Module 04 · Pronouns · Vietniekvārdi · Level A1

Possessive pronouns: declinable and non-declinable

Piederības vietniekvārdi

Here Latvian splits into two groups, and mixing them up is a common mistake.

Non-declinable — a frozen genitive

mūsu (our), jūsu (your, pl./formal), viņa (his), viņas (her), viņu (their) are the genitive forms of the personal pronouns, and they never change:

mūsu māja — mūsu mājā — mūsu mājas — ar mūsu mājām (our house, in our house, our house's [something], with our houses). Viņa brālis, viņa brāļa, viņa brālim… (his brother, his brother's, to his brother…) — the word viņa stays frozen while the noun after it declines normally.

Declinable — behave like adjectives

mans (my), tavs (your, sg./informal), savs (one's own — reflexive) agree with the noun in gender, number, and case:

tavs / tava, savs / sava decline exactly the same way.

savs — the reflexive "one's own"

Used when the owner is the subject of the sentence — a category English simply doesn't mark (English uses "his/her/their" regardless of whether the owner is the subject), so this takes some getting used to: Es lepojos ar saviem bērniem (I'm proud of my [own] children). Viņa mīl savu darbu (She loves her [own] job). Katrs runā par savu pilsētu (Everyone talks about their [own] city). A common mistake for learners is forgetting savs and using viņa instead: Viņš mīl viņa darbu actually means "he loves someone else's (his) job" — the subject and the "his" refer to two different people.

Word order

The possessive always comes before the noun: mans draugs (my friend), mūsu skola (our school). Placing it after is only for poetic emphasis.

Exercise

1) This is our apartment. 2) I live in my own apartment. 3) Her brother is my friend. 4) Give me your book.

Open the lesson in the trainer — with exercises and a “done” mark →Module test 04