In English, we use prepositions — words like "on", "under", "behind", "beside" — that come before the noun: "on the table", "behind the house". Estonian works differently. Most of the words that express spatial and relational meanings in Estonian are postpositions — they come after the noun phrase, not before it. Combined with the case system, postpositions allow Estonian to express nuanced location, direction, and relationships with great precision. This guide covers all the major Estonian postpositions, the cases they require, and how to use them naturally in sentences.
What Is a Postposition?
A postposition is a word that follows its noun (or noun phrase) to indicate a relationship — much like a preposition, but placed after rather than before. Estonian has a small number of true prepositions, but the vast majority of its relational words are postpositions.
Example comparison:
- English (preposition): behind the house
- Estonian (postposition): maja taga — house-GEN behind
The noun maja (house) appears in the genitive case (maja), and taga (behind) follows it.
The genitive is the most important case for postpositions — the great majority of Estonian postpositions require the noun to be in the genitive.
Postpositions Requiring the Genitive
The genitive singular of Estonian nouns is formed in various ways depending on the noun type, but for common nouns like maja (house), laud (table), raamat (book):
- maja → genitive: maja
- laud → genitive: laua
- raamat → genitive: raamatu
- auto → genitive: auto
- tee → genitive: tee
- mets (forest) → genitive: metsa
- linn (city) → genitive: linna
Location Postpositions (Where Something Is)
These postpositions answer the question kus? (where?):
taga — behind, at the back of
- maja taga — behind the house
- Auto on garaaži taga. — The car is behind the garage.
- Mis on ukse taga? — What is behind the door?
ees — in front of, before
- maja ees — in front of the house
- Kes seisab ukse ees? — Who is standing in front of the door?
- Ta ootas poe ees. — He/she waited in front of the shop.
peal — on top of, on (surface)
- laua peal — on the table
- Raamat on laua peal. — The book is on the table.
- Midagi on katuse peal. — Something is on the roof.
all — under, beneath, below
- laua all — under the table
- Kass on voodi all. — The cat is under the bed.
- Mis on maa all? — What is under the ground?
kõrval — beside, next to
- maja kõrval — next to the house
- Istu minu kõrval. — Sit beside me.
- Pank on apteegi kõrval. — The bank is next to the pharmacy.
vahel — between, among
- majade vahel — between the houses
- Otsige seda toolide vahel. — Look for it among the chairs.
- Meie vahel on saladus. — There is a secret between us.
juures — at, near, by (at someone's place or near a location)
- arsti juures — at the doctor's
- Ta on sõbra juures. — He/she is at a friend's place.
- Kohtume jaama juures. — Let's meet by the station.
sees — inside (less common than the inessive case, but used with certain nouns)
- karbis sees — inside the box (though karbis alone often suffices)
pärast — after (time)
- söögi pärast — after the meal
- Pärast tundi — after class (pärast can also come before in some dialects)
ajal — during, at the time of
- sõja ajal — during the war
- puhkuse ajal — during the holiday
- Eksami ajal ei tohi rääkida. — During the exam you may not talk.
ümber — around
- linna ümber — around the city
- Ta kõndis pargi ümber. — He/she walked around the park.
- Kogu pere ümber laua. — The whole family around the table.
lähedal — near, close to
- kooli lähedal — near the school
- Elame mere lähedal. — We live near the sea.
- Kas siin lähedal on apteek? — Is there a pharmacy nearby?
keskel — in the middle of, in the centre of
- linna keskel — in the city centre
- Saar on järve keskel. — The island is in the middle of the lake.
- Seisis rahvahulga keskel. — Stood in the middle of the crowd.
serval — at the edge of
- metsa serval — at the edge of the forest
- laua serval — at the edge of the table
vastas — opposite, across from
- poe vastas — opposite the shop
- Nad elavad meie vastas. — They live across from us.
Direction Postpositions (Where Something Moves To)
These answer kuhu? (where to?):
taha — to behind, to the back of
- maja taha — (to) behind the house
- Mine laua taha! — Go behind the table!
ette — in front of, to the front of
- maja ette — in front of the house
- Auto sõitis maja ette. — The car drove up in front of the house.
peale — onto (the surface of)
- laua peale — onto the table
- Pane raamat laua peale. — Put the book on the table.
alla — down to, under
- laua alla — under the table (direction)
- Kass läks voodi alla. — The cat went under the bed.
kõrvale — beside, next to (direction)
- Istu minu kõrvale. — Come and sit beside me.
- Parkisin auto maja kõrvale. — I parked the car next to the house.
vahele — between (direction)
- Pistsin paberi raamatute vahele. — I slipped the paper between the books.
juurde — to (someone's place or near a location) — direction
- arsti juurde — to the doctor's
- Tule minu juurde. — Come to my place.
- Läksin sõbra juurde. — I went to my friend's place.
ümber — around (direction, same form as location)
- Kõndisime linna ümber. — We walked around the city.
lähedale — near, close to (direction)
- Ära tule liiga lähedale. — Don't come too close.
keskele — to the middle of
- Asetasime laua toa keskele. — We placed the table in the middle of the room.
Movement Away Postpositions (Where Something Moves From)
These answer kust? (where from?):
tagant — from behind
- maja tagant — from behind the house
- Ta tuli nurga tagant välja. — He/she came out from behind the corner.
eest — from in front of
- ukse eest — from in front of the door
- Liikus auto teelt eest ära. — Moved the car away from the road.
pealt — from on top of
- laua pealt — from on top of the table
- Võtsin raamatu laua pealt. — I took the book from the table.
alt — from under
- laua alt — from under the table
- Kass tuli voodi alt välja. — The cat came out from under the bed.
kõrvalt — from beside
- Ta astus minu kõrvalt ära. — He/she stepped away from beside me.
juurest — from (someone's place)
- arsti juurest — from the doctor's
- Tulin sõbra juurest. — I came from my friend's place.
keskelt — from the middle of
- Võtsin palli hunniku keskelt. — I took the ball from the middle of the pile.
The Three-Way Location/Direction/Source Pattern
You will notice that many postpositions form a three-way set expressing the same spatial concept in three aspects — where something is (location), where it moves to (direction/goal), and where it comes from (source/origin):
- Behind — taga — taha — tagant
- In front — ees — ette — eest
- On top — peal — peale — pealt
- Under — all — alla — alt
- Beside — kõrval — kõrvale — kõrvalt
- At/near — juures — juurde — juurest
- In middle — keskel — keskele — keskelt
This three-way pattern mirrors the six local cases (inessive/illative/elative for interior; adessive/allative/ablative for exterior) but applies to the postpositional constructions. Learning postpositions in these triplets is the most efficient approach.
Postpositions Requiring Other Cases
While genitive is the most common case required by postpositions, a handful require other cases:
Postpositions with the Partitive
mööda — along, down (movement along a path)
- teed mööda — along the road
- Kõndisime randa mööda. — We walked along the beach.
- Sõitsime jõge mööda. — We drove along the river.
alates — from (a time or starting point) — also used with genitive
- jaanuarist alates — from January onwards
- Alates homsest — from tomorrow
saati — since (a point in time)
- lapsepõlvest saati — since childhood
Postpositions with Specific Cases in Context
vastu — against, toward (takes partitive or elative depending on meaning)
- seina vastu — against the wall (partitive)
- Toetas keppi vastu seina. — Leaned the stick against the wall.
pärast — because of, for the sake of (takes genitive)
- sinu pärast — because of you
- Ärge minu pärast muretsege. — Don't worry on my account.
Common Postpositional Phrases in Everyday Estonian
- minu arvates — in my opinion (literally: according to my counting/reckoning)
- sinu tõttu — because of you
- tänu temale — thanks to him/her
- vaatamata sellele — despite that
- seoses sellega — in connection with that
- kuni homse hommikuni — until tomorrow morning
- alates täna — starting from today
- minu jaoks — for me (in my case)
- selle asemel — instead of that
- tema järgi — according to him/her
- nende hulgas — among them
- kogu maailma ümber — around the whole world
Postpositions vs. Case Endings: When to Use Which
Students sometimes wonder why Estonian has postpositions at all, given that the case system already handles many spatial meanings. The answer is that postpositions express meanings that the cases cannot — particularly relative spatial positions (behind, in front of, beside, above, below) that the six local cases do not cover.
The local cases handle:
- Inside/outside: majas (in the house), majast (from the house), majasse (into the house)
- On/off surfaces and people: laual (on the table), laualt (from the table), lauale (onto the table)
Postpositions handle:
- Behind, in front of, beside, above, below, between, around, near — all the relational positions that the cases cannot express
Together, cases and postpositions cover the full spatial vocabulary of Estonian with remarkable precision.
Tips for Learning Estonian Postpositions
Learn in location/direction/source triplets. Rather than memorising taga, taha, tagant as three separate items, learn them as one concept (behind) with three aspects. This cuts memorisation by a third.
Always note the required case. Most postpositions take the genitive — but make it a habit to check. The genitive form of a noun is one of its three principal parts, so you should already have it when you learn a new word.
Practise with common nouns. Use maja, laud, auto, kool, pood (shop) and build postpositional phrases with each one. This builds the pattern before you need to apply it to unfamiliar vocabulary.
Listen for postpositions in Estonian speech. ERR (Estonian public broadcasting) content, Estonian podcasts, and films are excellent for hearing postpositions in natural context — they appear in virtually every sentence about location or movement.
Estonian postpositions are one of the language's most practically useful features. They extend the spatial precision of the case system into every corner of physical and abstract space. Mastering them gives you the vocabulary to describe the world around you in full detail. Head õppimist!