| Latvian song | Free translation | Word-for-word translation |
|---|---|---|
| Appušķoju to gotiņu, Kas vairāk piena deva; Kura piena man nedeva, Lai pušķoja veļu māte. |
I adorned the cow who gave Milk to me in abundance; The one who gave me none at all Let the Mother of Shades adorn. | adorn-pst.1st.p.sg. that-acc.sg. cow-dim.acc.sg. who-nom.sg. more milk-gen.sg. give-pst.3rd.p. which-one-fem.nom.sg. milk-gen.sg. me-dat.sg. not-give-pst.3rd.p. let adorn-pst.3rd.p. ghost-gen.pl. mother-nom.sg. |
| Gotiņ, mana raibaliņa, Tu man saldu pienu dod; Tāpēc tevi apdziedāju Tāpēc tevim kroni viju. | Oh, my cow, my dappled cow You give me milk, sweet fresh milk; That is why I sing of you Why I weave a wreath for you. | cow-dim.voc.sg. my-fem.nom.sg. spotted-one-fem.nom.sg. you-2nd.p.sg.nom. me-dat.sg. sweet-acc.sg. milk-acc.sg. give-pres.2nd.p.sg. therefore you-2nd.p.sg.acc. sing-about-pres.1st.p.sg. therefore you-2nd.p.sg.dat. crown/wreath-acc.sg. braid-pres.1st.p.sg. |
| Uzliksim saimniecei Baltu ziedu vainadziņu, Lai aug viņas raibaliņas Baltajiem ziediņiem. | Let's put a wreath of flowers white On the farm wife's head So her dappled cows will grow With blossom-white spots all over them. | on-put-fut.1st.p.pl. housewife/farmwife-dat.sg. white-acc.sg. blossom-gen.pl. wreath-dim.acc.sg. so-that grow-pres.3rd.p. her-gen.sg. spotted-one-acc.pl. white-def.dat.pl. blossom-dim.dat.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 19, 2008