Latvian Language: Lesson 5

Conversation

Speaker	Latvian	English translation
Māra	Labdien, Rita!	Good day, Rita.
Rita	Labdien! Kā tev klājas?	Good day. How are you?
Māra	Labi, paldies. Un tev?	Good, thank you. And you?
Rita	Arī labi. Ko tu dari šeit?	(I'm) good too. What are you doing here?
Māra	Es sūtu Robertam paku. Un tu?	I'm sending Robert a package. And you?
Rita	Tāpat. Sūtu Lindai paku.	The same. I'm sending Linda a package.
Māra	Kāpēc?	Why?
Rita	Viņa ir skolotāja. Es sūtu viņai vārdnīcu. Un Roberts? Kāpēc tu sūti viņam paku?	She's a teacher. I'm sending her a dictionary. And Robert? Why are you sending him a package?
Māra	Viņš ir šefpavārs. Sūtu viņam lielu jaunu podu.	He's a chef. I'm sending him a big, new pot.
Rita	Ak tā. Labi. Atā.	Oh (I see). OK. Bye.
Māra	Atā	Bye.

To hear this conversation: click here → Conversation 5

Vocabulary

Vocabulary notes

(b) klājas: although I have translated the question Kā tev klājas? as "How are you?", it literally says "How (to) you (does it) suit?" or "How goes (it) (with) you?"; thus, I have translated the verb klājas as 'goes, suits, fits'. In Latvian, when greeting a person, you don't literally ask: "How are you?". Instead, the question Kā tev klājas? is asking "How are things going for you?" or "How does life suit you?"

(c) labdien: this is one of the most common ways to say "hello". However, it can only be used after noon and before 6:00 pm (approximately). Before noon one would say labrīt "good morning"; after 6:00 pm, one would say labvakar "good evening".

(d) šefpavārs: literally this word is "chef" + "cook". You can use the word pavārs by itself to mean "a cook", but if you want to say "chef", you have to use the compound word šefpavārs.

Pronunciation and spelling

Consonant pronunciations

Latvian letter	English example words (closest equivalent is underlined)	Latvian example word (word links to audio track)
v [v]	van, vest, view	vest 'to bring'
v [w]	cow, bough, grow	tev 'to you'

In many cases, the Latvian letter v is pronounced just like an English [v]. However, sometimes it is pronounced like a [w]. The Latvian alphabet doesn't include the letter w, but whenever the letter v occurs at the end of a syllable, it is pronounced like a [w]. When v occurs at the beginning of a syllable, it is pronounced like a [v].

Now, let's look at the pronunciation of the letter n with a comma under it ( ņ ):

Latvian letter	English example words (closest equivalent is underlined)	Latvian example word (word links to audio track)
ņ	canyon, bunion	ņemt 'to take'

As discussed earlier (in Lesson 4), the comma underneath a letter is called a "softening sign" (mīkstinājuma zīme) and it indicates that the letter doesn't have its normal pronunciation (e.g. dental), but that it now has a palatal pronunciation.

English speakers typically say a palatal n in a word like canyon or bunion; rather than saying a clear [n], followed by a clear [i] or y, they run them together and get a palatal n (phonetically: [ɲ]). This same sound is found in several European languages, for example:

French agneau 'lamb', Spanish año 'year', Italian bagno 'bath'

Palatal assimilation

It's all the fault of the sound represented by the letter ņ. This sound is pronounced with the tongue touching the middle of the hard palate. By comparison, the normal masculine -s ending is dental &mdash that is, it is said with the tip of the tongue just behind the upper teeth. What happens is this: the front of the tongue touches the middle of the hard palate for the ņ, but it doesn't make it all the way forward to the upper teeth for the following s sound; instead it only gets as far as the front of the hard palate, and so you get an š. In other words: ņ + s → ņ + š.

Because the resulting š is more similar to an ņ than an s would be, this process is called assimilation. However, all you have to remember is that the š ending (which occurs after ņ) is really just another variety of the regular masculine -s ending.

Consonant length

paka 'package', Rita 'Rita', lasa 'reads'

In each case, the underlined consonant sound is held for an extended period of time. This doesn't apply to every single consonant sound in Latvian; it applies only to voiceless obstruents, specifically: p, t, k, ķ, f, s and š.

Stress

Grammar

Nouns and pronouns: dative case

This lesson introduces the dative case. This case is most often used to mark the indirect object of the verb. What do we mean by this? Take a look at the following examples:

The words in the yellow-highlighted column represent those who are the recipients (or beneficiaries) of the item which is the direct object. In other words, it is Linda who gets the package, or Robert who is the recipient of the pot. In English, this is shown by the order of the words (indirect object followed by direct object), or sometimes by the use of the preposition to, as in I sent the package to Linda.

In Latvian, the word representing the recipient is placed in the dative case. Masculine and feminine nouns have different dative suffixes:

Dative suffixes:	masculine:	-am	feminine:	-ai

Not only do these endings apply to nouns, they are also used with personal pronouns. Thus, the pronouns meaning "he" and "she" have the following forms:

Because the recipient role is marked by an ending on the word, it isn't necessary to put the indirect object before the direct object. Thus, as sentence meaning "Rita is sending Linda a package" could be translated either as "Rita sūta paku Lindai" or "Rita sūta Lindai paku", and both would be correct.

Adjective agreement

Thus, the accusative form of "good milk" would be labu pienu while the dative form of "big pot" would be lielam podam. As you can see, the endings match up nicely.

Exercises

Please translate the following sentences into Latvian:

1. She is sending Rita a newspaper too.
2. Rita is sending him a big package.
3. Robert is writing a new book.
4. Here's a good dictionary.

1. Ko tu dari?
2. Es sūtu tev ļoti labu kafiju.
3. Kāpēc tu lasi laikrakstu?
4. Paldies. Čau!

Ready for Lesson 6? Please click here → Latvian Language Lesson 6