Indirect statements and unambiguous text references in Latvian
How it works
Indirect statements in Latvian are often introduced with ‹ka›. Word order in the subordinate clause often remains close to that of a declarative sentence. For clear text references, it must be evident from the sentence or the context what pronouns such as ‹viņš›, ‹viņa›, ‹tas› or ‹tā› refer to. If a pronoun would be ambiguous, the name or noun can be repeated. A clear example is ‹Anna teica Jānim, ka viņa ieradīsies rīt.› Here, ‹viņa› clearly refers to ‹Anna›, because the other person mentioned ‹Jānim› is masculine.
Indirect statements are often introduced with ‹ka›, for example in ‹Anna teica Jānim, ka viņa kavēsies.› For unambiguous references, the context must make it clear what ‹viņš›, ‹viņa›, ‹tas› or ‹tā› refer to. If necessary, Latvian repeats the noun or proper name, for example in ‹Marta paskaidroja Līgai, ka Marta pabeigs projektu vakarā.›
An example
Which variant is correct and unambiguous: ‹Anna teica Jānim, ka viņa ieradīsies rīt.› or ‹Anna teica Jānim, viņa ieradīsies rīt.›?
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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.