| Abbreviation | Full form | Explanation | Example | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st. p. | first person | speaker | I, me | ||||
| 2nd. p. | second person | hearer | you | ||||
| 3rd.p. | third person | neither speaker nor hearer | he, him, she, her, it, they, them | ||||
| acc. | accusative | direct object case | redzu meiteni 'I see the girl' | ||||
| act. | active voice | verb form, used when refering to doer of action | cēlis (past active pple) 'having lifted' | ||||
| caus. | causative | verb suffix ‑in; indicates causation | dancot 'to dance'; causative: dancināt 'to make (someone) dance' | ||||
| cond. | conditional/subjunctive | conditional or subjunctive form of verb; suffix ‑tu | darītu 'would do' | ||||
| dat. | dative | indirect object case; usually recipient of action | iedevu meitenei 'I gave it to the girl' | ||||
| def. | definite | adjective ending which marks certain, previously mentioned item or person | lielais katls 'the big pot' | ||||
| dim. | diminutive | suffix indicates smallness, or endearment; suffix ‑iņ, ‑īt, ‑ēn, etc. | galds 'table' galdiņš 'small table/dear table' | ||||
| emph. | emphatic | emphatic form of verb | rāja 'scolded'; emphatic: rātin rāja 'scolded (intensively, with vigour)' | ||||
| fem. | feminine | feminine gender | saimniece 'housewife' | ||||
| fut. | future | future tense of verb | rakstīšu 'I will write' | ||||
| gen. | genitive | possessive case |
meitenes cimds 'girl's glove'; mājas jumts 'the roof of the house' | ||||
| imp. | imperative | command form of verb | skrien! 'Run!' | ||||
| indecl. | indeclinable | verb participle form (ending in ‑ot, ‑am, or ‑ām, ) which doesn't change for different persons | es, lasot, iemācījos 'reading, I learned'; viņš, lasot, iemācījās 'reading, he learned' | ||||
| indef. | indefinite | lack of a definite ending on an adjective marks it as indefinite | liels katls 'a big pot' | ||||
| inf. | infinitive | infinitive verb form; ends in ‑t | redzēt 'to see' | ||||
| loc. | locative | noun or adjective case which indicates location |
mājā
'in/into the house'; tirgū 'at the market' | ||||
| masc. | masculine | masculine gender | saimnieks 'householder (male)' | ||||
| nom. | nominative | subject case | meitene nāk 'The girl is coming' | ||||
| pass. | passive voice | verb form, used when referring to target of action | celts 'having been lifted' (past passive pple.) | ||||
| pl. | plural | more than one | suņi 'dogs'; meitenes 'girls' | ||||
| ppl. | participle | verbal form; used in complex tenses, or adjectivally (as a noun modifier) | bungodams 'drumming' (pres.ppl.masc.nom.sg.); jājis 'ridden' (pst.ppl.masc.nom.sg.) | ||||
| pres. | present | present tense of verb | rakstu 'I am writing' | ||||
| pst. | past | past tense of verb | rakstīju 'I wrote' | ||||
| refl. | reflexive | reflexive form of verb: refers to oneself | kasīt 'to scratch'; reflexive: kasīties 'to scratch oneself' | ||||
| sg. | singular | only one | suns 'dog'
| voc.
| vocative
| case of direct address
| Jāni, nāc! 'John, come!'
| |
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Last revised September 18, 2008