Vahetate

Vahetate is the second-person plural present tense form of the Estonian verb vahetama, meaning to exchange, swap, or replace. The infinitive form is vahetada, and the base sense covers exchanging items, substituting one thing for another, or changing something for something else. In standard Estonian, vahetate is used with a plural subject (you all) and appears in both everyday speech and written language.

Usage and meaning: Vahetate can express practical exchanges, such as swapping goods or money, as well as more abstract substitutions, like exchanging ideas. The verb takes a direct object, with the form adapting to definiteness and quantity. Examples include: Te vahetate vanu ideed uute vastu (You all exchange old ideas for new ones); Me vahetame raha (We exchange money).

Conjugation and forms: Vahetama belongs to the -ta verb group. Present tense forms include: ma vahetan, sa vahetad, tema vahetab, me vahetame, te vahetate, nemad vahetavad. Other tenses use standard Estonian derivations from the same root (for example, past tense forms like vahetasin, vahetas).

Relation to other terms: Vahetama and vahetus are closely related, with vahetus referring to the act of exchange or swap itself. The word is cognate with related Finnic forms, such as Finnish vaihtaa, reflecting common linguistic roots in Estonian and Finnish.

See also: vahetama; vahetus; vaihtaa (Finnish cognate).