Latvian Prepositions and Postpositions (continued)

Postpositions

In addition to prepositions, Latvian also has a few postpositions. As the name suggests, in this situation the complement is followed by the postposition which governs it. English has only one postposition: ago. Note the following example sentences:
  1. My father died twenty years ago.
  2. Two days ago a tremendous earthquake hit Siberia.
Latvian has a handful of postpositions: dēļ 'because of, by way of, through', labad 'for, for the sake of', līdz '(along) with' (Note: this is NOT the preposition līdz meaning 'until'), pakaļ 'after, behind', and pēc 'after, by'.

The postpositions līdz '(along) with' and pakaļ 'after, behind' govern the dative case, while the others govern the genitive case. Here are some illustrative sentences:

  1. Raimonds nomira bada dēļ. 'Raymond died from (i.e. because of) hunger.'
  2. Ivara labad Maija darītu visu iespejamo. 'For Ivar's sake May would do everything possible.'
  3. Prieka pēc Anna gandrīz izlēca no ādas. 'Anna almost jumped out of her skin with happiness.'
  4. Rita neskrēja Hermanim pakaļ. 'Rita didn't run after Herman'.
  5. Anita ies tev līdz. 'Anita is going (along) with you (singular).'
Here are a few more sentences, but with plural complements:
  1. Raimonds nomira masalu dēļ. 'Raymond died from (i.e. because of) measles.'
  2. Draugu labad Maija darīja visu iespejamo. 'For (the) sake of (her) friends May did everything possible.'
  3. Mūsu pēc nav ko uztraukties. 'There is no need to get upset on our behalf (i.e. for our sakes).'
  4. Rita neskrēja zēniem pakaļ. 'Rita didn't run after boys'.
  5. Anita ies jums līdz. 'Anita is going (along) with you (plural).'
As you can see, the complements of dēļ 'because of, for the sake of', labad 'for, for the sake of', and pēc 'after, by' are still in the genitive case, even though they are plural. Thus, unlike prepositions (which all require the dative case for plural complements), Latvian postpositions require the same case in both numbers. That's nice and consistent, isn't it?

Preposition ar used as a Conjunction?

 When one wishes to link together pronouns or nouns which refer to entities that go together, it is much more common to use the preposition ar 'with' than to use the conjunction un 'and'. For example, take a look at the following sentences; as above, the preposition ar is shown in pink, and the rest of the prepositional phrase is in brown:

Latvian Sentence English translation Literal translation
Anna grib maizi ar sviestu. Anna wants bread and butter. Anna wants bread with butter.
Tēvs ar māti nav mājās. Father and mother aren't home. Father with mother not-are home.
Mēs ar māmiņu brauksim uz Rīgu. Mommy and I are going to Riga. We with mommy will-drive to Riga.
Kur jūs ar Ivaru bijāt? Where have you and Ivar been? Where you-plural with Ivar were?

As you can see from the last two example sentences, when the first or second person pronoun is part of such a pair, the plural pronoun form must be used. Thus, "Anna and I" must be translated Mēs ar Annu (literally: 'We with Anna').

Semi-prepositions

Occasionally adverbs are used as prepositions. These types of adverbs are referred to as semi-prepositions (pusprievārdi). Here are some example sentences which illustrate the differences between the use of the preposition pret 'against; towards', the adverb pretī 'opposite, facing', and the semi-preposition pretī (i.e. adverb used as a preposition). As earlier, the adverb is shown in purple, the preposition or semi-preposition is shown in pink, and the rest of the prepositional phrase is in brown:

Part of speech Example sentence Translation Case of complement
preposition Raimonds cīnījās pret ienaidnieku. Raymond fought against (the) enemy. accusative
adverb Hermanis sniedza Annai roku pretī. Herman held out (his) hand towards Anna. no complement
semi-preposition Ivars turēsies pretī ienaidniekam. Ivar will resist (ie. hold out) against (the) enemy. dative

As you can see from the above examples, the preposition pret 'against; towards', requires the accusative case in its complement noun ienaidnieku. Adverbs (such as pretī 'opposite, facing') normally have no complements. However, the semi-preposition pretī requires the dative case in its complement noun ienaidniekam.

This is typical of semi-prepositions; if they have a complement noun or pronoun, it must use the dative case. Here is a list of the most common semi-prepositions:

apkārt 'around, about', blakām = blakus 'beside', cauri 'through', garām 'along', līdzās = līdzi '(along) with', pāri 'over, across', pretī = pretim 'opposite, against'.

Semi-prepositions can also be semi-postpositions. In other words, they can also follow their complement. Here are a few example sentences in which they are post-posed:

  1. Roberts sēdēja Hermanim blakus. 'Robert sat beside Herman.'
  2. Raimonds aizgāja Annai pretī. 'Raymond went to meet (i.e. towards) Anna.'
  3. Anita skrēja mājai apkārt. 'Anita ran around (the) house.'
  4. Ivars jāja ezeram garām. 'Ivars rode along/beside (the) lake.'

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Last revised September 19, 2008