Grammar 3.2:

3.2.1 LOCATIVES AS PREPOSITIONAL ADVERBS. There are certain nouns whose locative cases indicate relative positions and often REFER TO SOME OTHER NOUN IN SOME OTHER DECLENSIONAL CASE. These are the locatives like vidū -- 'in the middle', malā -- 'on the side', priekšā -- 'in front', iekšā -- 'inside', etc. First, note that these expressions are adverbial, because they do the job of space adverbs. Furthermore, like prepositions, they can govern another noun: dārza vidū -- 'in the middle of the yard', mājas/mājai priekšā -- 'in front of the house'.

Most of these adverbial locatives take another noun in genitive case (which we have not yet studied), but some of them may allow dative. (See their list in 3.2 Vocabulary.)

3.2.2 DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS šis --- 'THIS' AND tas -- 'THAT' As in English, the pronouns of this category point out nouns, and the pronoun choice depends on the viewpoint of the speaker: šis (in all its possible case forms) refers to the objects nearer to the speaker, and tas (in all its forms), to more remote objects:

Šis ir zē*ns, bet tā ir meitene. -- 'This is a boy but that is a girl.'

Šim zē*nam ir brūni mati, bet tam zē*nam - sarkani. -- 'This boy has brown hair, but that boy (has) red (hair).'

Šajās atvilktnēs ir rīki; tajos plauktos ir trauki. -- 'In these drawers are tools; on those shelves are dishes.'

a. Both pronouns have their own declensional pattern that must be learned.

b. When tas is not used in the opposition to šis, it has other meanings and functions. About them see 3.2.5 below and Lesson 3.3.

3.2.3 THE GROUPINGS OF LATVIAN VERBS. Looking at the verb principal parts introduced so far, we may note - first of all - that for some verbs all principal parts end in -s, for others only the future form. The verbs of the first category are called "reflexive"; the others are "active" verbs. The reflexive verbs are derived from the corresponding active ones, and we will take them up in some detail later. These are the verbs like atrasties -- 'be situated'.

3.2.31 THREE MAIN DIVISIONS ("CONJUGATIONS") OF THE ACTIVE VERBS can be established by looking at their principal parts:

I. The conjugational endings (bold) are attached to the verb BASES (CAPITALIZED) in all three tenses:

The 1st principal part has no endings, but other present tense forms do:

II. A long vowel (plus -j-) is inserted between the verb BASES and the conjugational endings in all three tenses:

The -o- is a diphthong [uo] and thus has the same length as a long vowel. As in I., other present tense forms have endings: DZĪVoju, DZīvojam, etc.

III. This is a mixed conjugation. In the present tense, the conjugational endings are attached directly to the verb BASES (as in the I. conjugation). In the past and future tenses, however, a long vowel (plus -j-) is inserted between them (as in the II. conjugation):

3.2.32 SUBDIVISIONS exist within each of the three conjugations. They are given in your vocabularies right after the principal parts. In the II. And III. conjugations, the subdivisions are named after the vowels that get inserted. In our samples above we have II-o, II-ā and II-ē; III-ē and III-ī verbs.

In the I. conjugation different criteria for subdivisions are used, and we will survey them in the next few lessons. So far we have learned the irregular verbs (labeled "I-irregular."), and now will take up the I. conjugation verbs whose present tense patterning is without any problems. They are labeled "I-regular."

The II and III. conj. verbs are patterned regularly in all 3 tenses. The I. conjugation verbs make their forms in a regular fashion only in the past and future tenses. In the present tense most of them have certain divergences that will have to be noted.

3.2.4 MAKING OF THE PRESENT TENSE FORMS in all three conjugations is done uniformly. First, note the present tense PERSONAL ENDINGS SET:

The endings in the parentheses are not used in all instances. The 3rd common ending -a is found only in certain III. conjugation verbs. It poses no problem, because the 3rd common form is being memorized as a verb principal part.

Concerning the 2nd person singular ending -i, the following scheme might be useful:

ALL III. conjugation verbs have it.
NO II. conjugation verbs have it.
NO I. conjugation regular verbs have it.

The patterns that emerge are distinctive for each division and even subdivision.

3.2.41 EXAMPLES OF THE PRESENT TENSE FORMATION PATTERNS

In the II. conjugation patterns, a -j- is inserted to prevent two vowels from fusing and thus making the endings unclear. Where no ending is present, there is no need for the -j, either.

3.2.42 ADDITIONAL III. CONJUGATION PRESENT TENSE PATTERNS.

ALL III-ī verbs follow a single pattern shown above. Note the lengthened -ām, -āt in this pattern.

a. The III-ē verbs with a BASE-END PALATALIZATION (-Ž- and -Ļ- in our examples) restore the ORIGINAL CONSONANT ( -D- and -L- in our examples) in the 2nd singular form. The verb sēdēt -- 'sit' has two versions, of which the palatalized one is more in use.

b. THE LENGTHENED PLURAL ENDINGS -ām and -āt in the III-ī pattern can be thought of as a fusion of the principal part -a and the regular -am, -at short vowel endings: DARa+am = DARām, DARa+at = DARāt.

THE RULE for this lengthening can be: IF THE PRESENT PRINCIPAL PART ALREADY HAS AN -a, THE PLURAL ENDINGS ACQUIRE A LONG -ā-.

3.2.5 THE QUESTION: Kas tas ir? When wishing to know what something is, an English speaker asks: What is this? In Latvian the same question comes out as: 'What is that?' Kas tas ir? (NOT Kas *šis ir?) Being a pronoun, tas precedes the verb. Note also that the masculine singular form is used in this type of a general question.

3.2.51 THE ANSWERS TO THIS QUESTION contain predicate nouns (in the nominative case). The subject of the answer sentence is the pronoun tas. Here, however, THE PRONOUN MUST ANTICIPATE THE NOUN IN ITS GENDER AND NUMBER:

3.2.6 NOTES ON ADJECTIVES

3.2.61 THE LOCATIVE PHRASE Kādā krāsā -- 'In (translate 'Of') what color' elicits a color adjective in the answer: Kādā krāsā ir māja? '(Of) what color is the house?' Māja ir balta / baltā krāsā. 'The house is white / of white color.'

3.2.62 THE DIMENSION ADJECTIVE MUST COME FIRST when two (or more) adjectives are used together. This is so also in English: liela, balta māja -- 'a big white house', NOT *balta, liela māja --'*white big house'. NOTE THE COMMA: in Latvian between any two adjectives placed next to one another.