Grammar 4.1:

4.1.1: THE ACCUSATIVE CASE IS THE DIRECT OBJECT CASE.

· It answers the question ko? 'whom / what?'

· In English its function is indicated by its position after the verb. In Latvian distinct case forms are used.

· The accusative case forms of the nouns are made by means of the accusative case suffixes in the following ways:

4.1.11 IN THE SINGULAR WATCH THE STEM VOWEL FOR THE CHOICE OF -i OR -u:

• THE HIGH STEMS (e AND i) TAKE THE HIGHEST VOWEL -i:

• THE LOW STEMS (a AND u) TAKE THE LOWEST VOWEL -u:

4.1.12 IN THE PLURAL WATCH THE GENDER FOR THE CHOICE OF ACCUSATIVE SUFFIXES:

• THE MASCULINE NOUNS take a generalized ending -us:

• THE FEMININE NOUNS repeat their Nominative plural endings:

*Note the -ļ- in the i-stem masculine plural forms.

• THE ADJECTIVES, REGULAR PRONOUNS AND NUMERALS take on the a-stem suffixes (as they do in other cases):

· viņu 'him/her'

· viņus 'them-masc'

· viņas 'them-fem.'

· manu māsu 'my sister'

· tavu brāli 'your brother', lielus kokus 'big trees', lielas mājas 'big houses', divas acis 'two eyes', etc.

*For the accusative forms of other pronouns, see the declension chart.

4.1.13 THE ACCUSATIVE FORMS SERVE AS DIRECT OBJECTS:

*Note again how a pronoun object avoids the final place in the sentence.

4.1.14 PREPOSITIONAL OBJECTS:

• Certain prepositions take accusative SINGULAR objects

• In the PLURAL, however, all prepositions must take the dative case forms:

*The complete sets of prepositions will be shown in later lessons.

4.1.2 THE INFINITIVE is the verb form that precedes the principal part. In the dictionaries the verbs are listed by their infinitives:

· būt 'to be'

· dzīvot 'to live'

· darīt 'to do'

· mazgāties 'to wash oneself'

· sēsties 'to sit down', etc.

*Note that the INFINITIVE MARKER (sufffix) for the active verb is -t and for the reflexive verb -ties.

4.1.21 THE INFINITIVES AS OBJECTS.

• Certain verbs can take infinitive objects instead of nouns (or pronouns) in the accusative case:

4.1.22 THE INFINITIVES TAKING ACCUSATIVE OBJECTS.

• The infinitives of the transitive verbs take direct objects in their own right:

A "train" of infinitive and accusative objects is not considered a good style. Instead of viņš taisās nākt dzert tēju 'he is getting ready to come to drink tea', it is better to say: viņš nāks dzert tēju 'he will come to drink tea'.

4.1.3 REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS are called so because they refer to the subject of the sentence whatever grammatical person that subject may be. There are two reflexive pronouns, one personal and one possesive.

4.1.31 THE PERSONAL PRONOUN sev- '-SELF'

• Has no nominative singular form, no plural forms and no gender markers (see the declension chart).

• In English the corresponding forms are – singular self; plural selves prefixed by the person marker:

• Singular: myself, yourself, himself, itself;

• Plural: ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

• When translating the Latvian sev-form, use the appropriate English form from the above list

• When the reference is not to the subject, a regular pronoun with person and number designation must be used:

4.1.32 THE POSSESSIVE PRONOUN

• savs, F. sava 'ONE'S OWN'.

• This pronoun too refers to the subject of the sentence in which it is used and replaces all other possessive designations.

• It has the full set of forms in both genders and numbers.

• In English it is translated by the appropriate possessive pronoun form (to which the word "own" may be added):

• But, when the reference is not to the subject, specific possessive pronouns must be used:

4.1.4 A COMPLETE SURVEY OF THE FIRST CONJUGATION VERBS REGARDING THEIR PRESENT TENSE CATEGORIES

· We learned to conjugate - in the present tense - the I. conjugation regular verbs in 3.2.41 (active) and in 3.3.51 (reflexive).

· Furthermore, in 3.3.52 we saw some verbs with 2nd sg. base-end changes.

· Now we'll take up all the changes by which the second person singular can place itself in opposition to all other persons of the present tense.

· First, these oppositions fall into four general groupings:

a. The 2nd sg. restores the original base-end consonant:

b. The 2nd sg. drops the base-end -j.

c. The 2nd sg. changes the base-end -k- and -g- into -c- and -dz-;

d. The 2nd sg. changes the pronunciation of the verb base -e- / -ē-.

· Except for the last (d.) change, these OPPOSITIONS ARE THE BASIS FOR THE VERB SUBGROUP CLASSIFICATIONS THAT APPEAR IN THE CODE.

· Thus the code 'I-š/s' (as for the verb plest 'break') means that this I. conjugation verb in the present tense opposes the 2nd. sg. base-end -s- to -š- in all other persons.

· Other code designations referring to the oppositions outlined above are just as easy to read.

4.1.41 THE 2ND SG. RESTORES THE NONPALATAL BASE-END CONSONANTS -s-, -t-, -z-, -d-, -l- (and -r-):

a. The restored consonant is the same one that is seen in the past and future tenses:

2nd.sg.pres. pūt - past pr. part pūta, fut. pūtīs.

b. In Latvia the ŗ is no longer used; there the code for the verbs like dzert must be 'I-reg.'

4.1.42 THE 2ND SG. DROPS -j- AFTER THE LABIAL BASE-END CONSONANTS -p-, -b-, -m-:

4.1.43 THE 2ND SG. CHANGES THE BASE-END -k- AND -g- TO -c- AND -dz- RESPECTIVELY:

4.1.44 THE 2ND SG. CHANGES THE PRESENT TENSE BASE BROAD -e*- / -ē*- INTO THE NORMAL e / ē-:

a. This opposition appears only in the pronunciation, not in the spelling. For this reason it is ignored in the code designations that stress other features.

b. All the above oppositions are present in the reflexive verbs also, a partial sample of which see in 3.3.52; note the code designations there. We do not as yet have as complete a sample of reflexive verbs as we have here of the active verbs.

c. All the active verbs on this page share one feature with the I. conjugation regular verbs: their present tense 2ND SG. FORM HAS NO SUFFIX. There is, however, a large group of the I. conjugation verbs whose present tense 2nd. sg. form takes the ending -i. Now we are ready to take up that category.

4.1.45 THE VERBS WITH THE PRESENT TENSE BASE-END -st- ADD -i TO THEIR 2ND SG. FORM:

Now it can be said concerning the present tense 2nd sg. -i:

• All III. conjugation verbs have it.

• No II. conjugation verbs have it. The I. conjugation -st- verbs have it.

• The rest of the I. conjugation verbs do not have it.

4.1.5 THE IMPERATIVE: The verb forms we have studied so far are of the s.c. indicative mood, which is used in statements and questions. Besides that, direct orders can be given to the 2nd person to do something. The last mode (or "mood") of action is the imperative.

· There are two imperative forms :

a. 2nd sg. and 2nd pl. –for the active and two for the reflexive verbs.

b. The 2nd sg. imperative forms, active and reflexive, are the same as the 2nd sg. indicative forms.

c. The 2nd pl. imperative forms are made from the SINGULAR forms with the ACTIVE SUFFIX -iet and the REFLEXIVE SUFFIX -ieties.

d. If the verbs belong to the special patterns shown in 4.1.41 through .44 or in 3.3.52, all of their imperative forms show the special feature that only the 2nd person singular has in the indicative.

4.1.51 ACTIVE VERB IMPERATIVE EXAMPLES:

4.1.52 REFLEXIVE VERB IMPERATIVE EXAMPLES:

* We don't have as complete a sample of the reflexive verbs as we have of the active verbs.

* Note that in the III-ī pattern the base-end -k- stays unchanged: act. slauki / slaukiet, refl. slaukies / slaukieties.

4.1.6 A SUMMARY OF PALATALIZATION AND IOTIZATION PATTERNS

· We already have met a number of I. conjugation verbs and masculine i-stem nouns that either palatalize their base-ends or add add a -j- in some of their forms.

· This summary of all such changes will now provide a unified overview.

4.1.61 BASE-END PALATALIZATIONS:

· Occur in the present tense of certain I. conjugation verbs (see 4.4.41) and in the plural forms of certain masculine i-stem nouns (see 2.2.14b and 3.3.74b).

CHANGES:

a. Since we will not be using the ŗ, the r / ŗ; opposition is put here only "for the record".

b. In the nouns we have not yet encountered some of the oppositions.

4.1.62 BASE-END IOTIZATIONS

• Occur in the same verb and noun forms that cannot palatalize.

• These are the forms that have a labial consonant at the end of their bases.

• They add a -j- after the labial (see 4.1.42 and 3.1.23).

ADD -j-:

* Again, in the nouns we have not yet encountered all oppositions. In the nouns we will later learn other instances of the palatalization and iotization.

4.1.7 WORD ORDER CHANGES FOR STYLISTIC PURPOSES.

• The subject-verb-object sequence must be maintained to indicate these syntactic relationships in English, but not in Latvian.

• Latvian may follow this pattern, but is NOT BOUND to it.

• Two facts are important here to consider:

a. In Latvian the declensional suffixes, not the word order, indicate which is the subject and which the object of the sentence. This means that the word order here is grammatically unimportant and hence can be changed.

b. The Latvian sentence has its strongest stress on the last word. This means that any sentence element (except function particles) can be brought to the end of the sentence to receive an emphasis. (See also 2.2.3)

• Let's look at some examples (the stressed element is bold):

* Such inversions are preferred especially if the sentence continues with some antithesis:

· Tēju dzeru es, ne viņa. 'It is I, not she, who drinks tea.'

· Tēju es dzeru, ne tikai garšoju. 'I do drink tea, not just taste (it).'

Other sentence elements can become emphatic in the final position:

· Es dzeru tēju pēcpusdienā. 'I drink tea in the afternoon.' OR: 'It is in the afternoon that I drink tea.'

4.1.71 THE PRONOUN OBJECT BEFORE THE VERB.

· Not to receive an undue emphasis, the pronoun object avoids the final position by preceding ("hiding behind") the verb:

· Es tevi re*dzu, bet tu mani neredzi. 'I see you, but you don't see me.' (See also 2.1.6)

· However, if some other sentence element already occupies the last place, the pronoun object may follow the verb:

· Es viņus re*dzu skolā. / Es re*dzu viņus skolā. 'I see them at school.' (BUT, without the last added element, the inversion is mandatory: Es viņus re*dzu. 'I see them.')

4.1.8 NEW STRUCTURES

4.1.81 Ko-QUESTIONS: use transitive verbs and obtain accusative objects in the answers:

Q: Ko tu redzi? 'Whom do you see?' Es redzu bē*rnus. 'I see children.'

A: Ko bē*rni ē*d? 'What do children eat?' Bē*rni ē*d gaļu. 'The children eat meat.'

a. The question elicits infinitive object:

Q: Ko bē*rni grib darīt? 'What do the children want to do?'

A: Bērni grib ē*st. 'The children want to eat.'

b. The question elicits infinitive + accusative object:

Q: Ko bē*rni grib ē*st? 'What do the children want to eat?'

A: Bērni grib ē*st gaļu. 'The children want to eat meat.'

c. The question and answer contain a prepositional accusative object:

Q: Ar ko viņa runājas? 'With whom is she talking?'

A: Viņa runājas ar skolotāju. 'She's talking with the teacher.'

Q: Uz ko tu skaties? 'At what are you looking?' (col: 'What are you looking at?')

A: Es skatos uz pulksteni. 'I'm looking at the clock.'

4.1.82 THE USES AND STRUCTURES FOR THE VERB garšot.

· This verb has three different uses, each of which has also a different structure and meaning.

a. WHEN garšot IS USED AS A TRANSITIVE VERB, it means 'to taste' and takes accusative objects:

Es garšoju maizi. 'I am tasting bread.'

Pagaršo šo tēju. 'Taste this tea.'

b. WHEN garšot IS USED INTRANSITIVELY, it means 'to taste = have a taste' and is accompanied by an adverb:

Šī tēja garšo labi. 'This tea tastes good.' (Note that in English you must use the adjective here.)

c. WITH THE LOGICAL SUBJECT IN THE DATIVE, garšot means 'to like, to eat/drink (something)':

Man garšo maize. 'I like (to eat) bread.'

Vai tev garšo tēja? 'Do you like (to drink) tea?'

4.1.9 ADDITIONAL NOTES

4.1.91 THE PRONOUN viss, visa, PL. visi, visas HAS THE FOLLOWING USES AND MEANINGS:

a. MODIFYING A NOUN, THE PLURAL FORMS MEAN 'ALL (THE)':

visi zēni 'all (the) boys' visām meitenēm 'for all (the) girls'

visus kokus 'all trees (ac.pl.)' visās mājās 'in all houses'

b. MODIFYING A NOUN, THE SINGULAR FORMS MEAN 'THE WHOLE, 'ALL (THE)':

visā dārzā 'in the whole yard' visa tēja 'all (the) tea'

c. STANDING ALONE, THE MASCULINE PLURAL FORM MEANS 'EVERYBODY, ALL':

Visi garšoja manu tēju. 'Everybody tasted my tea.'

Visiem garšoja mana tēja. 'Everybody liked my tea.'

d. STANDING ALONE, THE MASCULINE SINGULAR MEANS 'EVERYTHING, ALL':

Viss būs labi. 'Everything will be all right.'

Visam ir savs laiks. 'Everything has its (own) time / season.'

4.1.92 HALF-HOUR CLOCK TIME PHRASES

• Use the prefix pus- 'half' + the numeral bases + the suffixes used with the full hours (see 3.3.11).

• In English such phrases look back to the last full hour; thus 4:30 is 'half past four'.

• In Latvian the half-hour phrases look forward to the next full hour, and 4:30 is expressed as puspieci 'half to five'. Additional examples:

· THE PREFIX pus- CARRIES NO STRESS, which is on the first syllable I of the number base:

· pusviens / pusvienos, pusdivi, pusdivpadsmit etc.

4.1.93 VERB PREFIXES

· In our texts we are meeting more and more verbs with prefixes. At this point we can begin to generalize some of their uses:

a. The prefix ADDS A PREPOSITIONAL MEANING to the verb. Verb prefixes have prepositional bases. For this reason their primary meanings are also prepositional, especially with the verbs of motion:

atsaukties 'call in return', atvilkt 'pull back';

uzģērbt / uzvilkt 'put on (clothes)', uzlikt 'place on';

ielikt 'place in', ieliet 'pour in',

ieiet 'come in'; nolikt 'put down', etc.

b. The prefix SETS LIMITS TO THE ACTION. Without prefixes, Latvian verbs express ongoing actions with no reference to their duration limits. Any prefix added to the verb makes an action:

1. either FINISHED

· like saplēst 'break to pieces', noslaucīt 'wipe off', uztaisīt 'prepare';

2. or a SINGLE-ACT or MOMENTARY

· like iedot 'give' (not keep giving), paņemt (not take and take), pastumt 'push a little (and then stop), pagriezties 'turn a little', pagaršot 'taste a little (just a bite or a sip), etc.

· Some of the momentary may also be sudden actions:

· iesaukties 'call out suddenly, exclaim'.

· THE VERBS IN a. ALSO HAVE ONE OF THESE ASPECTS ALONG WITH THE PREPOSITIONAL SENSE.

c. The prefix GIVES A NEW MEANING to the verb:

· atrasties 'be situated' (rasties 'come into being'), piestāvēt 'suit' (stāvēt 'stand'), uzvesties 'behave', palikt 'remain'.

d. Some verbs ARE NOT USED WITHOUT PREFIXES. As a rule, they are idiomatic:

• atbildēt 'answer', pazīt 'recognize'.