| Latvian song | Free translation | Word-for-word translation |
|---|---|---|
| Nāc Jumīti, mūs' mājās, Še būs laba dzīvošana: Došu maizi, došu zirņus, Saldu alu nodzerties. | Come, dear Jumis, to our house You will have good living here: I'll give you bread, I'll give you peas, I'll give you ale to drink, so sweet. | come-2nd.p.sg.imp. Jumis-dim.voc.sg. our-gen.pl. house-loc.pl. here be-fut.3rd.p. good-fem.nom.sg. living-nom.sg. give-fut.1st.p.sg. bread-acc.sg. give-fut.1st.p.sg pea-acc.pl. sweet-acc.sg. ale-acc.sg. up-drink-inf.refl. |
| Jumīšam kreklu devu, Juma mātei paladziņu, Lai tas man šito gadu Garus linus audzināja. | I gave Jumis a linen shirt, His mother - a linen sheet, So that my flax would grow Tall and strong this year. | Jumis-dim.dat.sg. shirt-acc.sg. give-pst.1st.p.sg. Jumis-gen.sg. mother-dat.sg. sheet-dim.acc.sg. so-that that-masc.nom.sg. me-dat.sg. this-def.acc.sg. year-acc.sg. high/long-acc.pl. flax-acc.pl. grow-caus.pst.3rd.p. |
| Es atradu rudza Jumi Deviņām vārpiņām; Šogad būs tautu dēls Deviņiem kumeļiem. | I found a stalk of *Jumis' rye With nine different ears on it; This year my suitor will be a man Whose horses number nine. | I-nom.sg. find-pst.1st.p.sg. rye-gen.sg. Jumis-acc.sg. nine-dat.pl. ear-dim.dat.pl. this-year be-fut.3rd.p. folk-gen.pl. son-nom.sg. nine-dat.pl. pony-dim.dat.pl. |
*The Latvian word jumis can mean "twin" or "duplicate"; thus, multiple ears of grain are called jumis.
To see the explanation of the grammatical abbreviations used in the "word-for-word" translations, go to → Grammatical Abbreviations
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Last revised September 20, 2008