1
See it
Meet the word, its meaning, its sound, and its first shape.
About Sonad.ee
Eesti keelesA free platform for a language that refuses to be small.
Sonad.ee helps learners remember Estonian words through recall, repetition, sound, spelling, and playful interaction.
"Hea sõna leiab hea paiga."
A good word finds a good place.
Sonad.ee is a free, non-profit vocabulary learning platform for Estonian. It is developed primarily through the personal work of Joosep Wong, with infrastructure and operational support provided voluntarily by Next Apogee OÜ and Amekage OÜ. The platform is offered free of charge to learners of Estonian, and its core learning tools are intended to remain free.
There is no subscription. No premium dictionary hidden behind a paywall. No learner should be blocked from learning Estonian because they cannot pay for vocabulary tools.
Voluntary Contributors 
Why it exists Estonian is small by numbers.
Estonian is small by numbers.
Not by spirit.
Estonian is spoken by around one and a half million people. But numbers do not tell the whole story.
This is a language with fourteen cases, old songs, sharp poetry, stubborn grammar, and an even more stubborn history. It has survived occupations, empires, pressure, neglect, and the quiet assumption that small languages should eventually disappear.
It did not disappear.
Sonad.ee exists because a language with this much endurance deserves learning tools with the same spirit.
sõnaword
majahouse
õppimato learn
raamatbook
The learner problem Built for the moment when
Built for the moment when
a word almost stays.
For many non-native speakers, Estonian is not easy to enter. The first steps can feel slow. Words look unfamiliar. Endings change. Pronunciation needs attention.
A learner may understand a grammar rule, but still forget the word when it is needed. Sonad.ee was built for that exact moment.
The goal is simple: to help learners remember Estonian words more deeply, more actively, and with less fear.
This is not only a dictionary. It is a vocabulary learning platform built around recall, repetition, sound, spelling, and playful interaction.
Recall Repetition Sound Spelling Typing Games
The method
Memory needs action.
Adults do not usually remember vocabulary by reading a list once. They remember by meeting the same word again and again, in slightly different situations.
2
Use it
Type it, complete it, choose it, hear it, and match it.
3
Recall it
Bring the word back just before it disappears. That is where memory becomes stronger.
The technical name: desirable difficulty.
The founder From one learner's method
From one learner's method
to a public tool.
Sonad.ee is a complete reconstruction of BlueBlackWhite.com, rebuilt by Joosep Wong.
Joosep is not a native Estonian speaker. While preparing for the Estonian B1 exam, he developed a practical way to remember vocabulary: break words apart, mix them, repeat them in different forms, and force active recall instead of passive reading.
He passed the B1 exam on his first attempt. What began as a personal study method slowly became a larger idea: if this approach helped one learner, it could help others too.
Sonad.ee is the result.
Independent, modest in resources, and serious in purpose.
12K+ Estonian words
A1–C1 Learning levels
Free Core tools, always
Inside the platform Not word lists.
Not word lists.
Word memory.
Sonad.ee brings together roughly 12,000 Estonian words, curated and continually refined from A1 to C1 level.
The platform includes multilingual translations, native pronunciation, a smart dictionary, flashcards, fill-ins, typing challenges, crossword puzzles, translation games, duels, and other interactive learning formats.
The purpose is not to make learners scroll through word lists. The purpose is to make each word stay.
Community proofreading
Every translation can be improved through community proofreading, because no algorithm, however confident, should outrank a native speaker who has politely noticed something is wrong.
Flashcards & match pairs
Fill-in-the-blank
Listen & spell
Type from memory
Translation games & duels
Native audio pronunciation
Free, seriously No subscription.
Start learning for free →
No subscription.
No premium dictionary.
No hidden chapter.
Sonad.ee is free because access matters. No learner should be blocked from learning Estonian because they cannot pay for vocabulary tools.
Our commitment is simple: the core vocabulary learning experience of Sonad.ee will remain free for learners of Estonian.
Completion certificates
Learners who complete vocabulary levels on Sonad.ee can receive a Sonad.ee completion certificate — a record of progress inside the platform. This is not an official state language certificate.
With gratitude Built on work that
Built on work that
came before it.
Supporters and Testers
From blueblackwhite.com to Sonad.ee, this project has been shaped by many quiet contributions. We are especially grateful to Julianna Wong and Lennart Wong for their ideas, feedback, testing, patience, and support.
Eesti Keele Instituut and Sõnaveeb
We are grateful for the scholarship and language resources that form part of the foundation beneath this work.
University of Tartu and Keeleklikk
We are grateful for learning materials that have helped many learners take their first serious steps into Estonian.
Mart Kuhi and Urmela Kr
In particular, we are grateful to two teachers who made this journey possible for Joosep Wong. Without them, this product would not exist.
Aitäh.