Capital Letters

Level 2

Write pirmdiena, janvāris, latvietis, latviski and es with a small letter. Names such as Rīga, Latvija and Anna get a capital.

How It Works

Capitals: sentence starts and names

Like English, Latvian starts every sentence with a capital letter. Names of people and places also get one: Anna, Jānis Bērziņš, Rīga, Latvija, Daugava. Foreign names keep their capital after they get a Latvian spelling: Džons (John), Londona (London).

Lowercase, unlike English

  • days of the week: pirmdiena (Monday), sestdien (on Saturday). See Days of the Week.
  • months: janvāris (January), jūlijs (July), 18. novembris (18 November)
  • nationalities and people from a place: latvietis (a Latvian man), latviete (a Latvian woman), anglis (an Englishman), rīdzinieks (a person from Riga). See Nationalities.
  • language words: latviešu valoda (the Latvian language), latviski (in Latvian), angliski (in English). See Speaking a Language: Latviski.
  • the word es (I): Vakar es biju Rīgā. (Yesterday I was in Riga.)
  • the titles kungs (Mr) and kundze (Mrs): Bērziņa kungs (Mr Bērziņš)

Names made of several words

In many place names, only the first word gets a capital. A word such as iela (street) or jūra (sea) stays lowercase: Brīvības iela (Brīvības Street), Baltijas jūra (the Baltic Sea). Holidays are names, so they take a capital: Jāņi (Midsummer), Ziemassvētki (Christmas).

Jūs and Tu in letters

In a letter, an email or a message to one person, Latvians often write Jūs, Jums and Jūsu with a capital to show respect. The same can be done with Tu, Tev and Tavs. When jūs means several people, it stays lowercase. In dialogue and in stories, tu and jūs are lowercase too. See Informal Tu and Polite Jūs.

Examples (6)

  1. Man patīk jūnijs un jūlijs.

    I like June and July.

    Months are lowercase in Latvian.

  2. Es nestrādāju sestdien un svētdien.

    I do not work on Saturday or Sunday.

    Days of the week are lowercase too.

  3. Džons ir anglis, bet viņš runā latviski.

    John is English, but he speaks Latvian.

    The name Džons has a capital. The nationality word anglis and the language word latviski do not.

  4. Vakar es biju Liepājā.

    Yesterday I was in Liepāja.

    es (I) is lowercase. The town Liepāja is a name, so it has a capital.

  5. Brīvības iela ir Rīgas centrā.

    Brīvības Street is in the centre of Riga.

    Only the name part Brīvības has a capital. The word iela (street) stays lowercase.

  6. Liels paldies Jums par palīdzību!

    Thank you very much for your help!

    This is from a letter to one person, so Jums has a capital to show respect.

Common Mistakes

  • Capitalizing days of the week.

    Es strādāju no Pirmdienas līdz Piektdienai.
    Es strādāju no pirmdienas līdz piektdienai.

    Days of the week are ordinary words in Latvian, so they are lowercase, even in the middle of a sentence.

  • Capitalizing nationalities and language words.

    Viņa ir Latviete un runā Latviski.
    Viņa ir latviete un runā latviski.

    latviete (a Latvian woman) and latviski (in Latvian) are not names. Only the country name Latvija has a capital.

  • Writing es (I) with a capital inside a sentence.

    Vakar Es biju Rīgā.
    Vakar es biju Rīgā.

    English always writes "I" with a capital, but Latvian es is lowercase unless it starts the sentence.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Capital LettersLevel 2

Learn This First

Capital letters build on the alphabet and on language words.