Module 06 · Adjectives and adverbs · Īpašības un apstākļa vārdi · Level A1

Adjective Agreement with Nouns

Īpašības vārdu saskaņošana

An adjective mirrors the noun's gender, number, and case. Its endings are almost the same as those of 1st-declension (masc.) and 4th-declension (fem.) nouns, so once you know galds and māja, you already know adjective endings too.

Indefinite form: liels / liela

The adjective follows the noun's case, not its declension class

liels brālis (brālis is 2nd declension, but the adjective is still type 1): liela brāļa, lielam brālim, lielu brāli, lielā brālī. skaista upe (5th declension): skaistas upes, skaistai upei, skaistu upi, skaistā upē.

Dictionary form and "-šs"

Masculine in -s or -š: labs, mazs, jauns, vecs, garš, svešs, skumjš. Feminine — replace with -a: laba, maza, gara, sveša, skumja.

The adjective as predicate

After būt, the adjective is in the nominative and agrees with the subject: Māja ir liela. Brāļi ir lieli. Rīga ir skaista. An adverb replaces the adjective when describing a state with no noun involved: Ir auksti (it's cold), Ir skaisti (it's beautiful).

Word order

The adjective comes before the noun: liela māja, not māja liela. Several adjectives can be joined with a comma or without one: liela skaista māja.

Exercise

Agree the adjective: 1) (jauns) mašīna · 2) (labs) draugi · 3) ar (vecs) draugu · 4) (skaists) pilsētā · 5) (garš) dienas

Open the lesson in the trainer — with exercises and a “done” mark →Module test 06