Latvian Adjectives (continued)

Definite vs. Indefinite Adjectives

 Take a look at the following example sentences (as earlier, the adjectives are shown in dark red, and the nouns that they modify are in olive green):
  1. Viņa nopirka lielo māju. 'She bought the big house.'
  2. Viņa nopirka lielu māju. 'She bought a big house.'
The first sentence assumes that the hearer knows which big house we are talking about: either it's already been mentioned, or you're pointing to it. The second sentence makes absolutely no assumptions about any big house. The first case is definite; the second instance is indefinite.

In English this difference is marked by the use of articles, either definite (the) or indefinite (a/an). Latvian has no articles. Instead one can mark the definiteness or indefiniteness of a noun by the type of ending on a modifying adjective. Take a look at the following chart, which uses the adjective jauns 'new':

case adj.-indef. ending + masc. noun 'glove' adj.- def. ending. + masc. noun 'glove' adj.-indef. ending. + fem. noun 'house' adj.-def. ending. + fem. noun 'house'
singular nominative jaun-s cimd-s jaun-ai-s cimd-s jaun-a māj-a jaun-ā māj-a
genitive jaun-a cimd-a jaun-ā cimd-a jaun-as māj-as jaun-ās māj-as
dative jaun-am cimd-am jaun-āj-am cimd-am jaun-ai māj-ai jaun-aj-ai māj-ai
accusative jaun-u cimd-u jaun-o cimd-u jaun-u māj-u jaun-o māj-u
locative jaun-ā cimd-ā jaun-aj-ā cimd-ā jaun-ā māj-ē jaun-aj-ā māj-ī
vocative jaun-ai-s cimd-s! jaun-ā māj-a!
plural nominative jaun-i cimd-i jaun-ie cimd-i jaun-as māj-as jaun-ās māj-as
genitive jaun-u cimd-ju jaun-o cimd-u jaun-u māj-u jaun-o māj-ju
dative jaun-iem cimd-iem jaun-aj-iem cimd-iem jaun-ām māj-ām jaun-aj-ā māj-ām
accusative jaun-us cimd-jus jaun-os cimd-us jaun-as māj-as jaun-ās māj-as
locative jaun-os cimd-os jaun-aj-os cimd-os jaun-ās māj-ās jaun-aj-ās māj-ās
vocative jaun-ie cimd-i! jaun-ās mā-as!

There are no indefinite vocative forms, since it makes no sense to directly address an unidentified entity.

Definite Adjective Endings

The formation of the definite adjective is actually rather straightforward. In many cases the marker of a definite adjective form is the presence of the syllable aj directly after the adjective root, and before the other, normal indirect adjective ending. In other cases, one must lengthen a short vowel into a long vowel or a diphthong. Here is one way of describing how to form definite adjectives:
  1. for dative or locative, add suffix aj directly after adjective root, then add required (1st or 4th declension) suffix.
  2. for masculine singular nominative or vocative, add suffix ai directly after adjective root, then add required (1st declension) suffix s.
  3. if required (1st or 4th declension) suffix begins with short vowel a, convert it to long vowel ā
  4. if required (1st declension) suffix is short vowel i, convert this vowel to diphthong ie
  5. if required (1st or 4th declension) suffix begins with short vowel u, convert this vowel to diphthong o
Here are some examples of how these rules would work, using the adjective meaning 'new':
  1. feminine dative plural: jaun- → jaun-aj → jaun-aj-ām
  2. masculine nominative singular: jaun- → jaun-ai → jaun-ai-s
  3. masculine genitive singular: jaun-a → jaun-ā
  4. masculine nominative plural: jaun-i → jaun-ie
  5. feminine accusative singular: jaun-u → jaun-o

Comparative Adjectives

 Every adjective has a comparative form. Here is an example sentence in English where all the adjectives are in the comparative degree; as earlier, the adjectives are all in dark red, and the nouns that they modify are in olive green:

The quicker redder fox jumped over the lazier browner dog.

Latvian adjectives form their comparative by the addition of the suffix -āk directly after the adjective root. Here are some examples; the suffixes are separated by dashes:

translation nominative singular indefinite nominative plural indefinite nominative singular definite nominative singular definite
newer glove(s) jaun-āk-s cimd-s jaun-āk-i cimd-i jaun-āk-ai-s cimd-s jaun-āk-ie cimd-i
bigger house(s) liel-āk-a māj-a liel-āk-as māj-as liel-āk-ā māj-a liel-āk-ās māj-as

As you can see from the above examples, comparative adjectives can be either definite or indefinite. However, superlative adjectives are always definite.

Superlative Adjectives

In the following English example sentence, all the adjectives have the superlative degree; as earlier, the adjectives are all in dark red, and the nouns that they modify are in olive green:

The quickest reddest fox jumped over the laziest brownest dog.

The Latvian superlative adjectives are based on the definite comparative form, but the prefix vis- 'all' is added to the front of the adjective. Take a look at the following examples:

translation nominative singular definite nominative plural definite
newest glove(s) vis-jaun-āk-ai-s cimd-s vis-jaun-āk-ie cimd-i
biggest house(s) vis-liel-āk-ā māj-a vis-liel-āk-ās māj-as

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Last revised September 16, 2008