localize-et

Estonian Translation Rules (et / eesti keel)

Distilled from the production translation prompt. Follow these rules verbatim — they are model-agnostic and produce consistent native-quality Estonian output.

Mindset

Sa oled äärmiselt nõudlik eesti keele kirjanik, kes vihkab ebaloomulikke eestikeelseid väljendeid, nagu inglise keelest otseseid tõlkeid või kohmakaid sõnastusi.

Reject literal English calques and verbed anglicisms (klikima, downloadima). Estonian is a digital society — modern tech terminology is welcome, but native compound nouns are preferred over English borrowings.

Pre-Translation Setup

Lock in before translating:

1. Formality (sina vs Teie) — Default to sina (informal) for modern software. Teie is acceptable but reads stiff in most consumer/B2B UI. NEVER mix within a file.
2. 14 grammatical cases — Estonian has no prepositions; meaning is carried by case suffixes. Get the case wrong and the meaning shifts entirely.
3. No grammatical gender — ta = he / she / it. Adjectives agree in CASE and NUMBER only.
4. Partitive singular with numbers 2+ — UNIQUE to Estonian/Finnish. viis faili (singular!) NOT viis failid.
5. Placeholders — Preserve {variables} and ICU plural syntax exactly.

Register Auto-Detection (run after Pre-Translation Setup, before translating)

If the user has NOT specified sina or Teie, infer from source text register. Match output to source — formal source → Teie; informal source → sina. Estonian calibration is UNIQUE: even moderately formal source defaults to sina in modern software UI; Teie reads as stiff or old-fashioned in most contexts.

Formal source signals → output Teie / teie / Teid

• Hedging / polite modals: "please", "kindly", "we recommend", "we kindly request", "could you"
• Passive / impersonal constructions: "users are advised", "it is recommended", "applicants must"
• No contractions: "do not", "cannot", "we will"
• Domain vocabulary: legal, financial, healthcare, regulatory, government, banking, insurance, formal contracts
• Third-person / distance: "the user must", "customers should"
• Long sentences, formal connectors
• Brand voice: bank, government, legal tech, insurance, healthcare formal correspondence
• No exclamations or emojis

Informal source signals → output sina / sa / sinu / su (modern Estonian default)

• ANY of: contractions, casual greetings, emoji, exclamations, slang, consumer-app voice
• Lifestyle, gaming, social, e-commerce, productivity apps — all default to sina
• Marketing copy, newsletters, mobile UI — sina is the modern norm

Mixed / ambiguous source → default to SINA

This is OPPOSITE of most other languages (where formal is the safe default). In Estonian:

• Modern software UI: sina almost always.
• Teie reads stiff and may signal "outdated/government/elderly target".
• Only escalate to Teie if source is explicitly legal/banking/government, OR the user requests it.

Explicit user override

If the user says "use Teie" / "use formal" / "make it casual", their instruction wins.

Worked examples

Source	Detected	Estonian output
"Please review the terms of service before proceeding."	formal	Palun tutvuge teenusetingimustega enne jätkamist.
"Hey! Tap here to get started — it's super quick 🚀"	informal	Tere! Puuduta siia, et alustada — see on imekiire 🚀
"Submit your application by the deadline."	formal	Esitage oma avaldus enne tähtaega.
"Don't forget to save your work!"	informal	Ära unusta oma tööd salvestada!

After detection: keep the chosen form consistent. NEVER mix sina/Teie across pronouns, possessives, OR imperatives.

⚠️ Critical Rules — Estonian Has Three Highly Distinctive Patterns

These three are the most common sources of unnatural output. They have no analogue in English/Romance/Germanic languages, so the model gets them wrong by default.

A. Numbers 2+ take partitive SINGULAR (severity 2.0)

Wrong (English-style plural)	Correct (partitive singular)
viis failid	viis faili
kolm kasutajad	kolm kasutajat
kakskümmend failid	kakskümmend faili
sada krediidid	sada krediiti

Rule: only 1 takes nominative singular (üks fail). Every other number, including 0, takes partitive singular. This applies recursively in ICU plurals (see below).

B. ICU plural other = partitive singular (CRITICAL)

{count, plural, one {# fail} other {# faili}}
{count, plural, one {# krediit} other {# krediiti}}
{count, plural, one {# kasutaja} other {# kasutajat}}

Wrong	Correct
other {# failid}	other {# faili} (partitive singular, not plural)
other {# krediite}	other {# krediiti}

The other branch is the partitive SINGULAR form. Common pitfall: most translators reach for the partitive plural by analogy with English/Spanish/etc.

C. Verb-governed case (severity 2.0)

Each Estonian verb dictates which case its object/complement takes. There's no general rule — these must be memorized.

Verb	Governs	Example	Wrong (alt case)
aitama (help)	partitive	aitama kasutajat	aitama kasutajale
sõltuma (depend on)	elative	sõltuma seadetest	sõltuma seadetel
huvituma (be interested in)	elative	huvituma projektist	huvituma projekti
otsima (search for)	partitive	otsima faili	(genitive form looks identical for fail)
uskuma (believe)	partitive	uskuma teda	uskuma temale
meeldima (please / X likes Y)	adessive subj. + nominative obj.	mulle meeldib see	minule meeldib seda
vajama (need)	partitive	vajame faili	vajame failile
ootama (wait for)	partitive	ootame teie vastust	ootame teie vastusele

If the source uses an English verb that maps to one of these, double-check the case.

The 14 Cases — Full Reference

#	Case	Question	Singular example (fail)	When to use
1	Nominative	kes? mis?	fail	Subject of sentence
2	Genitive	kelle? mille?	faili	Possession; motion direction (often)
3	Partitive	keda? mida?	faili	Partial object; with numbers 2+; with certain verbs
4	Illative	kuhu?	faili / failisse	Motion INTO
5	Inessive	kus?	failis	Location IN
6	Elative	kust?	failist	Motion FROM inside
7	Allative	kellele?	failile	Motion ONTO; recipient
8	Adessive	kellel?	failil	Location ON
9	Ablative	kellelt?	faililt	Motion FROM surface
10	Translative	kelleks?	failiks	Becoming; transformation
11	Terminative	kelleni?	failini	UP TO (limit)
12	Essive	kellena?	failina	AS (role)
13	Abessive	kelleta?	failita	WITHOUT
14	Comitative	kellega?	failiga	WITH (accompaniment / instrument)

English preposition → Estonian case quick map:

English	Case	Example
in the file	inessive	failis
into the file	illative	faili (or failisse)
from inside the file	elative	failist
on the file	adessive	failil
onto the file	allative	failile
from the surface of the file	ablative	faililt
with the file	comitative	failiga
without the file	abessive	failita
up to the file	terminative	failini
as a file	essive	failina
(becoming) a file	translative	failiks

Common case errors (severity 2.0)

Wrong	Correct	Why
failis (for motion into)	faili	illative for "into"
süsteemist (for location in)	süsteemis	inessive for "in"
kasutaja (when partial object)	kasutajat	partitive for partial objects
failes	failis	wrong case form

Adjective agreement in case + number

Adjectives must agree with the noun in CASE and NUMBER. No gender to worry about.

Wrong	Correct
uus faile (partitive plural)	uusi faile
uue failid (nominative plural)	uued failid
suur kasutajat	suurt kasutajat (partitive both)

Formality — sina vs Teie

Form	Pronoun	Possessive	Example
Informal (sina)	sina / sa	sinu / su	Sa saad oma faili salvestada.
Formal (Teie)	Teie / Te	Teie	Te saate oma faili salvestada.

• Default to sina for modern software UI. Teie is for very formal/older contexts.
• NEVER mix pronouns, possessives, and imperatives within one file.
• Teie is capitalized when used as the formal address (Te / Teie / Teid); te / teie lowercase = "you all" (plural informal — rare in software UI).

Imperative endings:

• Informal sina: base form — Salvesta, Logi sisse, Vali kõik.
• Formal Teie: -ge / -te — Salvestage, Logige sisse, Valige kõik.

Don't mix	Use
Teie fail on salvestatud. Salvesta uuesti?	Teie fail on salvestatud. Salvestage uuesti? (formal) OR Sinu fail on salvestatud. Salvesta uuesti? (informal)
Laadige üles + Sirvi faile	Laadige üles + Sirvige faile (both formal)

Negation — invariant ei + same stem for all persons

Wrong (conjugated after ei)	Correct (invariant stem)
mina ei salvestan	mina ei salvesta
meie ei salvestame	meie ei salvesta
nad ei salvestavad	nad ei salvesta

ei does the negation; the verb following is always the bare negative stem (looks like the present-tense ta form without ending).

Word Order

• Default: SVO — Kasutaja salvestab faili.
• V2 tendency when an adverb is fronted — the verb stays in the 2nd position:

Wrong	Correct
Täna kasutaja salvestab faili	Täna salvestab kasutaja faili
Pärast seda süsteem käivitub	Pärast seda käivitub süsteem

Compound Words — Estonian Writes Them TOGETHER

Estonian aggressively compounds nouns. Hyphens are wrong except for abbreviations.

Wrong (hyphenated like English)	Correct (one word)
faili-süsteem	failisüsteem
andme-baas	andmebaas
kasutaja-sõbralik	kasutajasõbralik
pilve-põhine	pilvepõhine
veebi-leht	veebileht

Exception — abbreviations DO take a hyphen: XML-fail, e-post, IT-osakond.

Infinitives — Da vs Ma

Estonian has two infinitive forms; each verb selects the right one based on context.

Trigger	Infinitive form	Example
tahan, soovin, suudan, võin, oskan	-da	Tahan salvestada
hakkan, lähen, pean, jään	-ma	Hakkan salvestama, Lähen ostma

Wrong	Correct
Tahan salvestama	Tahan salvestada
Hakkan salvestada	Hakkan salvestama

Consonant Gradation (severity 1.5)

Strong/weak alternation across cases:

Strong	Weak
pp → p	kapp → kapi
tt → t	kott → koti
kk → k	pakk → paki
p → v	leib → leiva
k → g / ∅	leping → lepingu

These shifts happen during inflection — important when generating case forms.

Punctuation and Typography

Item	Estonian
Decimal separator	, (comma)
Thousands separator	(space)
Example number	1 234,56
Currency	99,99 € (symbol AFTER, with NBSP space) — Estonia is in the Eurozone
Date	15.01.2024 (DD.MM.YYYY) or 15. jaanuar 2024 (lowercase months)
Time	14:30 or kell 14:30 (24-hour)
Quotation marks	„..." (German-style low-9 open + high-6 close), NOT English "..."
Ellipsis	… single character (NOT three periods)
Ampersand	ja (NOT &, except in brand names)
Space before unit symbol	yes (NBSP preferred): 10 MB, 99,9 %

Wrong	Correct
1,234.56 €	1 234,56 €
"Estonian quotes"	„Estonian quotes"
01/15/2024	15.01.2024

Comma Rules (Estonian is comma-heavy)

Before	Comma?
või / ja / ning (or / and)	No comma
et / kui / sest / mis / kes / kuna (subordinating: that/if/because/which/who/since)	Comma always required
aga / kuid / ent (but)	Comma required

Wrong	Correct
Näen et fail on avatud	Näen**,** et fail on avatud
Lohistage siia, või klõpsake	Lohistage siia või klõpsake
See on lihtne aga tõhus	See on lihtne**,** aga tõhus

Preferred Terms (UI / SaaS vocabulary)

English	Preferred Estonian	Avoid
save	salvestama / button: Salvesta	—
settings	seaded	sätted
select	valima / Vali	—
upload	üles laadima	uploadima
download	alla laadima	downloadima
log in	sisse logima / Logi sisse	—
log out	välja logima / Logi välja	—
update	uuendama	updateima
cancel	tühistama / Tühista / Loobu	—
delete	kustutama / Kustuta	deleteima
search	otsima / Otsi	—
file	fail (accepted loanword, invariable concept; takes Estonian case suffixes)	—
folder	kaust	—
email	e-post (e-kiri for the message)	email
browser	veebilehitseja	brauser
click	klõpsama	klikima
dashboard	töölaud / juhtpaneel	—
notifications	teavitused	notifikatsioonid
native support	sisseehitatud tugi	loomulik tugi
login credentials	sisselogimisandmed	konto mandaadid
account	konto	—
user	kasutaja	—
Settings	seaded	sätted (older; both used but seaded more current)
Profile	profiil	—
Account	konto	—
Sign up / register	registreeruma / loo konto	signupima
Subscribe	tellima / tellida	subscribima
Unsubscribe	tellimusest loobuma	—
Submit	esita (button) / esitama	—
Apply	rakenda (e.g., apply filter) / taotle (apply for something)	—
Filter	filter / filtreerima	—
Sort	sorteerima / järjesta	—
Refresh	värskenda / uuenda	refreshima
Copy	kopeeri / kopeerima	—
Paste	kleebi / kleepima	—
Cut	lõika / lõikama	—
Undo	võta tagasi	undoma
Redo	tee uuesti	redoma
Confirm	kinnita / kinnitama	—
Continue	jätka / jätkama	—
Back	tagasi	—
Next	edasi	—
Skip	jäta vahele	skipima
Share	jaga / jagama	sharima
Help	abi	—
Welcome	tere tulemast / tervitame	—
Success	õnnestumine / õnnestus	—
Error	viga	—
Warning	hoiatus	—
Loading	laadimine	—
Saving	salvestamine	—
Required	nõutav / kohustuslik	—
Optional	valikuline	—
Free / no cost	tasuta	—
Paid	tasuline	—
Premium	tasuline / premium	—
Trial	prooviperiood	—
Subscription	tellimus / tellimine	—
Payment	makse / maksmine	—
Invoice	arve	—
Coupon	kupong / sooduskood	—
Discount	allahindlus / soodustus	—

Anglicism Verbs — Estonian Prefers Native

Anglicism (avoid)	Native Estonian
klikima	klõpsama
downloadima	alla laadima
uploadima	üles laadima
deleteima	kustutama
editima	muutma / redigeerima (loan but accepted)
checkima	kontrollima

Software Terminology

English	Wrong	Correct
build (software)	(no Estonian word for physical construction works here)	arendama / koostama / looma
deploy	(military sense)	juurutama / paigaldama / käiku andma
support (feature)	toetama (general sense)	toetama (accepted) / olema ühilduv / ühildub X-iga
pipeline (CI/CD)	toru (= physical pipe)	konveier / pipeline (loanword accepted in DevOps)
architecture (software)	(construction sense)	arhitektuur (context: software)
source of truth	(literal)	ainus tõeallikas / autoriteetne andmeallikas
commit (git)	giti sisse laaditud (= uploaded into git — wrong domain)	committima / giti lisatud
launch (product)	(military / spatial)	avaldama / käivitama / turule tooma
migrate (data)	(general "move")	migreerima / üle viima

UI Conventions

Buttons — imperative (sina form)

Wrong	Correct
Salvestage (formal -ge)	Salvesta
Salvestamine (noun)	Salvesta
Tühistamine (noun)	Tühista

(If the file uses Teie throughout, buttons take -ge form: Salvestage, Tühistage. Match formality consistently.)

Status messages — active 3rd person or impersonal passive

Wrong	Correct
Laadimine (noun alone)	Laeb... / Laetakse...
Salvestamine (noun alone)	Salvestab... / Salvestatakse...
Analüüs (noun)	Analüüsib...

Drag and drop

English	Estonian
drag	lohistama
drop	kukutama
release (let go)	lahti laskma
browse (file picker)	sirvima / action verb: Vali fail

Wrong	Correct
Kukutage failid siia	Lohistage failid siia (drag is the main action)
Vabastage failid siia	Lohistage ja kukutage siia

Empty state — Ei ole X / Ühtegi X-i ei leitud / Tulemused puuduvad

(The source file is light on explicit empty-state templates — use natural Estonian existential negation. See Empty State Templates section below for a full table.)

Wrong	Correct
Tühi	Pole midagi näidata / Tulemused puuduvad
Mitte tulemusi	Ühtegi tulemust ei leitud / Tulemused puuduvad

Validation messages

Type	Mood	Example
Field validation	indicative	See väli on kohustuslik / Formaat pole õige
Action instruction	imperative	Sisestage õige väärtus (Teie) / Sisesta õige väärtus (sina)
State description	impersonal	Ühendust ei õnnestunud luua

Other UI patterns

Wrong	Correct
Tugi {formatList} failidele	Toetatud {formatList} failid (participle)
{name}le (case suffix on placeholder)	Failile {name} (restructure to avoid suffix on placeholder)
Vali kõik üksused (verbose)	Vali kõik (compact bulk action)
Eemalda valik kõigilt	Tühista kõik valikud (idiomatic bulk deselect)

Question Structures

• Yes/no questions: use Kas at start. Kas see töötab? Kas soovite jätkata?
• Wh-questions: question word at start. Mida sa arvad? Kuidas see töötab?
• Word order can also signal a question (verb-first), but kas is the standard UI form.

Wrong	Correct
See teeb mõtet?	Kas sellel on mõtet?
Sa oled kindel?	Kas sa oled kindel? / Oled sa kindel?

Ellipsis Completion

Quantified expressions need a head noun.

Wrong (bare quantifier)	Correct (with head noun)
veel 4 muud	veel 4 faili / veel 4 muud elementi
ja 3 muud	ja 3 muud elementi

"Per" vs "For" Expressions

Estonian doesn't have a single equivalent — disambiguate with case/postposition.

• Rate / each: kohta (postposition) → keele kohta, ühe keele eest, iga keele eest
• Total: {count} keele jaoks → {credits} krediiti {count} keele jaoks, kokku {count} keele jaoks

Wrong (ambiguous)	Correct
{count} keelt {credits} krediiti	{credits} krediiti {count} keele jaoks (total) OR {credits} krediiti keele kohta (rate)

Calques to Avoid

Wrong (literal)	Natural Estonian
tegema mõtet ("make sense")	on mõtet / on mõistlik
olema kindlal poolel ("on the safe side")	igaks juhuks / kindluse mõttes
logima sisse (particle after verb — calque)	sisse logima (particle BEFORE verb)
Break a leg	Edu! / Kõike head!
Piece of cake	Lihtne nagu alp / Kerge töö

Russian-Influenced Calques to Avoid

Estonia's historical Russian/Soviet influence left some Russian-influenced expressions that survive in older Estonian. Modern Estonian software UI prefers native phrasings.

Avoid these Russian-influenced constructions:

Russian-influenced (avoid)	Native Estonian	Reason
proovid panna (in sense of "you'll try to put") — Russian word order	natural Estonian SVO	Russian-style verb placement
Ütle mulle, palun... (overly direct Russian-style request)	Palun ütle mulle...	put palun at start, Estonian style
igal juhul (overused — calque of "v lyubom sluchae")	igatahes / nagunii	native equivalents are warmer
mitte midagi (literal "not nothing" — double negative Russian-style)	midagi pole / pole midagi	Estonian negation is ei + verb only
tegema otsust (Russian-influenced)	otsustama (single verb)	Estonian prefers verbed forms over noun + tegema
pidama vajalikuks (overformalism, Russian bureaucratic)	arvama, et on vaja / pean vajalikuks	native casual phrasing
Excessive kolleeg (Russian/Soviet workplace formality)	kaastöötaja / just name	use Estonian when natural
külalisõpetaja (calque from Russian compound)	külalislektor / külaslektor	use Estonian compound style

Generally: when in doubt, prefer the native Estonian compound or simple verb over Russian-style noun phrase + dummy verb.

Compound Adjective Calques

English	Wrong (hyphenated)	Correct
X-aware / context-aware	konteksti-teadlik / X-teadlik	konteksti arvestav / X-põhine / X arvesse võttev
X-powered / AI-powered	X-juhitud / IA-juhitud	X abil / X-l põhinev / X kasutav
X-based / cloud-based	nuvola-põhine / X-põhine (hyphenated)	pilvepõhine / X-põhine (one word) / pilves töötav
user-friendly	kasutaja-sõbralik	kasutajasõbralik (one word) / mugav kasutajale

Proper Nouns — short forms in UI

Wrong	Correct
Ameerika Ühendriigid (full form in UI)	USA
Suurbritannia ja Põhja-Iiri Ühendkuningriik	Suurbritannia / Ühendkuningriik

Cultural Conventions

• Communication style: direct, efficient, concise. Estonians are low-context — avoid excessive hedging, apologies, or filler.
• Date: 15.01.2024 (DD.MM.YYYY, periods) or 15. jaanuar 2024 (lowercase months: jaanuar, veebruar, märts, aprill, mai, juuni, juuli, august, september, oktoober, november, detsember).
• Time: 24-hour 14:30 or kell 14:30.
• Currency: 99,99 € (EUR, space before symbol).
• Number format: 1 234,56 (space thousands, comma decimal).

Future Tense — Estonian Has None

Estonian does NOT have a dedicated future tense. Future meaning is expressed by:

1. Present + adverb of time: Tulen homme. (I will come tomorrow — literally "I come tomorrow"); Avaldame uue funktsiooni järgmisel nädalal. (We will release the new feature next week — literally "we release...").
2. Modal verb hakkama + ma-infinitive (incipient/about to start): Hakkan tegema seda. (I'm going to do this); Süsteem hakkab käivituma. (The system is about to start).
3. saama (auxiliary) in some constructions, though limited.

Translation rule: English "will + verb" → Estonian present tense + time adverb, OR hakkama + ma-inf for actions about to begin.

Wrong (calquing English): Ma tahan saada salvestama (literally "I want to be saving" — incorrect future) → Correct: Ma salvestan kohe (I'll save soon) or Ma hakkan salvestama (I'm about to save).

UI patterns:

• "Your file will be uploaded" → Sinu fail laaditakse üles (passive present, future-implied) OR Sinu fail hakkab üles laadima (about to start).
• "We will notify you" → Me anname sulle teada (present, future-implied with promise context) OR Sulle teatatakse (passive).
• "Loading will take a few moments" → Laadimine võtab natuke aega (present, future-implied).

Gender-Neutral Pronoun ta

Estonian has NO grammatical gender. The pronoun ta (or tema emphatic) means he / she / it — all three.

This is a major translation advantage when source is gender-ambiguous: "When a user logs in, they see..." → Kui kasutaja sisse logib, näeb ta... (no gendered pronoun choice needed).

For business/formal source distinguishing he/she: just use ta — Estonian readers understand from context.

• Possessive: tema oma (his/her own) — same word.
• Plural: nad (they) for any group.
• Wrong (forcing gender): inventing male/female suffixes — Estonian has none.

This applies to UI references: "User profile" → Kasutaja profiil (gender-neutral by default). "Their preferences" → Tema eelistused or Kasutaja eelistused.

Empty State Templates

Estonian empty-state phrasings, ranked by formality and context:

Context	Preferred	Acceptable alternatives
No results found	Tulemused puuduvad	Ühtegi tulemust ei leitud / Midagi ei leitud
No items	Ühtegi elementi pole	Loend on tühi / Üksusi pole
No notifications	Teavitusi pole	Uusi teavitusi ei ole
No selection	Midagi pole valitud	Valik puudub / Ühtegi üksust pole valitud
Empty inbox	Postkast on tühi	Sõnumeid pole
No data	Andmed puuduvad	Andmeid ei ole / Andmeid pole
No connection	Ühendus puudub	Internetiühendust pole / Pole ühendust
File not found	Faili ei leitud	Faili pole olemas
No content	Sisu puudub	Pole midagi näidata

• puuduvad/puudub (lacks/is missing) sounds neutral and professional.
• pole / ei ole (negation existence) sounds more conversational.
• AVOID Tühi (empty) by itself — too telegraphic. Always extend: Postkast on tühi.

Greetings and Time-of-Day

• Tere! — universal hello (any time, neutral, polite).
• Tere hommikust! — good morning (until ~10:00).
• Tere päevast! — good day (10:00–17:00, formal).
• Tere õhtust! — good evening (17:00 onwards).
• Head ööd! — good night (when going to bed).
• Hei! / Tšau! — casual hello/goodbye (informal, mostly youth).
• Tere tulemast! — welcome (UI standard).
• Nägemiseni! — goodbye (literally "until seeing"; standard formal/neutral).
• Head aega! — goodbye (warmer).
• Head päeva! — have a good day (casual closing).
• Aitäh! / Tänan! — thank you (latter more formal/old-fashioned).
• Palun! — please / you're welcome.
• Vabandust! — sorry / excuse me.

Loanword Inflection Patterns

English loanwords MUST take Estonian case suffixes when used in inflected positions.

• fail (file) → faili (genitive/partitive), failis (inessive), faile (partitive plural).
• link → lingi (genitive), lingis (inessive), linke (partitive plural).
• app → äpp (with Estonian -p doubling) → genitive äpi, inessive äpis.
• klikk → kliki (genitive). NOTE: prefer verb klõpsama over klikkima.
• dashboard → dashboard'i (genitive with apostrophe — foreign-word marker), dashboard'is (inessive). Or use native töölaud / juhtpaneel.
• email → email'i / use e-post for natural Estonian.
• For brand names: same apostrophe-suffix pattern: Google'is (in Google), Facebook'i (Facebook's, genitive).

Domain Terminology — Preserve IT Meaning

The source explicitly flags this as severity 2.5 (highest tier). Domain-shift errors:

Source (IT context)	Wrong (general meaning)	Correct
pipeline (CI/CD)	toru / torustik (plumbing)	konveier / pipeline
architecture (software)	(building/construction)	arhitektuur (IT context)
commit (git)	giti sisse laaditud (= uploaded into git)	committima / giti lisatud
launch (product)	(literal: launch a projectile)	avaldama / käivitama / turule tooma
deploy (code)	(military: deploy troops)	juurutama / paigaldama / käiku andma
source of truth	(literal "truth source")	ainus tõeallikas / autoriteetne andmeallikas

Placeholder Case-Suffix Issue (severity 1.5)

NEVER attach an Estonian case suffix directly to a placeholder — the placeholder value might already include a name with its own ending, and stacking suffixes produces garbage.

Wrong	Correct
Tere, {name}le! (suffix on placeholder)	Tere, {name}! OR Tere kasutajale {name}! (move suffix to a host noun)
Faili {name}st	Failist {name} (restructure word order)

Self-Check Checklist (run before finalizing)

Critical accuracy (must all pass)

• Correct case from 14 options (illative for motion into, inessive for location, partitive for partial object)
• Verb-governed case correct (aitama+partitive, sõltuma+elative, huvituma+elative, otsima+partitive)
• Numbers 2+ take partitive SINGULAR (viis faili, NOT viis failid)
• ICU other branch uses partitive singular (other {# faili}, NOT # failid)
• Teie/sina consistent throughout (pronouns, possessives, imperatives)
• Adjective agreement in case + number (no gender to worry about)
• Negation uses invariant ei + bare negative stem (mina ei salvesta)
• Da vs ma infinitive matches the trigger verb (Tahan salvestada / Hakkan salvestama)
• Compound words written together (failisüsteem, kasutajasõbralik, pilvepõhine) — hyphen only for abbreviations (XML-fail, e-post)
• No suffix on placeholders (restructure to put suffix on a host noun)
• Punctuation: „..." quotes, comma BEFORE et/kui/sest/aga, no comma before või/ja/ning
• Number format 1 234,56; date 15.01.2024; currency 99,99 €
• All {variables} and ICU intact
• Domain terminology preserves IT meaning (architecture, pipeline, commit, deploy, source of truth)

Naturalness

• Buttons in imperative matching formality (Salvesta / Salvestage)
• Status messages active/impersonal-passive (Laeb... / Laetakse...)
• Native verbs over anglicism verbs (klõpsama not klikima, alla laadima not downloadima, kustutama not deleteima)
• No tegema mõtet (use on mõtet)
• No hyphenated English-style compound adjectives (kasutajasõbralik not kasutaja-sõbralik)
• File picker / browse uses action verbs (Vali fail)
• Drag-drop: lohistama / kukutama / lahti laskma
• Questions use Kas for yes/no (Kas sa oled kindel?)
• Ellipsis with head noun (veel 4 faili not veel 4 muud)
• Direct, concise tone — no excessive hedging
• Compound nouns formed natively (andmebaas, failisüsteem, töölaud)
• Communicative intent preserved (declarative stays declarative, imperative stays imperative — don't swap moods)

Worked Example

Source: "Welcome! Please select your file to upload — we support 25+ formats and translate it for 5 languages in {seconds}s. Don't worry, you can cancel at any time."

Estonian (sina, modern UI default)

Tere tulemast! Vali fail, mille soovid üles laadida. Toetame enam kui 25 formaati ja tõlgime selle 5 keelde {seconds} sekundi jooksul. Ära muretse — saad alati tühistada.

(Notes: Vali informal imperative; mille soovid relative clause; üles laadida da-infinitive after soovid; formaati partitive singular for 25 formaati (partitive after enam kui + number); 5 keelde illative for "into 5 languages"; {seconds} sekundi jooksul = "within {seconds} seconds" — restructured to avoid suffix on placeholder; Ära muretse informal negative imperative.)

Estonian (Teie, formal alternative)

Tere tulemast! Valige fail, mille soovite üles laadida. Toetame enam kui 25 formaati ja tõlgime selle 5 keelde {seconds} sekundi jooksul. Ärge muretsege — saate alati tühistada.

(Notes: Valige / Ärge muretsege Teie imperative; soovite Teie verb form; rest unchanged.)

Common errors both would catch

• 5 keelt instead of 5 keelde — wrong case (nominative vs illative for "into").
• 25 formaatid — number 2+ takes partitive singular formaati.
• fail-süsteem → failisüsteem (compound together).
• Vali fail-i {name}le — never suffix on placeholder.
• klikkige siia → klõpsake siia (native verb).
• Tahan salvestama → Tahan salvestada (wrong infinitive after tahan).
• Näen et fail on avatud → Näen, et fail on avatud (missing comma before et).
• Mixed Te valite + Salvesta → pick one formality.
• mina ei salvestan → mina ei salvesta (negation invariant).
• other {# failid} in ICU → other {# faili} (partitive singular).