Leaving Out Subject Pronouns

Level 2

The verb ending often tells you who is doing something, so the pronoun can go: Strādāju Rīgā (I work in Riga), Runājam latviski (We speak Latvian). Keep viņš, viņa, viņi and viņas in most sentences.

How It Works

1. Pronouns you can leave out. These endings point to one person only:

  • (Es) esmu no Rīgas. (I am from Riga.)
  • (Mēs) runājam latviski. (We speak Latvian.)
  • (Jūs) runājat latviski? (Do you speak Latvian?)

It works in every tense: Vakar biju mājās. (Yesterday I was at home.) Rīt strādāšu. (Tomorrow I will work.)

2. Tu is kept more often. For many verbs the tu form looks the same as the he/she form: tu strādā and viņš strādā, tu nes and viņa nes. So people keep tu more often than es, especially in questions: Vai tu šodien strādā? See subject pronouns.

3. The third person. The verb alone cannot show whether the subject is he, she or they, so name the person first: Anna strādā Rīgā. Viņa ir ārste. (Anna works in Riga. She is a doctor.) Once the person is clear, the verb can stand alone, especially in answers and in a chain of actions:

  • Kur ir Jānis? — Strādā. (Where is Jānis? — He is working.)
  • Viņš pamodās, piecēlās un aizgāja uz darbu. (He woke up, got up and went to work.)

4. When to keep es and tu. Keep the pronoun when it matters who does something, for example when you compare two people: Es gatavoju vakariņas, bet tu mazgā traukus. (I am cooking dinner, and you are washing the dishes.) In a short answer with no verb, the pronoun is all you have: Kas to izdarīja? — Es. (Who did it? — I did.)

5. Sentences with no subject at all. Where English needs "it", Latvian often has no subject word: Līst. (It is raining.) Ir auksti. (It is cold.) See talking about the weather. A third-person verb with no subject can also mean people in general: Latvijā runā latviski. See what people do.

Leaving the pronoun out does not change the ending. The verb still needs the form for its person: (Es) strādāju, (mēs) strādājam. For the forms, see the present of būt.

Examples (6)

  1. Strādāju Rīgā.

    I work in Riga.

    The ending -u shows that the subject is es.

  2. Runājam latviski.

    We speak Latvian.

    The ending -am can only mean mēs.

  3. Vakar biju pie ārsta.

    Yesterday I was at the doctor's.

    Biju can only be the es form of the past of būt.

  4. Vai tu šodien strādā?

    Are you working today?

    Tu is kept, because strādā is also the he/she form.

  5. Kur ir Līga? — Viņa ir mājās.

    Where is Līga? — She is at home.

    The third-person pronoun viņa is usually kept.

  6. Es gatavoju vakariņas, bet tu mazgā traukus.

    I am cooking dinner, and you are washing the dishes.

    Both pronouns stay because the sentence compares two people.

Common Mistakes

  • Choosing the wrong ending when the pronoun is left out.

    Strādā Rīgā.
    Strādāju Rīgā.

    This mistake is about saying I work in Riga. Without es, only the ending shows who works. Strādā is the tu, he/she or they form, so for I use strādāju.

  • Adding tas for English "it" in a weather sentence.

    Tas līst.
    Līst.

    A Latvian weather verb has no subject. Līst alone means it is raining.

How It Connects

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Leaving Out Subject PronounsLevel 2

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Leaving out subject pronouns relies on verb endings.

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Patterns that build on this one.