| Latvian song | Free translation | Word-for-word translation |
|---|---|---|
|
Melna čūska ietecēja Manā bišu dārziņā; Tā nebija melna čūska Tā bij bišu māmuliņa. | A black snake slithered Into my bee garden; That wasn't just a big black snake It was the Mother of the Bees. | black-fem.nom.sg. snake-nom.sg. into-ran-pst.3rd.p. my-fem.loc.sg. bee-gen.pl. garden-dim.loc.sg. that-fem.nom.sg. not-be-pst.3rd.p. black-fem.nom.sg. snake-nom.sg. that-fem.nom.sg. be-pst.3rd.p. bee-gen.pl. mother-dim.nom.sg. |
| Melna čūska riņķi grieza Vidū jūras uz akmeņa: Tā griež puiša dvēselĪt', Kas meitiņas nicinaja. | The black snake ground a circle On a stone in the middle of the sea: It's grinding the soul of that boy Who despised (all) the girls. | black-fem.nom.sg. snake-nom.sg. circle-acc.sg. cut-pst.3rd.p. middle-loc.sg. sea-gen.sg. on stone-gen.sg. that-fem.nom.sg. cut-pres.3rd.p. boy-gen.sg. soul-dim.acc.sg. who-nom.sg. girl-dim.acc.pl. despise-pst.3rd.p. |
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