Latvian Verbs (Part III)

• Person: first, second, third person
• Number: singular vs. plural
• Tense: present, past, future
• Conjugation classes: 1st conjugation, 2nd conjugation, 3rd conjugation
• Irregular verbs
• Reflexive verbs
• Complex tenses: complex present, complex past, complex future
• Participles: declinable, partially declinable, indeclinable
• Mood: indicative, imperative, subjunctive, etc.
• Voice: active vs. passive

First conjugation (continued)

The only verbs in this subclass which still show the presence of this -n- are those verb roots which end in a vowel. Specifically they are: au-t 'to shoe; to put on feet', sie-t 'to tie up', and skrie-t 'to run'.

In the past tense the vowel of the verb root lengthens: āv-u 'I shoed', sēj-u 'I tied', skrēj-u 'I ran'. Where the root vowel ends in u, this becomes v (which is an alternative pronunciation of [ w ]). Where the root vowel is the diphthong ie, the glide [ j ] is inserted to break up a vowel cluster (i.e. skrē-u → skrē-j-u).

Other verbs in the third subclass one had an -n- marking the present tense, but over time sound changes have altered the pronunciation. Let me give you a similar example from French.

(Note: the symbol for a nasalized vowel (i.e. a vowel which is pronounced with air going out through the nose, at the same time that it is coming out of the mouth) is a tilde symbol: [ ̃ ] above the vowel. I haven't been able to get the tilde to always sit above the vowel, but, if not, it immediately follows it, so I hope that's good enough!)

A few centuries ago, the French words which mean 'bank', 'answer', and 'fifteen' were pronounced something like:

1. [bankə] 'bank', [reponsə] 'answer', [kinzə] 'fifteen'

2. The vowels followed by [n] and another consonant were nasalized: [bãnkə], [repõnsə], [kĩnzə]

3. Over time the final vowel [ə] dropped off: [bãnk], [repõns], [kĩnz]

4. Eventually, the [n] disappeared, and the nasalized vowel was lengthened (shown by a colon after the vowel symbol): [bã:k], [repõ:s], [kĩ:z]

5. Finally the nasalized vowels changed (a little) in pronunciation: [bɑ̃:k], [repɔ̃:s], [kɛ̃:z]

6. And that's how banque 'bank', réponse 'answer', and quinze 'fifteen' are pronounced nowadays in Paris!

Let's use the verb roots krit- 'fall', zag- 'steal', jut- 'feel' as examples. In the past and future tenses, these roots would appear as I've just listed them. But in the present tense, they'd show up as: kri-n-t-, za-n-g-, and ju-n-t-. However, this was a number of centuries ago. Let's take a particular present tense form and trace what happened.

OK. Back then the 1st person singular present tense forms of these verb (meaning 'I am falling', 'I am stealing', and 'I am feeling'), looked something like this:

1. [krinto:], [zango:], [junto:]
2. The vowels followed by the [n] infix were nasalized: [krĩnto:], [zãngo:], [jũnto:]
3. The ending changed pronunciation and got shorter: [krĩntu], [zãngu], [jũntu]
4. A sequence of [ãn] became [õn]: [zõngu]
5. The [n] disappeared, and the nasalized vowel was lengthened: [krĩ:tu], [zõ:gu], [jũ:tu]
6. The nasalization disappeared: [kri:tu], [zo:gu], [ju:tu]
7. The long vowel [o:] became the diphthong [ua̯]: [zua̯gu]
8. And that's how the first person singular present tense forms of krītu, zogu, and jūtu are pronounced now: [kri:tu], [zua̯gu], and [ju:tu].

Additional notes on 3rd subclass of First Conjugation verbs:

1. There is an extra -ī- vowel in the above future tense forms (e.g. krit-ī-š-u, krit-ī-s-i, etc.). This actually happens quite often: if a verb root ends in a t, d, s or z, the -ī- is inserted after the verb root and before the future suffixes s-, si- or š. The -ī- has no meaning; it's just inserted to break up a sequence of consonants.)

2. Verb roots which end in g and k will alter to dz and c [ts] (respectively) in the 2nd person singular present tense form: zag-t 'to steal', but zodz 'you (sg.) are stealing.'

3. Verb roots which end in p, t or d have the ending -i in the 2nd person singular present tense form. Other verb roots in this subclass typically do not.

4. Traditionally the verb tik-t 'to get (to), arrive, become' is considered a member of this subclass. However, it does not lengthen the vowel in the present tense (as one would expect from the example of krist 'to fall'). Instead, the root vowel is altered to the diphthong ie in present tense forms. Thus: tiek-u 'I am arriving', tiec 'you (sg.) are arriving', etc.

To continue on with verbs, go to → Latvian Verbs (Part IV)