Tenses and moods 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: •
indicative; •
imperative; •
conditional; •
conjunctive (Latvian literature, however, does not make a distinction between conditional and conjunctive. Even if such a distinction is made both of them are morphologically identical – ending in
-u.); •
quotative, also known as relative, renarrative, or inferential mood (some authors distinguish analytically derived
jussive as a subset of quotative; others, however, insist that a simple addition of a conjunction (
lai) is not sufficient basis for distinguishing this grammatical construction as a grammatical mood); and •
debitive (for expressing obligation). The relations between tenses and moods are shown in the following table. (The table does not include quotative.) 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.
Conjugation classes Unlike, for example, Romance languages where conjugation classes are assigned based on
thematic vowels (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.
First conjugation The first conjugation class is characterized by an absence of the thematic vowel in infinitive, as well as in present and past tenses. Furthermore 1st conjugation verbs are always monosyllabic and their stems undergo sound shifts. Based on these sound shifts they are further divided in 5 subcategories.
Sound shifts bolded below