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Grammar

1 The Alphabet

The oldest surviving printed documents in Latvian date from the sixteenth century and appear in Gothic (fraktur) script. The ensuing orthographic tradition, called Early Written Latvian, was introduced by noted Baltic German clergyman and philologist Georg Mancelius (1593-1654).

Over the following centuries several parallel orthographical systems in the Latin and Gothic scripts were in use. In addition, the Cyrillic script was used in the province of Latgale from 1865 to 1904, as a result of the Czarist Russian ban on Latin script. At the beginning of the twentieth century the Orthographical Commission of the Riga Latvian Association (Rīgas Latviešu Biedrība) established principles for the "new orthography", which essentially meant the use of Latin script with diacritics. The orthography of current Modern Latvian is based on the Latvian SSR orthography reform of 1956.

The Latvian alphabet consists of 33 letters: 24 consonants and 9 vowels --

		a		ā		b		c		č		d		e		ē		f		g		ģ
		h		i		ī		j		k		ķ		l		ļ		m		n		ņ
		o		p		r		s		š		t		u		ū		v		z		ž

Among the differences between the Latvian and English alphabets are 11 additional letters:

1. ā = a (as in 'calm')
2. č = ch (as in 'check')
3. ē = a (as in 'baby')
4. ģ = d (as in 'dew', 'due')
5. ī = ee (as in 'meet')
6. ķ = t (as in 'tune') or qu (as in 'queue')
7. ļ = l (as in 'lewd')
8. ņ = n (as in 'new')
9. š = sh (as in 'push')
10. ū = oo (as in 'boot')
11. ž = zh (as in 'pleasure')

1.1 Vowels

The Latvian vowels are pronounced as they are in Latin. Vowels are always short, except when topped by a macron, which indicates a lengthening of the vowel. Under similar circumstances, the long vowels are twice as long as the short ones. Thus ā is similar to the English long vowel in 'calm'; ī denotes a long vowel as in English 'meet'; ū denotes a long vowel as in English 'boot'.

The e represents two different phonemes, known as "closed e" (šaurais e) and "open e" (platais e):

• "Closed e" as in te 'here', nest 'to carry', pele 'mouse'. A closed front vowel with lip spreading, corresponding approximately to the e of English 'net'.
• "Open e" as in nesam 'we carry', vecs 'old'. An open front vowel with slight lip spreading, corresponding approximately to the a of English 'man'.

Like e, ē represents two different phonemes, "closed ē" and "open ē":

• "Closed ē" as in vēlēt 'to wish, vote', mēle 'tongue'. Pronounced as "closed short e" above, but lengthened, corresponding approximately to the a in English 'baby'.
• "Open ē" as in lēns 'slow', jērs 'lamb'. Pronounced as "open short e" above, but lengthened, corresponding approximately to the a in English 'man'.

In general, the grapheme o represents three different sounds. In words of foreign origin, the 'o' is either short or long and pronounced similar to the monophthong o as in Scottish 'loch'. Thus hormons 'hormone' is pronounced with short 'o'in the first syllabe, long 'o' in the second syllable. In words of Latvian origin, 'o' is pronounced as the diphthong /uo/ or /ua/ similar to wa in English 'wallet': ola 'egg', dot 'to give', ozols 'oak'. See below.

1.2 Diphthongs

Latvian has 10 diphthongs, of which 5 (eu, oi, ou, iu, ui) are quite rare, or found mainly in borrowings and foreign words:

1. ai = i as in English 'pine, fine'
2. au = ow as in English 'how, now'
3. ei = ey as in English 'prey'
4. eu = no English counterpart
5. ou = no English counterpart
6. oi = oy as in English 'boy'
7. iu = no English counterpart, equivalent to i + u
8. ui = ui as in German pfui
9. ie = no English counterpart, similar to diphthong /ia/
10. o = /uo/ or /ua/ = a as in English 'wallet'

1.3 Consonants

There are voiced and unvoiced consonants:

• Voiced: b, d, g, ģ, z, ž, dz, j
• Unvoiced: p, t, k, ķ, s, š, c

The articulation of Latvian consonants differs from that of English consonants. Latvian consonants are pronounced with the speech organs relatively relaxed; they are not aspirated as in English 'p', 't', 'k'. The Latvian r is rolled as in Spanish.

The letter c corresponds to ts in English 'cats'. The letter j corresponds to y in English 'yes'.

Several consonants can be soft, or palatalized, which is indicated by a comma underneath (or for the g, an inverted comma above) the letter: ļ, ķ, ņ, ģ. To soften the consonant the middle of the tongue should approach the roof of the mouth.

The ŗ, as in in kaŗš 'war', is pronounced as rh in English 'rheumatic'. The letter was removed from the Latvian alphabet in 1956. It is, however, used in linquistic texts. The ŗ (as well as the ch) is still quite often found in texts published by Latvians living abroad.

The letters f and h occur in loanwords.

1.4 Other Notes

Some sounds are represented by digraphs:

• dz = dz as in English 'adz'
• dž = g as in English 'age'

The digraph ch (as in the Scottish pronunciation of 'loch') has been replaced by h in post-1956 texts; thus, šahs (= English 'chess') is the contemporary form of šachs.

Word stress is usually on the first syllable of the word. Exceptions to this rule, where the stress is placed on the second syllable, comprise:

• a few compound forms, such as pus-otra 'one and a half', lab-vakar 'good evening', pal-dies 'thank you';
• superlative forms prefixed by vis-, such as vis-lielākais 'the biggest';
• some pronouns and adverbs prefixed with the negation ne- (e.g. ne-kad 'never'), and with the prefixes ik- (e.g. ik-viens 'each and every one') and jeb- (e.g. jeb-kurš 'anyone').

Some speakers of the central dialect, on which standard Latvian is based, have preserved three vowel tones: drawn, falling, broken:

• ~ drawn, stieptā intonācija, where the pitch gently rises and then rests: ma~te 'mother'
• ` falling, krītoša intonācija, with a short rise and a long falling pitch: dra`ugs 'friend'
• ^ broken, lauztā intonācija, with a glottal closure between rise and fall: de^ls 'son'

However, many dialects and most speakers make a distinction only between two vowel tones. In the western central and Tamian dialects, the contrast is between the drawn tone and the non-drawn tone; in the eastern dialects, a contrast is made between falling and non-falling tones. Vowel tones are not indicated in ordinary published materials.

2 The Sound System

Sounds in Latvian may be divided into vowels and consonants. The sounds may be arranged in tables acording to their articulation. Vowels can be classified as follows:

		Front						Back
High		i, ī						u, ū
Middle		e, ē (closed)						o, ō
Low				e, ē (open)		a, ā

There are two diphthongs gliding from a high vowel to a central mid-low vowel: one front, graphemic ie, and one back, graphemic o.

The table below lists consonant sounds:

		Voiceless		Voiced
Plosives		p		b
		t		d
		ķ		ģ
		k		g
Fricatives		f		v
		s		z
		š		ž
				j
		h
Affricates		c		č
		dz		dž
Nasals				m
				n
				ņ
Liquids				l
				ļ
Vibrants				r
				ŗ

The affricates c (t + s), dz (d + z), č (t + š), dž (d + ž) are composite sounds.

Note that the voiced consonant becomes unvoiced before a voiceless consonant. Thus b, g, z may be pronounced p, k, s respectively. For example, labs 'good', zirgs 'horse', lauzt 'to break' are pronounced *laps, *zirks, *laust, respectively.

An unvoiced consonant becomes voiced before a voiced consonant. Thus k, p, s, š, t may be pronounced g, b, z, ž, d respectively. For example nākdams 'coming', kāpdams 'climbing', pusdivi 'half past one', trešdiena 'Wednesday', atdot 'to give back' are pronounced *piedzgade, *nāgdams, *kābdams, *puzdivi, *treždiena, *addot respectively.

The dental nasal n becomes a velar nasal before k and g. The 'nk' and 'ng' sound heard in banka 'bank', banga 'wave', for example, is pronounced as the 'ng' in English 'bank' and 'sing'.

An s before š or č is often assimilated to š, thus: pusčetri 'half past three' is pronounced *puščetri; visšaurākais 'the narrowest' is pronounced *viššaurākais.

A z before ž is often assimilated to ž, thus: izžaut ' to hang out' is pronounced *ižžaut.

At the end of a word the combinations šs and žs are assimilated to š, thus: brašs 'dashing' is pronounced *braš; mežš 'forest' is pronounced *meš.

3 Noun Inflection

Nouns in Latvian are inflected to show their relations with other words and their function in the sentence. Endings play a very important role. They mark number, case, and gender (either masculine or feminine) of the noun. An ending also indicates to which of seven stems a noun belongs. The names of the stems may vary in different grammars. Latvian has six declensions, three masculine (I- III) and three feminine (IV-VI). The ija- stem and the consonant stem are grouped under the 2nd declension.

Stem		Nom. Sg.		Decl.		Examples
a-		-s, -š		I		tēvs, 'father', vējš, 'wind'
ija-		-is		II		brālis, 'brother'
Consonant		-ns, -ss				akmens, 'stone', mēness, 'moon'
u-		-us		III		medus, 'honey'
ā-		-a		IV		māsa, 'sister'
ē-		-e		V		māte, 'mother'
i-		-s		VI		pils, 'palace'

Note that the nominative ending -s is common to both genders. There are, however, many more masculine nouns than feminine nouns with this ending. The masculine -s nouns can be differentiated from the feminine -s nouns by the nominative plural, which is -i for the masculine noun and -is for the feminine noun.

Proper names all belong to a declension class, have gender, and are inflected. Proper names of foreign origin are spelt in Latvian according to their pronunciation and take gender endings. For example:

• Berlīne 'Berlin'
• Valters 'Walter'
• Tomass 'Thomas'
• Ņujorka 'New York'
• Kārlis 'Carl'
• Ilze 'Ilse'
• Amerika 'America'

There are six cases in Latvian: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative, vocative. The vocative is used to address persons, animate beings, or inanimate things used figuratively. In the singular, it is usually similar to the nominative or else has no ending. In the plural, the vocative of all nouns has the same ending as the nominative. The vocative is usually not included in declension paradigms.

Some Latvian grammars also regard the instrumental as a separate case. The endings of the instrumental correspond to those of the accusative in the singular and the dative in the plural. The instrumental case will not be listed in this presentation.

3.1 First Declension

The first declension is the most common declension of masculine nouns. The nouns of this class are labeled as a/ja-stems (Indo-European o- and jo-stems). The a-type used to have a short a before the ending, thus tēvs < *tēvas. The short a of the stem is still found in the dative singular tēvam. Nouns that end with the -ja- stem are bundled together with the a-stem group, for example vējš < *vējas.

The paradigms below are for the first declension nouns tēvs 'father' and vējš 'wind'.

		Singular		Plural
Nom		tēvs, vējš		tēvi, vēji
Gen		tēva, vēja		tēvu, vēju
Dat		tēvam, vējam		tēviem, vējiem
Acc		tēvu, vēju		tēvus, vējus
Loc		tēvā, vējā		tēvos, vējos

3.2 Fourth Declension

The great majority of feminine nouns belong to the fourth declension. These nouns are referred to as ā-stems, since in older forms the root ended with ā, for example Nom. Sg. liepa < *liepā 'linden tree'. The long ā is still found in the Loc. Sg. liepā, Dat. Pl. liepām and Loc. Pl. liepās.

A few nouns of the fourth declension refer to male persons, and they are declined like the feminine nouns of the 4th declension except for the dative singular, which has -am as the ending instead of -ai. See example below. The same applies to common nouns with the ending -a: tiepša 'a stubborn person' (Nom. Sg., Fem. or Masc.); tiepšai (Dat. Sg. Fem.), tiepšam (Dat. Sg. Masc.).

The paradigms below are for the fourth declension nouns māsa 'sister', puika 'boy'.

		Singular		Plural
Nom		māsa, puika		māsas, puikas
Gen		māsas, puikas		māsu, puiku
Dat		māsai, puikam		māsām, puikām
Acc		māsu, puiku		māsas, puikas
Loc		māsā, puikā		māsās, puikās

The earlier form of the Dat. Sg. had the ending -i, which has still been retained in some Latvian dialects. Traces of this form can be found in Standard Latvian, for example, in the adverbial expressions patiesi 'truly', lieti derēt 'quite useful'. The present dative singular ending -ai has been taken over from the demonstrative pronouns tai 'that' (Dat. Sg. Fem.), šai 'this' (Dat. Sg. Fem.).

4 Verb Inflection

Verbs are inflected for number, person, tense, voice, and mood. Verbs are either singular or plural; the older dual form has disappeared. The first and second person endings show not only person but also number, for example the 1st singular present redz-u 'I see', 1st plural redz-am 'we see'. The 3rd person singular and the 3rd person plural are the same in all tenses in Latvian; for example: pērk 'he, she buys, they (Masc., Fem.) buy'.

Verbs have two voices: active (unmarked) and passive. The passive is formed by the auxiliary verbs tikt/tapt/kļūt 'to become' or būt 'to be' and the past passive participle.

Latvian has six tenses: simple present, simple past (preterit), and simple future, and the three compound tenses in the present, past and future, which are formed with participles.

Latvian has five moods: indicative (which is unmarked), imperative, debitive, subjunctive (in some grammars called conditional), and relative.

Verbs can be transitive or intransitive. There are many verbs than can be both transitive and intransitive. For example:

• Transitive: suns rej ceļinieku = 'dog barks (at the) traveller'
• Intransitive: suns rej = 'dog barks'

Impersonal verbs have no agent and are found only in the third person: līst 'it rains, it is raining', snieg 'it snows, it is snowing'.

4.1 Verb Stems

The infinitive ending of the verb is -t (-ties in the reflexive). The infinitive is usually the only verb form listed in Latvian dictionaries.

To generate the different Latvian verb forms, it is necessary to know the infinitive stem, the present stem, and the past (preterit) stem of the verb.

The infinitive stem is formed by dropping the -t/-ties ending of the verb. From this stem, the following can be constructed:

1. the infinitive
2. the simple future
3. the subjunctive
4. the past passive participle (-ts)
5. the -dams participle

The present stem is formed by dropping the 1st person singular ending -u of the verb in the simple present. From this stem, the following can be constructed:

1. the simple present
2. the debitive
3. the imperative
4. the relative
5. the present active participle (-ošs)
6. the present passive participle (-ams)
7. the -ot participle
8. the -am participle

The past stem is formed by dropping the 1st person singular ending -u of the verb in the past tense. From this stem, the following can be constructed:

1. the simple past (indicative)
2. the past active participle (-is)

4.2 Verb Conjugation Classes

4.2.1 Class I

Primary verbs that have one syllable in the infinitive, and where the first singular in the present and past tenses consists of two syllables, belong to the first conjugation. This conjugation forms a closed class (no longer productive) of basic vocabulary with no derivations. The stems can differ and the forms may show different morphonological alternations, such as the ablaut, insertion, etc. See examples below. Irregular verbs belonging to this conjugation are būt 'to be', dot 'to give', iet 'to go'.

Note that prefixes and the reflexive ending -ies of the infinitive are not counted in the stem. Thus for example the following verbs all belong to the class I conjugation: mest 'to throw', aizmest 'to throw away', mesties 'to throw oneself'. Class I verbs may also be labeled as the short conjugation.

I		Infinitive		1st Person		Present		Past
		mest		Sg:		met-u		met-u
		'to throw'		Pl:		met-am		met-ām
		pirkt		Sg:		pērk-u		pirk-u
		'to buy'		Pl:		pērk-am		pirk-ām
		siet		Sg:		sien-u		sēj-u
		'to bind'		Pl:		sien-am		sēj-ām
		glābt		Sg:		glābj-u		glāb-u
		'to save'		Pl:		glābj-am		glāb-ām'
		trūkt		Sg:		trūkst-u		trūk-u
		'to lack'		Pl:		trūkst-am		trūk-ām

4.2.2 Class II

Verbs with at least two syllables in the infinitive, and where the number of syllables in the present stem is identical to the number of syllables in the past stem, belong to the second conjugation. All stems are identical with no morphonological alternations. See examples below. This is an open (productive) class with derivations, and most borrowings appear here. Examples: studēt 'to study', diskutēt 'to discuss'. The verb dabūt 'to get' belongs to this conjugation. Class II verbs may also labeled as the long conjugation.

II		Infinitive		1st Person		Present		Past
		runāt		Sg:		runāj-u		runāj-u
		'to speak'		Pl:		runāj-am		runāj-ām
		gatavot		Sg:		gatavoj-u		gatavoj-u
		'to prepare'		Pl:		gatavoj-am		gatavoj-ām
		svētīt		Sg:		svētīj-u		svētīj-u
		'to bless'		Pl:		svētīj-am		svētīj-ām
		audzēt		Sg:		audzēj-u		audzēj-u
		'to grow'		Pl:		audzēj-am		audzēj-ām

4.2.3 Class III

Verbs which have at least two syllables in the infinitive, and where the number of syllables in the past stem is one more than the number of syllables in the present stem belong to the third conjugation. The infinitive and past stem are identical and the forms may show morphonological consonant alternation. This is a partially open class with derivations. Since the principle forms are short in the present tense, but long in the past tense and the infinitive, for example redz- (pres), redzē-j- (past). redzē- (inf) 'to see', this conjugation is also labeled the mixed conjugation.

III		Infinitive		1st Person		Present		Past
		audzināt		Sg:		audzin-u		audzināj-u
		'to protect'		Pl:		audzin-ām		audzināj-ām
		dalīt		Sg:		dal-u		dalīj-u
		'to divide'		Pl:		dal-ām		dalīj-ām
		turēt		Sg:		tur-u		turēj-u
		'to hold'		Pl:		tur-am		turēj-ām

4.3 Present and Preterit Tense Endings in Indicative Active

Three sets of endings are encountered, here labelled A, B, C:

				A								B								C
		Sg.		Sg/Pl.		Pl.				Sg.		Sg/Pl.		Pl.				Sg.		Sg/Pl.		Pl.
1st		-u				-am				-u				-am				-u				-ām
2nd		-ø				-at				-i				-at				-i				-āt
3rd				-ø								-ø								-a

In general it can be said that verbs of the Class I conjugation follow mainly subset A, infrequently subset B. The Class II conjugation always follows subset A. Verbs of the Class III conjugation ending in -ēt- follow subset B. Those ending in -āt- or -īt- follow subset C. Subset C is used for all preterit forms in all conjugations.

Many grammars bundle subset A and subset B endings into one paradigm, with subset C falling into another:

				1 (A+B)								2 (C)
		Sg.		Sg/Pl.		Pl.				Sg.		Sg/Pl.		Pl.
1st		-u				-am				-u				-ām
2nd		-ø/-i				-at				-i				-āt
3rd				-ø								-a

4.4 Present Tense Class I (Short Conjugation)

Note that in Latvian, the corresponding English translation for the present tense can be both simple present or continuous present, for example: pērk-u 'I buy, I am buying'.

The Class I (short) conjugation is the most complicated of the three conjugation types. Some examples of subclasses of Class I verbs are seen under 4.2.1 above. This conjugation can be broken down into five subclasses, and some grammars present up to fifteen subgroups under each subclass, depending upon which vocalic and consonantal changes are studied.

4.4.1 First subclass

Verbs which form the stem of the present tense with -a- (bēg-a-m 'we flee', sāk-a-m 'we start') and where the root vowel remains unchanged, belong to the first subclass.

Infinitive: augt 'to grow'

		Sg.		Sg/Pl.		Pl.
1st		augu				augam
2nd		audz				augat
3rd				aug

4.4.2 Second subclass

Verbs which form the stem of the present tense with -a- and where the root vowel is either -e-, -ē- or -ie-, and where the root vowel changes to -i- in the other principle forms, belong to the second subclass. Example: inf. vilkt 'to pull', 1st sg. pres. velku 'I pull', 1st sg. past vilku 'I pulled'. This vowel alternation is a remainder of the Indo-European vowel alternation.

Infinitive: likt 'to put'

		Sg.		Sg/Pl.		Pl.
1st		lieku				liekam
2nd		liec				liekat
3rd				liek

4.4.3 Third subclass

Verbs which once were formed with the infix -n- and which today have a changed vowel in the root of the present tense as a result of the -n- merging with the preceding vowel (-an- > o; -en- > -ie-, -in- > -ī-; -un- > -ū-) belong to the third subclass. Example: inf krist 'to fall', 1st sg pres krītu < *krintō.

Infinitive: zagt 'to steal'

		Sg.		Sg/Pl.		Pl.
1st		zogu				zogam
2nd		zodz				zogat
3rd				zog

Verbs with the present stem ending in p, t, and d have the ending -i in the 2nd person singular (=subset B).

Infinitive: prast 'to know'

		Sg.		Sg/Pl.		Pl.
1st		protu				protam
2nd		proti				protat
3rd				prot

This subclass also includes verbs with the -n- suffix.

Infinitive: skriet 'to run'

		Sg.		Sg/Pl.		Pl.
1st		skrienu				skrienam
2nd		skrien				skrienat
3rd				skrien

4.4.4 Fourth subclass

Verbs which form the present tense with the suffix -j- belong to the fourth subclass. This -j- causes the palatalization of the preceding consonant in all persons except the 2nd sg. (See section 6.0). Example: inf bāzt (<bāzjō) 'to shove', 1st sg bāžu 'I shove', 2nd sg bāz 'you shove'.

Infinitive: kāpt 'to climb'

		Sg.		Sg/Pl.		Pl.
1st		kāpju				kāpjam
2nd		kāp				kāpjat
3rd				kāpj

Verb stems ending in a vowel or diphthong have -j- in all persons of the present tense and in all forms derived from the present stem.

Infinitive: pļaut 'to reap'

		Sg.		Sg/Pl.		Pl.
1st		pļauju				pļaujam
2nd		pļauj				pļaujat
3rd				pļauj

4.4.5 Fifth subclass

Verbs which have the suffix -st- in the present tense belong to the fifth subclass. All fifth subclass verbs end in -i- in the 2nd sg (=subset B). All verbs are intransitive and often denote a change in state or position.

Infinitive: kļūt 'to become'

		Sg.		Sg/Pl.		Pl.
1st		kļūstu				kļūstam
2nd		kļūsti				kļūstat
3rd				kļūst

4.5 Present Tense Class II (Long Conjugation)

Verbs of the second conjugation can be divided into four subgroups according to their infinitive suffixes: -āt, -ēt, -īt, -ōt. The suffix, as it appears in the 1st person plural, determines the verb stem:

Subgroup		Infinitive		1 Pl.		Stem
1st		run-āt 'to speak'		run-āja-m		āja-stem
2nd		audz-ēt 'to cultivate'		audz-ēja-m		ēja-stem
3rd		svēt-īt 'to bless'		svēt-īja-m		īja-stem
4th		gatav-ōt 'to prepare'		gatav-ōja-m		ōja-stem

The first person ending in the singular in all tenses is -u. The -j- is inserted between the root and the ending in order to prevent hiatus, a combination of two vowels which do not constitute a diphthong.

The second person ending in the singular present is zero, since not only the older -i ending (shortened from the even older -ie) has fallen away, but also the previous -j- has fallen away; for example: meklē < *meklēji < *meklējie 'you (sg) seek'; ogo < *ogōji < *ogōjie 'you (sg) pick berries'.

The third person ending in the singular and plural present is also zero, since not only the older -a ending has fallen away, but also the previous -j- has fallen away; for example: mazgā < *mazgāj < *mazgāja 'he, she, they wash'.

Examples of the present tense of Class II, 1st, 2nd and 4th subgroups are:

Class II		1st		2nd		4th
Infin.		runāt 'to speak'		audzēt 'to cultivate'		gatavot 'to prepare'
1 Sg.		runāju		audzēju		gatavoju
2 Sg.		runā		audzē		gatavo
3 Sg.		runā		audzē		gatavo
1 Pl.		runājam		audzējam		gatavojam
2 Pl.		runājat		audzējat		gatavojat
3 Pl.		runā		audzē		gatavo

4.5.1 The Third Subgroup -īja-stems

The -īja-stems are a dwindling subgroup of the class II conjugation. Verbs of this subgroup have gradually migrated over into the historical -ā-stems of the class III conjugation. This is an ongoing process, and many verbs that a century ago were regarded as -īja-stems definitely belong to the ā-stems today, for example zvanīt 'to ring', tīrīt 'to clean', postīt 'to destroy'.

There are currently eleven verbs in the -īja-stem subgroup, of which four can be conjugated according to both the -īja-stem and the ā-stem paradigms. For example:

Infinitive svētīt 'to bless', 1st sg svētīju or svētu

		Class II				Class III
1 Sg.		svētīju		or		svētu 'I bless'
2 Sg.		svētī		or		svēti
3 Sg.		svētī		or		svēta
1 Pl.		svētījam		or		svētām
2 Pl.		svēt'jat		or		svētāt
3 Pl.		svētī		or		svēta

Other examples include: cienīt 'to respect', 1st sg cienīju or cienu; pētīt 'to investigate', 1st sg pētīju or pētu; veltīt 'to dedicate' 1st sg veltīju or veltu.

4.5.2 The verb dabūt 'to get'

The verb dabūt 'to get, to receive, to obtain' is conjugated as a class II verb with -ū- in all forms:

1 Sg.		dabūju 'I get, receive, obtain'
2 Sg.		dabū
3 Sg.		dabū
1 Pl.		dabūjam
2 Pl.		dabūjat
3 Pl.		dabū

4.6 Present Tense Class III (Mixed Conjugation)

Verbs of the third conjugation can be divided into three subgroups, according to their infinitive suffixes -ēt, -īt and -ināt.

4.6.1 The -ēt subgroup

Two types of verbs have merged into the -ēt subgroup: the historical a-stems, for example tecēt 'to flow', tekam 'we flow', and the historical i-stems, for example gulēt 'to sleep', guļu < *guljō 'I sleep', guļam < *gulim 'we sleep', guļat < *gulit 'you (pl) sleep'.

Verbs ending in -ēt follow subset B endings in the present (see section 4.3).

Infinitives: dzirdēt 'to hear', gribēt 'to want'

1 Sg.		dzirdu		gribu
2 Sg.		dzirdi		gribi
3 Sg.		dzird		grib
1 Pl.		dzirdam		gribam
2 Pl.		dzirdat		gribat
3 Pl.		dzird		grib

4.6.2 The -īt subgroup (historical ā-stem)

Verbs ending in -īt follow subset C endings in the present tense (see section 4.3). The first person singular has the ending -u, which has been shortened from the older -au, for example saku < *sakau 'I say'. The second person singular has the ending -i, which has been shortened from -ai, for example dari < *darai 'you (sg) do' (cf. Lithuanian darai). The 3rd person singular ending -a has been shortened from the older -ā, for example raksta <* rakstā 'he, she, they write'.

Verbs that have a dz or c before -īt retain g or k, respectively, in all present forms. This however does not apply to the verbs mīcīt 'to knead' or mācīt 'to teach', which retain the c in all present forms.

Infinitives: lasīt 'to read', sacīt 'to say'

1 Sg.		lasu		saku
2 Sg.		lasi		saki
3 Sg.		lasa		saka
1 Pl.		lasām		sakām
2 Pl.		lasāt		sakāt
3 Pl.		lasa		saka

4.6.3 The -ināt subgroup

Verbs ending in -ināt follow subset C endings in the present (see section 4.3). Four verbs with -āt in the infinitive also belong to this group: sargāt 'to protect', zināt 'to know', dziedāt 'to sing', raudāt 'to cry'. The latter two verbs follow subset B endings in the present.

Infinitives: audzināt 'to foster', raudāt 'to cry'

1 Sg.		audzinu		raudu
2 Sg.		audzini		raudi
3 Sg.		audzina		raud
1 Pl.		audzinām		raudam
2 Pl.		audzināt		raudat
3 Pl.		audzina		raud

5 Word Order

The most common word order of a neutral declarative sentence is Subject + Verb + Object; example: Es tulkoju grāmatas. 'I translate books'. Adjective/adverbial modifiers are placed before the governing word, example: Es ātri tulkoju labas grāmatas. 'I quickly translate good books'.

However, since Latvian is a language with a case system, word order is rather changeable. Thus, the following are all possible and grammatically correct (='Mother woke the children early today'):

• Māte šodien agri modināja bērnus 'mother, today, early, woke, children'.
• Šodien māte bērnus agri modināja 'today, mother, childern, early, woke'.
• Māte modināja šodien bērnus agri 'mother, woke, today, children, early'.

However, each sentence conveys a different meaning, since emphasis gets placed on the first word in a sentence. A difference in style is also apparent due to the change in word order.

Word order is not free in interrogative sentences: the interrogative particle vai or the interrogative prounouns (kas, ko, etc.) and adverbs (kur, cik, kad) are always placed in first position. Examples: Vai tu arvien baro cūkas? 'Are you still feeding the pigs?', Kāpēc tu nedejo? 'Why aren't you dancing?'

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