Languages
Native
Estonian
69%
Russian
25%
Secondary languages
English
50%
Russian
65%
Finnish
18%
Language Samples
Tere, kuidas käsi käib?
Hello, how are you?
Mul läheb hästi, aitäh.
I am doing well, thank you.
Üks, kaks, kolm, neli, viis, kuus, seitse, kaheksa, üheksa, kümme.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Linguistic History
Estonian is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, closely related to Finnish. It is spoken by about 1.1 million people, making it one of the smallest official languages of the European Union. The earliest writing in Estonian dates from the 13th century. Estonia was ruled successively by Denmark, the Teutonic Knights, Sweden, and Russia, and the language survived centuries of foreign domination. Estonian gained official status when the Republic of Estonia was founded in 1918. After Soviet occupation (1940–1991), the language revival was central to the 'Singing Revolution', in which hundreds of thousands of Estonians used mass song gatherings to peacefully reclaim independence. Estonian is notable for having three phonemic vowel lengths.
Similar Languages
Finnish
61%
Livonian
70%
Votic
68%
Võro
78%
Media
The medieval Old Town of Tallinn, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved Hanseatic city centres in Northern Europe.
Did You Know
01
Estonian has three phonemic vowel lengths (short, long, and overlong), making it one of the very few languages in the world with a three-way length distinction.
02
The Estonian word 'jäääär' (edge of ice) contains four consecutive letter ä's and is one of the most striking examples of the language's unusual phonological patterns.
03
Estonia was among the first countries in the world to hold legally binding elections over the internet, launching i-voting in 2005 as part of its pioneering e-governance system.