vähe

Vähe is an Estonian word that functions as both an adverb and a quantifier meaning "little" or "few." It denotes a small quantity or extent and is used to express insufficiency or scarcity in a variety of contexts, from everyday speech to formal writing. For nouns, vähe is typically combined with the noun in the partitive case (for example, vähe aega, vähe raha, vähe inimesi). It can also modify verbs and predicates, as in statements like Ma söön vähe, meaning “I eat little.”

Grammatically, vähe is largely uninflected when used as an adverb. When it precedes a noun to quantify it, the noun takes the partitive form, which is common for indeterminate quantities in Estonian. The expression tal on väga vähe aega (“she/ he has very little time”) illustrates its use with a possessive structure, highlighting a small amount of a given resource. Vähe commonly appears with words for time, money, people, and other countable or uncountable quantities.

Semantic notes include its nuance: vähe conveys a smaller-than-desired or smaller-than-usual amount, and it often carries a neutral to slightly negative tone depending on context. It is distinct from väike, which describes physical size, and from vähene, an adjective meaning “few” or “insufficient” used attributively with nouns.

Etymology traces vähe to the Finnic language family, with cognates in closely related languages describing small quantity. In contemporary Estonian, vähe remains a basic and frequently used term for expressing limited quantity or extent.