Latvian Verbs (Part VIII)

• 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

Participles (continued)

Present Passive Participle: -ams, -ama or -āms, -āma

This participle functions like an adjective: it modifies a noun. The endings are exactly the same as the endings for any adjective. (To see all the adjective endings, click here → Adjective Agreement.) The following example sentences illustrate this adjectival function; the participles which function like adjectives are shown in dark red, and the nouns that they modify are in olive green:

1. Ilga neiedeva Annai darāmu darbu. 'Ilga didn't give Anna a doable job'.
2. Mazs dators ir viegli zogama manta. 'A small computer is an easily stolen thing.'

The above examples illustrate the particple acting as an indefinite adjective. It can also take definite adjective endings, as shown below:

1. Rita iedeva Robertam dzeramo ūdeni. 'Rita gave Robert the drinkable water'.
2. Tas ir grūti ceļamais akmens. 'That is the difficult-to-lift stone.'

The present passive participle is often translated into English by a word ending in -able or -ible; take a look at the following examples (which are all in the masculine singular indefinite form): ārstējams 'healable', ceļams 'liftable', dejojams 'danceable', dzerams 'drinkable', zīmējams 'drawable', etc.

Finally, please note that reflexive verbs do not form present passive participles.

Past Passive Participle: -ts, -ta

This is the participle which is used to form passive sentences. These will be discussed in more detail later; for more information on the passive voice, click on → Voice.

As expected, the past passive participle can also function as an adjective. The following example sentences illustrate this adjectival function; the participles which function like adjectives are shown in dark red, and the nouns that they modify are in olive green:

1. Hermanim nav idzertas vīna pudeles. 'Herman doesn't have an emptied (literally: drunk up) wine bottle.'
2. Vai Raimonds atrada sasietu paunu? 'Did Raymond find a tied-up bundle?'
3. Šejkspīra rakstītas lugas ir burvīgas. 'Shakespeare's written plays (i.e. any plays which were written by Shakespeare) are marvelous'.

All of the above examples illustrate participles with indefinite endings. The following sentences show the same past passive participles with definite endings:

1. Hermanim nav idzertās vīna pudeles. 'Herman doesn't have the emptied (literally: drunk up) wine bottle.'
2. Vai Raimonds atrada sasieto paunu? 'Did Raymond find the tied-up bundle?'
3. Šejkspīra rakstītās lugas ir burvīgas. 'Shakespeare's written plays (i.e. those plays which were written by Shakespeare) are marvelous'.

If you look at the last sentence, you will see that the agent (i.e. the doer of the action) of the participle is in the genitive case. In this last example sentence the agent was Shakespeare. Here are a couple more sentences that illustrate the use of the genitive case to mark the agent of the participle's action:

1. Maijas rakstītā grāmata ir brūna. 'May's written book (i.e. the book which was written by May) is brown.'
2. Hermanis neredzēja darbinieku izraktās bedres. 'Herman didn't see the workers' dug holes (i.e. the holes which were dug by the workers).'

To continue on with participles, go to: Verbs (Part IX)