Latvian Verbs (Part IX)

• 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 Active Participle: -dams, -dama

This participle is formed from the infinitive stem. This is how you do it: remove the infinitive suffix -t, add -dam- and then the appropriate suffix. Here are some examples:

This participle also functions like an adjective in that it modifies a noun or pronoun. However, it does not necessarily precede the noun or pronoun that it is modifying. The following example sentences illustrate this adjectival function; the participles which function like adjectives are shown in dark red, and the nouns or pronouns that they modify are in olive green:

1. Meitenes studēdamas nekad nerunāja. '(The) girls (while) studying never spoke.'
2. Smiedamies Hermanis ieleca upē. 'Herman (while) laughing jumped (into the) river.'
3. Dzerdami alu un viskiju mēs skatījāmies televīziju. '(While) drinking beer and whiskey, we watched (some) TV'.
4. Te nāk Roberts staigādams pa ielu. 'Here comes Robert walking along (the) street.'

Since the participle only occurs in the nominative case, and since it agrees in case with the noun it modifies, it follows that this participle can only modify nouns or pronouns which are in the nominative case.

Note that -dam- is not the only present active participle; we also have the present active participle -oš-. Here is a chart which compares the two participles:

Although both present active participles of Latvian are typically translated by the English present participle -ing, the meanings are slightly different. The difference is illustrated in the following chart; V stands for the verb from which the participle is derived, while N stands for the noun which the participle modifies:

Exception (a):

Some verbs alter the (spelling of the) final consonant of the verb stem in this participle. For example, the infinitive of 'to fall' is kris-t. According to the procedure described above, the masculine singular -dam- participle should be formed as follows:

kris-t → kris- → kris-dam- → kris-dam-s

However, this is incorrect. The correct (spelling of the) participial form for this verb is: kriz-dam-s. Take a look at the following additional examples:

Whenever the verb root ends in t or d (as evident from the past and future tense forms), the final consonant of the verb root is spelled as z in the -dam- participle.

In actual fact, the participial form would be pronounced this way regardless of the spelling. In Latvian, if an s is immediately followed by a d, that s is usually pronounced [ z ]. (For more information on how this works, see → Voicing Assimilation in Latvian.) Take a look at a couple of example words that illustrate this; the words are first shown as they are spelled, and then (phonetically) as they are pronounced, in square brackets:

trīsdesmit [tri:zdɛsmɪt] 'thirty', pusdiena [pʊzdɪʌ̯nʌ] 'noon, midday'

Thus, even if participles like krisdams retained that spelling, they would still be pronounced with a [z], namely as [krɪzdʌms].

Exception (b):

The verb ēst 'to eat' forms its participle in a slightly irregular manner. The masculine singular -dam- participle is not ēsdams; it is not ēzdams. Instead it is: ēdams.

To continue with verbs, click on → Verbs (Part X).