Pronouns and clear sentence references in Latvian
How it works
Pronouns are words that stand in for nouns or noun phrases and avoid repetition. In Latvian there are personal pronouns such as ‹es›, ‹tu›, ‹viņš›, ‹viņa›, ‹mēs›, ‹jūs›, ‹viņi›, ‹viņas› as well as demonstrative pronouns such as ‹šis›, ‹šī›, ‹šie›, ‹šīs› and ‹tas›, ‹tā›, ‹tie›, ‹tās›. The correct form depends on the reference and the sentence function. Unclear pronouns can cause misunderstandings. For example, in ‹Anna lasa grāmatu. Tā ir interesanta.› the word ‹tā› clearly refers to ‹grāmata›. By contrast, in ‹Anna lasa grāmatu. Viņa ir ieinteresēta.› the word ‹viņa› refers to ‹Anna›. Reflexive forms such as ‹sevi› and the reflexive possessive pronoun ‹savs› also refer back to the subject.
In Latvian, a pronoun must agree with the word it refers to and with its function in the sentence. Person and number must match; gender is taken into account where the form expresses it, for example in ‹viņš›/‹viņa› or ‹šis›/‹šī›. Case depends on the role in the sentence or on government. Demonstrative pronouns such as ‹šis› and ‹tas› help make the reference clear. Reflexive forms such as ‹sevi› and ‹savs› refer to the subject.
An example
What does ‹tā› refer to in the sentence ‹Anna nolika grāmatu uz galda. Tā ir veca.›?
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50 Exercises
To the learning unit →Own explanation and own practice exercises by AmyMath. Subject reference framework: Latvian. The topic assignment may vary by federal state.