Latvian Folk Songs about Jānis

Latvian song	Free translation	Word-for-word translation
Atjāj Jānis Jāņu nakti Appušķotu kumeliņu; Tec, māsiņa, atceļ vārtus Lai jāj Jānis sētiņā.	Here comes Janis on Janis' eve, With his steed all adorned; Run, little sister, and open the gates So Janis can ride into our yard.	hence-ride-pres.3rd.p. Jānis-nom.sg. Jānis-gen.pl. night-acc.sg. around-decorate-sup. pony-dim.acc.sg. run-2nd.p.sg.imp. sister-dim.voc.sg. up-lift-2nd.p.sg.imp. gate-acc.pl. so-that ride-pres.3rd.p. Jānis-nom.sg. yard-dim.loc.sg.
Jānīšam jostu aužu Deviņiem dzīpariem: Jānīts man palīdzēja Raibas govis paganīt.	I'm weaving a sash for Janis With nine different designs in it: Janis is the one who helped me to Herd my dappled cows.	Jānis-dim.dat.sg. sash-acc.sg. weave-pres.1st.p.sg. nine-dat.pl. symbol/sign-dat.pl. Jānis-dim.nom.sg. me-dat.sg. help-pst.3rd.p. dappled/pied-fem.acc.pl. cow-acc.pl. herd-inf.
Augsti cēlu Jāņu zāles, Lai telītes lielas auga, Lai tās labi lielas auga, Lai tās daudzi piena deva.	High I raised the Janis grasses So my calves would grow up tall So they'd grow up big and fat So they'd give me lots of milk.	high-adv. lift-pst.1st.p.sg. Jānis-gen.pl. grass-acc.pl. so-that calf-dim.nom.pl. big-fem.nom.pl. grow-pst.3rd.p. so-that those-fem.nom.pl. well-adv. big-fem.nom.pl. grow-pst.3rd.p. so-that those-fem.nom.pl. much-adv. milk-gen.sg. give-pst.3rd.p.

To see the explanation of the grammatical abbreviations used in the "word-for-word" translations, go to → Grammatical Abbreviations