juhtuda

Juhtuda is an Estonian verb meaning to happen or to occur. It denotes that an event takes place and can describe happenings in general or incidents that happen to a person. The action is intransitive, and when a person is affected, the experiencer is often expressed in the dative forms such as mulle or minule. For example: Mul juhtus midagi head; See juhtus eile.

Conjugation and forms are typical for standard Estonian verbs. In the present tense, the third-person singular is juhtub (It happens). The simple past is juhtus (It happened). The past participle is juhtunud, used in perfect tenses such as See on juhtunud (This has happened). The infinitive is juhtuda.

Usage notes: Juhtuda is common in everyday speech and neutral writing. It often expresses unexpected or noteworthy events, but can also be used for general statements about occurrences. It frequently appears with a clause or clauses describing what happened and, when appropriate, with an experiencer in the dative to indicate who was affected.

Examples:

- See juhtus eile. (That happened yesterday.)

- Mul juhtus ootamatu kohtumine. (I had an unexpected encounter.)

- See võib juhtuda. (This may happen.)

Etymology and relation to other forms: The exact historical origin of juhtuda is not always stated, but it represents a core Estonian verb for marking events or occurrences and is used widely across registers. It is distinct from yet related notions of cause or lead, existing primarily to describe happenings rather than actions that lead to outcomes.