man ir auksti

Feeling Cold or Hot

Level 2

To say how you feel, Latvian says it is cold to me: Man ir auksti (I am cold), Viņam ir karsti (He is hot), Man ir labi (I feel fine).

How It Works

The pattern: dative person + ir + adverb in -i.

  • Man ir auksti. (I am cold.)
  • Viņam ir karsti. (He is hot.)
  • Bērniem ir silti. (The children are warm.)
  • Man ir labi. (I feel fine.) Man ir slikti. (I feel unwell.)
  • Man ir garlaicīgi. (I am bored.)

The feeling word is the -i form of an adjective: auksts → auksti, karsts → karsti, labs → labi. It never changes, so a man and a woman both say Man ir auksti.

Adjective or adverb? An adjective describes a thing or a person and agrees with it: Laiks ir auksts. (The weather is cold.) Zupa ir karsta. (The soup is hot.) Es esmu auksts would describe you, as if you were cold to touch or unfriendly. For what you feel, use the dative and the -i form.

Without a person. Leave out the dative to talk about the air or a place: Šodien ir silti. (It is warm today.) Istabā ir auksti. (It is cold in the room.) See talking about the weather.

Past and negative. Change ir: Man bija auksti. (I was cold.) Vai tev nav karsti? (Aren't you hot?) In quick speech ir is often dropped: Man auksti!

Two similar words do not end in -i but work the same way: Man ir bail. (I am scared.) Man ir žēl. (I am sorry.)

Examples (6)

  1. Man ir auksti.

    I am cold.

    Word by Word: To me (it) is cold.

    The person is dative (man), and auksti is the unchanging -i form.

  2. Vai tev nav karsti?

    Aren't you hot?

    Nav makes the sentence negative, and tev stays dative.

  3. Bērniem ir garlaicīgi.

    The children are bored.

    A plural noun can be the dative person too.

  4. Vakar man bija slikti.

    Yesterday I felt unwell.

    Bija puts the feeling in the past.

  5. Laiks ir auksts, bet man ir silti.

    The weather is cold, but I am warm.

    Auksts is an adjective that describes laiks. Silti tells how the person feels.

  6. Šodien ir silti.

    It is warm today.

    With no dative person, the sentence describes the weather.

Common Mistakes

  • Using es esmu and an adjective for a feeling.

    Es esmu auksts.
    Man ir auksti.

    Es esmu auksts describes you, as if you were cold to touch. To say you feel cold, use man and the -i form auksti.

  • Using the adjective instead of the -i form.

    Man ir auksts.
    Man ir auksti.

    After a dative person, the feeling word ends in -i and does not change for gender or number.

  • Saying es esmu garlaicīgs to mean I am bored.

    Es esmu garlaicīgs.
    Man ir garlaicīgi.

    Es esmu garlaicīgs means I am boring. Man ir garlaicīgi means I am bored.

How It Connects

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

man ir aukstiLevel 2Feeling Cold or Hot

Learn This First

Feeling cold uses the dative and an adverb in -i.

Words in This Pattern

aukstikarstiviņam