and a short form. Both are correct. The short forms are very common in everyday speech and writing.
Use the long form when you want to emphasise someone or make a contrast: Mina olen õpetaja, aga sina oled õpilane. — I am a teacher, but you are a student.
Tema / ta means both “he” and “she”. Estonian does not distinguish gender in this pronoun. For a thing or animal, see (“it / this”) is also common: See on raamat. — It / this is a book.
Sina / sa addresses one person informally. Teie / te addresses several people, or one person politely. When addressing one person politely in a letter, you may see Teie / Te with a capital letter.
2. Olema · To be
Olema is the dictionary form meaning “to be”. In the present tense, the form changes depending on who you are talking about. This is called conjugation.
| Personal pronoun | English | Olema | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| mina / ma | I | olen | Ma olen õpetaja. I am a teacher. |
| sina / sa | you (one person) | oled | Sa oled kodus. You are at home. |
| tema / ta | he / she | on | Ta on õpilane. He / she is a student. |
| meie / me | we | oleme | Me oleme Eestis. We are in Estonia. |
| teie / te | you (several people; also polite singular) | olete | Te olete valmis. You are ready. |
| nemad / nad | they | on | Nad on sõbrad. They are friends. |
Remember the pattern: olen · oled · on · oleme · olete · on.
Tema / ta and nemad / nad both use on. The pronoun tells you whether you mean one person or several.
Unlike English, Estonian has no articles “a” or “an”: Ma olen õpetaja. — I am a teacher. Keep olen in the sentence.
3. Build a sentence
Who + olema + information
Ma olen Mari. — I am Mari. (name)
Sa oled arst. — You are a doctor. (job)
Ta on väsinud. — He / she is tired. (feeling)
Me oleme kodus. — We are at home. (location)
Te olete Eestist. — You are from Estonia. (origin)
Nad on õnnelikud. — They are happy.
You may also hear Olen kodus. — I am at home. The ending -n already shows “I”. For now, practise using the pronoun to make the pattern clear.
4. Say “am not / is not / are not”
Use ei ole with every personal pronoun. Do not use ei olen or ei oled.
| Positive | Negative |
|---|---|
| Ma olen | Ma ei ole |
| Sa oled | Sa ei ole |
| Ta on | Ta ei ole |
| Me oleme | Me ei ole |
| Te olete | Te ei ole |
| Nad on | Nad ei ole |
Ma ei ole väsinud. — I am not tired.
Nad ei ole kodus. — They are not at home.
Pole is a common shorter form of ei ole: Ma pole kodus. = Ma ei ole kodus.
Practise pronouns & olema
Write the missing pronoun or verb form. For pronouns, either the long or short form is accepted.
Test your knowledge
Answer 12 mixed questions about pronouns, positive forms and negatives. Your score and explanations appear after you submit. There is no timer.