Latvian Genealogical Word List

Introduction
The Latvian language is primarily spoken in Latvia. It is part of the Baltic group of the Indo-European family of languages, which includes Lithuanian and the extinct Prussian languages. Latvian and Lithuanian are unique in that they have certain archaic features that have left other languages, such as the system of pitch accents. Latvian nouns are classified as either masculine or feminine. Therefore, adjectives must have proper masculine or feminine endings. Masculine noun endings in singular are -s, -š, is, us, and in plural are -i. Feminine noun endings in singular are -a, -e, -s, and in plural are -as, -es, -is. Masculine adjective endings in singular are -s, -š, -ais and in plural are -i, -ie. Feminine adjective endings in singular are -a, -ā and in plural -as, -ās. Adjectives, nouns, and pronouns are declined in six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, and locative. The endings are changed according to gender, number, and cases. Also the verb endings are changed according to persons and numbers. The endings of words may differ from what you will find in this list. For instance, the endings -iņš, -iņa, -tis, and -te are added words to signify "little." Latvian uses several letters in addition to the 22 that it shares with the English language (Latvian does not use q, w, x, and y). These additional letters are ā, č, ē, ġ, ī, ķ, ļ, ņ, š, ū, and ž.