The Latvian language is an extensively inflected language, with complex nominal and verbal morphology. Word order is relatively free, but the unmarked order is subject–verb–object. Latvian has pre-nominal adjectives and both prepositions and postpositions. There are no articles in Latvian, but definiteness can be indicated by the endings of adjectives.
See main article: Latvian declension.
Latvian has two grammatical genders (masculine and feminine) and seven cases; there are no articles. Adjectives generally precede the nouns they modify, and agree in case, number, and gender. In addition, adjectives take distinct endings to indicate definite and indefinite interpretation:
Viņa nopirka ['''vecu''' māju]. "She bought ['''an old''' house]."
Viņš nopirka ['''veco''' māju]. "He bought ['''the old''' house]."
For details about the nominal morphology of Latvian (inflection of nouns, pronouns, numerals, and adjectives), see Latvian declension.
Latvian has three simple tenses (present, past and future), and three compound perfect constructions: present perfect, past perfect, future perfect.
Latvian verbs are used in five moods:
The relations between tenses and moods are shown in the following table. (The table does not include quotative.)
| Indicative | Imperative | Conditional | Conjunctive | Debitive | ||
| Simple present | ||||||
| Simple past | ||||||
| Simple future | ||||||
| Present perfect | ||||||
| Past perfect | ||||||
| Future perfect |
Latvian verbs have two voices, active and passive. The passive voice is analytic, combining an auxiliary verb (tikt "become", būt "be", or more rarely, tapt "become") and the past passive participle form of the verb. Reflexive verbs are marked morphologically by the suffix -s.
Unlike, for example, Romance languages where conjugation classes are assigned based on thematic vowels[2] (e.g., -are, -ere, -ire forming, respectively, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd conjugation in Italian) Latvian verbs are classified in conjugations regardless of whether they end in -āt, -ēt, -īt, -ot or -t. The classification depends on whether the verb stem has a thematic vowel, and if so, whether it is retained in present tense.[3]
| IMPERATIVE (pavēles izteiksme) | ||||||
| Present (tagadne) | Past (pagātne) | Future (nākotne) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| es | ceļu | cēlu | celšu | — | ||
| 2nd pers. sg. | tu | cel | cēli | celsi | cel | |
| 3rd pers. sg. | viņš, viņa | ceļ | cēla | cels | lai ceļ | |
| 1st pers. pl. | mēs | ceļam | cēlām | celsim | celsim | |
| 2nd pers. pl. | jūs | ceļat | cēlāt | celsiet, celsit | celiet | |
| 3rd pers. pl. | viņi, viņas | ceļ | cēla | cels | lai ceļ | |
| RENARRATIVE (atstāstījuma izteiksme) | PARTICIPLES (divdabji) | |||||
| Present | ceļot | Present Active 1 (Adj.) | ceļošs | |||
| Past | esot cēlis | Present Active 2 (Adv.) | celdams | |||
| Future | celšot | Present Active 3 (Adv.) | ceļot | |||
| Imperative | lai ceļot | Present Active 4 (Obj.) | ceļam | |||
| CONDITIONAL (vēlējuma izteiksme) | Past Active | cēlis | ||||
| Present | Present Passive | ceļams | ||||
| Past | būtu cēlis | Past Passive | celts | |||
| DEBITIVE (vajadzības izteiksme) | NOMINAL FORMS | |||||
| Indicative | (būt) jāceļ | Infinitive (nenoteiksme) | ||||
| Conjunctive 1 | esot jāceļ | Negative Infinitive | ||||
| Conjunctive 2 | jāceļot | Verbal noun | celšana | |||
| IMPERATIVE (pavēles izteiksme) | ||||||
| Present (tagadne) | Past (pagātne) | Future (nākotne) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| es | strādāju | strādāju | strādāšu | — | ||
| 2nd pers. sg. | tu | strādā | strādāji | strādāsi | strādā | |
| 3rd pers. sg. | viņš, viņa | strādā | strādāja | strādās | lai strādā | |
| 1st pers. pl. | mēs | strādājam | strādājām | strādāsim | strādāsim | |
| 2nd pers. pl. | jūs | strādājat | strādājāt | strādāsiet, strādāsit | strādājiet | |
| 3rd pers. pl. | viņi, viņas | strādā | strādāja | strādās | lai strādā | |
| RENARRATIVE (atstāstījuma izteiksme) | PARTICIPLES (divdabji) | |||||
| Present | strādājot | Present Active 1 (Adj.) | strādājošs | |||
| Past | esot strādājis | Present Active 2 (Adv.) | strādādams | |||
| Future | strādāšot | Present Active 3 (Adv.) | strādājot | |||
| Imperative | lai strādājot | Present Active 4 (Obj.) | strādājam | |||
| CONDITIONAL (vēlējuma izteiksme) | Past Active | strādājis | ||||
| Present | strādātu | Present Passive | strādājams | |||
| Past | būtu strādājis | Past Passive | strādāts | |||
| DEBITIVE (vajadzības izteiksme) | NOMINAL FORMS | |||||
| Indicative | (būt) jāstrādā | Infinitive (nenoteiksme) | ||||
| Conjunctive 1 | esot jāstrādā | Negative Infinitive | ||||
| Conjunctive 2 | jāstrādājot | Verbal noun | strādāšana | |||
| IMPERATIVE (pavēles izteiksme) | ||||||
| Present (tagadne) | Past (pagātne) | Future (nākotne) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| es | lasu | lasīju | lasīšu | — | ||
| 2nd pers. sg. | tu | lasi | lasīji | lasīsi | lasi | |
| 3rd pers. sg. | viņš, viņa | lasa | lasīja | lasīs | lai lasa | |
| 1st pers. pl. | mēs | lasām | lasījām | lasīsim | lasīsim | |
| 2nd pers. pl. | jūs | lasāt | lasījāt | lasīsiet, lasīsit | lasiet | |
| 3rd pers. pl. | viņi, viņas | lasa | lasīja | lasīs | lai lasa | |
| RENARRATIVE (atstāstījuma izteiksme) | PARTICIPLES (divdabji) | |||||
| Present | lasot | Present Active 1 (Adj.) | lasošs | |||
| Past | esot lasījis | Present Active 2 (Adv.) | lasīdams | |||
| Future | lasīšot | Present Active 3 (Adv.) | lasot | |||
| Imperative | lai lasot | Present Active 4 (Obj.) | lasām | |||
| CONDITIONAL (vēlējuma izteiksme) | Past Active | lasījis | ||||
| Present | lasītu | Present Passive | lasāms | |||
| Past | būtu lasījis | Past Passive | lasīts | |||
| DEBITIVE (vajadzības izteiksme) | NOMINAL FORMS | |||||
| Indicative | (būt) jālasa | Infinitive (nenoteiksme) | ||||
| Conjunctive 1 | esot jālasa | Negative Infinitive | ||||
| Conjunctive 2 | jālasot | Verbal noun | lasīšana | |||
The 3rd conjugation is divided into 2 subgroups, the 1st one containing the thematic vowel ī, and the 2nd subgroup – all other vowels. The only difference between the two subgroups is that verbs belonging to the 2nd subgroup do not take on the 3rd person present tense ending -a. dziedāt, es dziedu, tu dziedi but viņš dzied unlike viņš lasa.
| IMPERATIVE (pavēles izteiksme) | ||||||
| Present (tagadne) | Past (pagātne) | Future (nākotne) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| es | dziedu | dziedāju | dziedāšu | — | ||
| 2nd pers. sg. | tu | dziedi | dziedāji | dziedāsi | dziedi | |
| 3rd pers. sg. | viņš, viņa | dzied | dziedāja | dziedās | lai dzied | |
| 1st pers. pl. | mēs | dziedam | dziedājām | dziedāsim | dziedāsim | |
| 2nd pers. pl. | jūs | dziedat | dziedājāt | dziedāsiet, dziedāsit | dziediet | |
| 3rd pers. pl. | viņi, viņas | dzied | dziedāja | dziedās | lai dzied | |
| RENARRATIVE (atstāstījuma izteiksme) | PARTICIPLES (divdabji) | |||||
| Present | dziedot | Present Active 1 (Adj.) | dziedošs | |||
| Past | esot dziedājis | Present Active 2 (Adv.) | dziedādams | |||
| Future | dziedāšot | Present Active 3 (Adv.) | dziedot | |||
| Imperative | lai dziedot | Present Active 4 (Obj.) | dziedam | |||
| CONDITIONAL (vēlējuma izteiksme) | Past Active | dziedājis | ||||
| Present | dziedātu | Present Passive | dziedams | |||
| Past | būtu dziedājis | Past Passive | dziedāts | |||
| DEBITIVE (vajadzības izteiksme) | NOMINAL FORMS | |||||
| Indicative | (būt) jādzied | Infinitive (nenoteiksme) | ||||
| Conjunctive 1 | esot jādzied | Negative Infinitive | ||||
| Conjunctive 2 | jādziedot | Verbal noun | dziedāšana | |||
Beside the three conjugations, there are three verbs characterized by different stems in present, past as well as infinitive. These verbs are referred to as "irregular" (nekārtni or neregulāri.) Irregular verbs and their stem changes are:
A verb's conjugation pattern can be deduced from three base forms: the infinitive form, the present stem and the past stem. The following table shows the correspondence between the base stem and the tense/mood.
| stem | moods and tenses derived from this stem | |
|---|---|---|
| present stem | present indicative, imperative mood, debitive mood, present participles (except participle present active 2) | |
| past stem | imperfect, past active participle | |
| infinitive stem | infinitive, future indicative, conditional mood, future conjunctive, participle present active 2, past passive participle |