Module 04 · Pronouns · Vietniekvārdi · Level A1
Personal pronouns in every case
Personu vietniekvārdi
| es | tu | viņš | viņa | mēs | jūs | viņi | viņas | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | es | tu | viņš | viņa | mēs | jūs | viņi | viņas |
| Ģ | manis | tevis | viņa | viņas | mūsu | jūsu | viņu | viņu |
| D | man | tev | viņam | viņai | mums | jums | viņiem | viņām |
| A | mani | tevi | viņu | viņu | mūs | jūs | viņus | viņas |
| I | ar mani | ar tevi | ar viņu | ar viņu | ar mums | ar jums | ar viņiem | ar viņām |
| L | manī | tevī | viņā | viņā | mūsos | jūsos | viņos | viņās |
What you'll need most
- Dative — constantly: man ir (I have), tev patīk (you like), viņam vajag (he needs), mums jāiet (we have to go).
- Accusative — the object: Es tevi mīlu (I love you). Vai tu mani saproti? (Do you understand me?) Es viņu nepazīstu (I don't know him/her).
- Genitive — rarely on its own, but always after no, pie, bez, dēļ: no manis (from me), pie tevis (at your place), bez viņa (without him), manis dēļ (because of me).
- Locative — rare: Es ticu tev (I believe you) is actually the dative; the true locative of pronouns (manī, tevī — "in me," "in you") survives mainly in poetry and set phrases (ticēt sevī — to believe in oneself).
The reflexive sevi
Has no nominative form and refers to any person: Ģ sevis, D sev, A sevi, I ar sevi, L sevī. — Es sev pērku kafiju (I'm buying myself coffee). Viņa domā par sevi (She thinks about herself). Ņem sev līdzi lietussargu! (Take an umbrella with you!)
The polite jūs
With strangers and elders, use jūs with the verb in the plural: Vai jūs runājat latviski? (Do you speak Latvian?) In letters it's capitalized: Jūs. Latvians offer the switch to tu explicitly: Varam uz «tu»? (Shall we switch to "tu"?) — English has no such formal/informal distinction, so this whole system has no direct parallel; think of it as similar to French tu/vous or German du/Sie.
Dropping the pronoun
The verb ending already shows the person, so es/tu/mēs/jūs are often dropped: Dzīvoju Rīgā (I live in Riga). Strādāju bankā (I work at a bank). Ejam! (Let's go!) But viņš/viņa/viņi are usually kept, because the 3rd person singular and plural endings coincide.
Exercise
1) Call me! 2) We don't understand you. 3) She's proud of herself. 4) This is for him.
Answers
1) Piezvani man! 2) Mēs jūs nesaprotam. 3) Viņa lepojas ar sevi. 4) Tas ir viņam (priekš viņa).Open the lesson in the trainer — with exercises and a “done” mark →Module test 04