Common reflexive forms and their sentence function in Latvian
How it works
In Latvian, reflexive infinitives usually end in ‹-ties›, e.g. ‹mazgāties› or ‹satikties›. In finite forms, depending on person and tense, reflexive endings appear such as ‹-os›, ‹-as›, ‹-amies› or in the past ‹-ās›, e.g. ‹es mazgājos›, ‹viņš mazgājas›, ‹viņš mazgājās› and ‹mēs satikāmies›. Reflexive forms can express that the subject acts on itself, that several people do something to one another, or that an action happens in a middle-voice or passive-like way, e.g. ‹durvis veras vaļā›. Reflexive pronouns such as ‹sevi›, ‹sev› and ‹sevis› are used when the verb itself is not reflexive or requires a particular case government.
Use a reflexive verb when the action returns to the subject or is reciprocal, e.g. ‹Viņa ģērbjas› or ‹Skolēni satiekas›. Use a reflexive pronoun when a non-reflexive verb still refers back to the same person, e.g. ‹Viņa paskatījās uz sevi› or ‹Viņa nopirka sev grāmatu›. After prepositions and verbs, the case of the pronoun depends on the required government.
An example
Which verb is reflexive: ‹mazgāties›, ‹smaidīt›, ‹lasīt› or ‹rakstīt›?
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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.