Es esmu, jūs esat

A pronoun is a word for a person: es, I; tu, familiar you; viņš/viņa, he/she; mēs, we; jūs, polite or plural you; viņi/viņas, they. Singular means one; plural means more than one. The subject is the person or thing the sentence talks about.

The present tense of būt, to be, is esmu, esi, ir, esam, esat, ir. Third-person singular and plural share ir. Negation means saying no: neesmu, neesi, nav, neesam, neesat, nav.

Gender is the masculine or feminine class of a noun. An adjective describes a noun and agrees with it: jauns kaimiņš, masculine, and jauna kaimiņiene, feminine. The nominative is the subject or basic form; a case is a form showing a noun’s role. Possessives agree with the owned noun: mans kaķis, mana māja. To call someone, use the vocative: Muris → Muri!. Polite jūs uses a plural verb, but a single learner’s describing word stays singular and matches that learner’s gender.

The scene asks about the expected newcomer with jaunais kaimiņš or jaunā kaimiņiene. These particular-person forms are useful whole expressions now; definite describing endings are taught fully in module seven.

Man ir, man nav

Latvian normally expresses have with a dative person plus ir: man ir atslēga, I have a key. A dative marks a recipient or experiencer. The complete persons are man, tev, viņam, viņai, mums, jums, viņiem, viņām.

The possessed thing stays in the nominative: Man ir atslēga. For absence use nav and a genitive noun: Man nav atslēgas. Learn this contrast now; noun genitive patterns are expanded with the empty flat.

A describing word changes with a learner’s gender: Es esmu izsalcis, male; Es esmu izsalkusi, female. These useful hunger forms are learned as a pair. Ļoti means very and does not change.

When denying a description, keep the nominative: Viņš nav mans kaķis, he is not my cat. For an absent thing, use the genitive: Kaķa nav, there is no cat.

Kafiju, lūdzu

An object is the person or thing affected by an action. The accusative is the direct-object form. Feminine nouns in -a use -u: kafija → kafiju. Feminine -e uses -i: tase → tasi. Masculine -s/-š uses -u: galds → galdu.

A short order needs only the accusative item plus lūdzu: Kafiju, lūdzu. Vai can mean or between alternatives: kafiju vai tēju. Latvian has no article corresponding to English a or the.

Possessives agree with the thing: mana kafija, my coffee; mans kaķis, my cat. The learner’s sex does not change these ownership forms. Priecājos iepazīties is a fixed polite expression, nice to meet you.

Spēlēju, spēlējam

An infinitive is the dictionary verb form, ending in -t or -ties: spēlēt, to play, gulēt, to sleep. Remove -t from spēlēt to see its long-vowel stem. The regular present forms are spēlēju, spēlē, spēlē, spēlējam, spēlējat, spēlē.

The same model gives dzīvoju, dzīvo, dzīvo, dzīvojam, dzīvojat, dzīvo and runāju, runā, runā, runājam, runājat, runā. The third-person form is the same for he, she and they.

Put ne- before the verb: nespēlēju, nespēlē, nespēlē, nespēlējam, nespēlējat, nespēlē. Early Spēlējiet rīt, lūdzu is a whole polite request. Gulēt has the useful forms guļu, guli, guļ, guļam, guļat, guļ; learn the sound change with the verb.

Mājā, naktī

The locative is the form for a location: māja → mājā, māja → mājā, kafejnīca → kafejnīcā. No in word is needed. Common masculine patterns are galds → galdā, skapis → skapī.

Use mājās for at home. Kur? asks where. A time can also be locative: dienā, in the daytime; naktī, at night. The first night question Kā bija naktī? is learned whole before productive past states.

A preposition links a noun phrase to the sentence. Learn virs kafejnīcas, above the café, and zem galda, under the table. These singular phrases use the genitive, explained fully in module two.