Module 02 · The noun · Lietvārds · Level A1
Gender and the Six Declensions
Dzimte un sešas deklinācijas
Latvian has two genders — masculine and feminine (there is no neuter). Gender is almost always visible from the ending of the dictionary form, and that ending immediately tells you which of the six declensions the word belongs to.
Declension table
| Decl. | Gender | Ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | m. | -s, -š | galds, draugs, ceļš, kaimiņš |
| 2 | m. | -is (plus a few in -s: akmens, ūdens, mēness, suns) | brālis, skapis, dzīvoklis |
| 3 | m. | -us | tirgus, ledus, vidus, lietus |
| 4 | f. | -a | māja, skola, sieva, grāmata |
| 5 | f. | -e | egle, meitene, upe, vēstule |
| 6 | f. | -s | sirds, acs, zivs, pils, nakts |
Only a handful of masculine words end in -a/-e (puika — boy, bende); they decline like declension 4/5, but agree grammatically as masculine: mazs puika.
Telling declension 1 apart from declension 6
The ending -s alone does not determine the declension. Masculine galds belongs to I, but akmens, asmens, mēness, rudens, ūdens, zibens, suns belong to II. Declension VI nouns are mostly feminine: sirds, acs, auss, zivs, nakts, valsts. Check an unfamiliar noun in a dictionary.
Why this matters
The declension determines every case ending. Once you know that brālis belongs to declension 2, you automatically know its genitive is brāļa (with palatalization), while galds (declension 1) gives galda with no palatalization.
Exercise
Identify the gender and declension: pilsēta, tirgus, māsa, skapis, nakts, ceļš, upe, ledus.
Answers
pilsēta f. decl. 4 · tirgus m. decl. 3 · māsa f. decl. 4 · skapis m. decl. 2 · nakts f. decl. 6 · ceļš m. decl. 1 · upe f. decl. 5 · ledus m. decl. 3Open the lesson in the trainer — with exercises and a “done” mark →Module test 02