| Latvian song | Free translation | Word-for-word translation |
|---|---|---|
| Nava tiesa, nava tiesa, Ka Saulīte nakti guļ. Vai rītā tur uzlēca, Kur rietēja vakarā? | It isn't true, it isn't true That the sun sleeps every night. Did she rise up in the morn Where she went down in the eve? | not truth-nom.sg. not truth-nom.sg. that sun-dim.nom.sg. night-acc.sg. sleep-pres.3rd.p. whether morning-loc.sg. there arise-pst.3rd.p. where set-pst.3rd.p. evening-loc.sg. |
| Kālabad ik vakaru Gaisa gali atsarkuši? Saule savus zīda svārkus Ik vakaru vēdināja. | Why is it that the tips of the sky Are rosy every single eve? Every eve the sun hangs out Her silken skirts to air. | wherefore every evening-acc.sg. air-gen.sg. tip-nom.pl. redden-pst.act.masc.pl.ppl.nom.sg. sun-nom.sg. own-acc.pl. silk-gen.sg. skirt-acc.pl. every evening-acc.sg. air-caus.pst.3rd.p. |
| Šorīt agri Saule lēca Sarkanai kociņā. Jauni puiši veci tapa, To kociņu meklēdami. | This morning the sun rose up Out of a scarlet tree. Young boys will grow elderly Trying to find that tree. |
this-acc.sg.-morning early sun-nom.sg. rise-pst.3rd.p. red-loc.sg.-i tree-dim.loc.sg. young-nom.pl. boy-nom.pl. old-nom.pl. become-pst.3rd.p. that-acc.sg. tree-dim.acc.sg. search(for)-pres.ppl.act.masc.pl. |
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