# Latvian: man tas vēl nav zināms



## Perkele

Hallo!

I'm writing to get a better understanding of the phrase in the title. I don't mind you correct some of my mistakes in the Latvian text below.

Es protu tikai mazliet latviešu valoda. Vērtu valodu tā kā tas ir mazliet līdzīgs somu valoda.  Es uzsākīju zināt/zinājums vakar. Vakardiena bija mans pirmais latviešu darbi. Vai jūs var man mācīt latviešu valodu?

1) consider the phrase
man tas vēl nav zināms -  i have yet to learn

word by word it is...
man = I (dative)
tas = this, it
vēl = still, yet
nav = isnt
zināms = learned, substantive (?)

If I'm correct that would translate word by word as:
To me this still isn't learned.

Could I say:
Man tas vēl ir nezināms? To me this is still unlearned? 

Paldies!


----------



## karuna

Perkele said:


> Hallo!
> 
> I'm writing to get a better understanding of the phrase in the title. I don't mind you correct some of my mistakes in the Latvian text below.
> 
> Es protu tikai mazliet protu latviešu valodau. Vērtu(? – viegla, vērtīga) valodua, tā kā tasā ir mazliet līdzīgsa somu valodai.  Es uzsākīju zināt/zinājumsmācīties vakar. Vakardiena bija mans pirmais latviešu darbis (? – mājasdarbs). Vai jūs varat man mācīt latviešu valodu?
> 
> 1) consider the phrase
> man tas vēl nav zināms -i have yet to learn
> 
> word by word it is...
> man = I (dative)
> tas = this, it
> vēl = still, yet
> nav = isnt
> zināms = learned, substantive (?)




No, this is -āms participle of zināt (to know), i.e., known.

To me this still isn't learned.



> Could I say:
> Man tas vēl ir nezināms? To me this is still unlearned?


Technically correct but it sounds strange. It seems more negative, as if "I still haven't learned it".


----------



## Perkele

karuna said:


> Es tikai mazliet protu latviešu valodu.


I see how the word order is functioning here but would omitting the es from the phrase change it in some way? Instead of:
Tikai mazliet protu latviešu valodu.
Would it be possible to say,
1. Protu tikai mazliet latviešu valodu.
or possibly,
2. Protu latviešu valodu tikai mazliet.

I guess the latter would make more sense, it being the one putting the emphasis on the amount of knowledge. Correspondingly, the first sentence stresses which language am I speaking of . But I assume they are both correct theoretically speaking. Am I correct?

Protu mazliet latviešu, ne somi valodu.




> Vērtu(? – viegla, vērtīga) valoda


I tried of saying "I like the language...". Es vērtētu (+akk)? Oh I found the word.

Man patīk valoda.
Mir gefällt die Sprache.




> tā ir mazliet līdzīga somu valodai.


That's very easy for a Finn to understand actually. When I was building my faulty sentence I was using Swedish as help but Finnish would've worked much better.



> Es sāku mācīties vakar.


Oh, the present and past tenses are identical for sākt but why did you leave out the prefix uz? Does it change the meaning of the verb somehow?

Mācīties is a verb right? Derived from mācīt? I know what it means but if I wanted to express it in other words, could those words be: get oneself taught? This would make perfect sense since in Finnish it is in theory possible to say the same thing and be understood albeit no one does really say that.

Es no jauna izteiku pateicību!


----------



## karuna

Perkele said:


> I see how the word order is functioning here but would omitting the es from the phrase change it in some way? Instead of:
> Tikai mazliet protu latviešu valodu.
> Would it be possible to say,
> 1. Protu tikai mazliet latviešu valodu.



Normally adjectives come before the verb. You may hear sentences like this in a casual talk but the meaning is the same.



> or possibly,
> 2. Protu latviešu valodu tikai mazliet.
> 
> I guess the latter would make more sense, it being the one putting the emphasis on the amount of knowledge. Correspondingly, the first sentence stresses which language am I speaking of . But I assume they are both correct theoretically speaking. Am I correct?


I guess that the word order in Latvian is something as subtle as article use in English. If you would pronounce the sentence with the right intonation stressing the last part, then it could work. But normally you would need to show the contrast:  

Es protu latviešu valodu*, bet* tikai mazliet.



> Oh, the present and past tenses are identical for sākt but why did you leave out the prefix uz? Does it change the meaning of the verb somehow?


The difference is that _uzsākt _is the perfective verb and _sāk _is the imperfective verb. Using one or another depends on the context and normally they are not interchangeable. I have to look up more specific rules but the imperfective verb normally would be preceded by the imperfective verb. If you used a noun, then _uzsākt _can be used:

_Es uzsāku mācības._
I started studies.

In this case the process of starting is complete whereas the imperfective verb _mācīties_ does not exist as completed process; consequently we cannot apply completed action on it. 



> Mācīties is a verb right? Derived from mācīt? I know what it means but if I wanted to express it in other words, could those words be: get oneself taught? This would make perfect sense since in Finnish it is in theory possible to say the same thing and be understood albeit no one does really say that.


Does Finnish have reflexive verbs? _Mācīties _is a reflexive verb from _mācīt. _Reflexive verbs in Latvian describe an action whose receiver is the doer or a reciprocial action between doers.

ģērb – to dress (someone or something)
ģērbties – to dress oneself

skriet – to run
skrieties – to run a race. 

mīlēt – to love (someone)
mīlēties – to make love (with each other)

mācīt – to teach (someone or something)
mācīties – to learn, to study. Literally "to teach oneself".



> Es no jauna izteiku pateicību!


Nav par ko! Palīdzēšu ar lielāko prieku!


----------



## valdo

Sveiki,
Man personīgi liekas, ka šajā kontekstā labāk būtu izmantot darbības vārdus "runāt" vai "saprast", piemēram - "es mazliet runāju latviešu valodā" vai "es mazliet saprotu latviešu valodu".....jo, pēc manām domām, darbības vārdu "prast" vairāk lieto kā sinonīmu darbības vārdam "mācēt"

Kas attiecas uz frāzi "izteikt pateicību"....skan "baigi" formāli. Sarunvalodā praktiski nelieto. Šo frāzi var dzirdēt vienīgi saviesīgos pasākumos. 

Uz redzīti,


----------

