Everything you always wanted to know about Latvian Verb Conjugation

but were afraid to ask

Quick reference: basic forms (infinitive, present, past and future); conjugation (present tense, past tense, future tense); participles (present active, present passive, relative/indicative, participle with -am/-amies, past active, past passive), debitive, conditional, future relative

BASIC FORMS

Basic forms must be memorized. Other forms of verbs may be derived from basic forms. (See Conjugation and Participles below)

1. One basic form is the infinitive.

This is the form of a verb which appears in the dictionary. The mark of the infinitive is -t (nonreflexive verbs) or -ties (reflexive verbs).

2. Another basic form is Third person (viņš, viņa, viņi, viņas) present tense

It must be memorized for all verbs.*

*There are two verbs in Latvian which do not follow the rules outlined here. They are būt ("to be") and iet ("to go"). The entire present tense conjugation must be memorized for these verbs:

būt: Es esmu, tu esi, vv. ir, mēs esam, jūs esat

iet: Es eju, tu ej, vv. iet, mēs ejam, jūs ejat

The past and future tenses for these verbs are regular, and may be derived from 3rd person past (bija, gāja) and the infinitive, as described below in sections 6 and 7.

3. For some verbs, third person past and future are also basic forms, and must be memorized:

a) The 3rd person past tense must be memorized for verbs which have one syllable if the infinitive ending (-t or -ties) AND all prefixes are removed (they belong to the First Conjugation).

b) 3rd person future tense must also be memorized for some of the verbs described in (3a), those with infinitive endings -st, -zt, -sties, -zties.

VERB CONJUGATION

Verb endings indicate who is doing the action and the tense (present, past or future)

5. PRESENT TENSE

a) First conjugation verbs (see 3a above):

To the 3rd person present tense, add the endings:

*For first conjugation verbs, the present tense for 2nd person singular is difficult to derive. The following rules may help:

• for "Regular" verbs, the 2nd person ending is -Ø or -ies.
• If the 3rd p. form ends in -st or -stas, the 2nd p. endings are -sti and -sties.
• If the 3rd p. form ends in -k, -g, -kas, -gas, the 2nd p. endings are -c, -dz, -cies, -dzies.
• If the 3rd p. form ends in a soft consonant, this consonant is "hardened" in the 2nd person:

  -bj, -mj, -pj, -ļ > -b, -m, -p, -l; -bjas, -mjas, -pjas, -ļas > -bies, -mies, -pies, -lies

• For the softened consanants -š and -ž (-šas, -žas), look to the past tense form to see what consonant will appear in the 2nd person singular.

  -š and -šas will become either -s/-sies or -t/-ties; -ž and -žas will become either -z/-zies or -d/-dies

b) Second Conjugation Verbs (3rd p. present ends in -ā, -ē, -ī, -ū, -o)

To the 3rd person present tense, add the endings:

c) Third Conjugation Verbs (not covered by 5a or 5b)

If 3rd person present ends in -a or -ās, replace these endings with:

If 3rd p. p. ends in -Ø or -as, replace these endings with

6. PAST TENSE

a) For First Conjugation verbs, replace the 3rd person past tense ending -a or -ās with

b) For all other verbs, replace the infinitive ending -t or -ties with

7. FUTURE TENSE

a) For the first conjugation verbs noted in (3b), replace the 3rd person future tense ending (-s or -sies) with the endings given below;

b) For all other verbs, replace the infinitive -t/-ties with the endings given below:

PARTICIPLES

8. Some participles are derived from the present basic form.

If the basic form ends in a consonant, simply add the pariticiple ending;

If the basic form ends in a long vowel (II conjugation), add -j- and the participle ending;

If the basic form ends in short -a, replace it with the participle ending.

8a. Active present participle -ošs, -oša... (no reflexive verbs allowed)

This participle is declined like an adjective (M-a or F-a). It agrees with the noun it modifies.

The participle has one meaning: The noun is doing the action of the participle:

braucošs autobuss a moving/driving bus

G. braucoša autobusa; D. braucošam autobusam, etc.

lidojoša skudra a flying ant

G. lidojošas skudras; D. lidojošai skudrai, etc.

8b. relative / indicative -ot, -oties

This participle is not declined.

It has two meanings:

1. reported speech ("it is said," somebody else says this is true)

Jānis stāsta, ka viņš rakstot memuārus. Jānis says that he is writing (his) memoirs.

Anna sacīja, ka viņa katru vakaru mācoties. Anna said that she studies every evening.

2. "while" (if there is an agent performing the action, then that noun is in dative case).

Zēniem dziedot, meitenes ienāca istabā. While the boys sang, the girls came into the room.

This form is also often used alternately with the -dams participle (see below), with the agent in nominative case, but -dams is the preferred form.

This form is also often used alternatively with the -am/-ām participle (see 8d below). But 8d is preferred.

8c. Present passive participle -ams, -ama (no reflexive verbs allowed) (for III conjugation verbs, sometimes -āms, -āma, following same rules as rules for 1st person plural present tense)

This participle is declined like an adjective (M-a or F-a). It always agrees with the noun it modifies. Reflexive verbs are not used to form this participle. Note that

The participle has a meaning which is in some ways similar to the English -able /ible suffix. It also can mean that the noun "should be (verb)-ed".

N. dzeŗams ūdens drinkable water

G. dzeŗama ūdens, D. dzeŗamam ūdenim, etc.

N. darāms darbs "work which should be done"

G. darāma darba, D. darāmam darbam, etc.

8d. Participle with -am/-ām or -amies/-āmies

This participle is formed by removing the adjective ending from the present passive participle.

It means that somebody senses (sees, hears) the agent of the participle (in accusative case) doing the action of the verb.

Es redzēju Andreju lasām. I saw Andrejs reading.

Mēs dzirdējām aktieŗus smejamies We heard the actors laughing.

9. Past active participle -is, -usi, -uši, -ušas

The past active participle is derived from the 3rd person past tense (note that it may also be derived from the infinitive for second and third conjugation verbs).

The past active participle agrees with the noun which it modifies.

The 3rd person past tense endings -a or -ās are replaced by:

-is / -ies (masculine singular)

-usi / -usies (feminine singular)

-uši / -ušies (masculine plural)

-ušas / -ušās (feminine plural)

9a. The past active participle is used to form the present perfect tense.

This tense exists also in English:

Present Tense: I go

Past Tense: I went

Present Perfect Tense: I have gone.

In Latvian, the helping verb "have" is replaced by būt "be":

Reflexive verbs: "I am in love" is expressed in the present perfect tense, literally "I have fallen in love" ("to fall in love" is one word, iemīlēties).

9b. The past active participle can be used as a noun modifier.

It is declined in agreement with the noun. For non-reflexive verbs, he declension pattern is similar to the M-i and M-a patterns, with irregular forms for nominative singular. For reflexive verbs, several cases are not used.

Examples:

Nonreflexive: nogurt (to tire) I-st: nogurst, nogura, nogurs

Reflexive: piedzerties (to get drunk) I-reg: piedzeŗas, piedzērās, piedzersies

Drunken student (male / female)

9c. Other uses of the past active participle: It is often used in newspapers instead of simple past tense. It is also used for reported speech in the past tense (compare to 8b above).

10. Participles formed from the infinitive.

These participles are formed by replacing the infinitive endings -t or -ties with the participle endings.

10a. Past passive participle, -ts, -ta, etc. (no reflexives allowed)

This participle has a declinable adjective ending. It is used in three ways:

With the verb tikt (to get, to become): tiek, tika, tiks

Grāmata tiek lasīta. The book gets read.

With the verb būt, to form the past perfect.

Grāmata ir izlasīta. The book has been read

The participle can also be used to modify a noun. If there is an agent who has done the action of the participle, it is in genitive case.

Es redzu neapēstu maizi. I see uneaten bread.

Studentu rakstītās esejas ir manā portfelī. The essays written by the students are in my briefcase.

10b. Participle with -dams, -dama, -dami, -damas or -damies, -damās, -damies, -damās

The participle has nominative adjective endings which agree with the noun it modifies. It has the meaning of "while".

Zēni dziedādami ienāca istabā. Singing, the boys came into the room.

Meitenes smiedamās lidoja uz Kaliforniju Laughing, the girls flew to California.

11. Participle derived from the future basic form (ending -šot, -šoties)

Relative. The future basic form ending -s or -sies is replaced by -šot or -šoties, to refer to reported speech in the future tense (compare to 8a above).

Bērni ēdīšot tikai šokolādi, kad mātes nebūs mājās.

The children say they will eat only chocolate when mom is not home.

Other verb forms

12. The debitive (prefix jā-)

Formed by adding the prefix jā- to the present basic form.

This verb means "it is necessary," or "must". Its agent is in the dative case, and its direct object, if there is one, is in nominative case.

Man jāsmejas. It is necessary for me to laugh (I must laugh; I have to laugh.)

Jums jāraksta vēstule. You have to write a letter.

Tense for the debitive is shown with the helping verb būt:

(The helping verb is optional in present tense):

Past: Annai bija jāraksta vēstule Anna had to write a letter

Present Annai ir jāraksta vēstule / Annai jāraksta vēstule Anna has to write a letter

Future Annai būs jāraksta vēstule Anna will have to write a letter

13. The conditional (suffix -tu, -tos)

Formed by replacing infinitive -t or -ties with -tu or -tos. It is used in sentences like verbs in present, past or future case, but it is not conjugated (same form for es, tu, viņš, mēs, jūs).

This ending means "would" (it is possible, but not true).

Es ēstu, ja man būtu maize. I would eat if I had bread.

Note that the English past habitual meaning for "would" is not expressed with the conditional, but rather simple past tense.

"When I was little, I would often play in the yard."

INCORRECT: Kad es biju maziņš, es bieži *spēlētos dārzā.

CORRECT: Kad es biju maziņš, es bieži spēlējos dārzā.