pats / pati

Myself and Yourself: Pats

Level 3

Add pats (masculine) or pati (feminine) to say that someone does something themselves: Es pats to izdarīju. (I did it myself.) Put it after tas or tā to say the same: tas pats, tā pati.

How It Works

1. Doing it yourself. Pats follows the gender and number of the person:

  • Es pats / Es pati — I myself (said by a man / by a woman)
  • Viņš pats, Viņa pati — he himself, she herself
  • Mēs paši, Viņas pašas — we ourselves, they themselves (women)

It often means without help: Bērns jau pats māk lasīt. (The child can already read on his own.) It can also stress who the person is: Atnāca pats direktors. (The director himself came.)

2. Forms. Pats changes its ending like an adjective, with š in every form except the nominative:

  • Masculine: pats, paša, pašam, pašu, pašā; plural paši, pašu, pašiem, pašus, pašos
  • Feminine: pati, pašas, pašai, pašu, pašā; plural pašas, pašu, pašām, pašas, pašās

3. The same: tas pats. After tas and tā, pats means the same, and both words change together: tas pats, tā pati, tie paši, tās pašas. In other cases they use the forms from tajā and to: tā paša, to pašu, tajā pašā. Mēs dzīvojam tajā pašā ielā. (We live on the same street.) When ordering, Man to pašu, lūdzu! means The same for me, please! For the same kind of thing, see tāds pats.

4. Right in the middle. With a place or time word, pats means exactly or very: pašā centrā (right in the centre), pašā sākumā (at the very beginning). Before a definite adjective it gives a strong superlative: pats labākais (the very best), as in the superlative.

5. Pats is not an object. English uses myself both for emphasis and as an object. Latvian splits these jobs: pats only adds emphasis, and the object is sevi: Viņš redz sevi spogulī. (He sees himself in the mirror.) The two can go together: Viņa runā pati ar sevi. (She talks to herself.)

Examples (6)

  1. Es pats to izdarīju.

    I did it myself.

    Word by Word: I myself it did.

    A man says pats. A woman says Es pati to izdarīju.

  2. Viņa pati zina, ko grib.

    She herself knows what she wants.

    Pati is feminine because it points to viņa.

  3. Bērns jau pats māk lasīt.

    The child can already read on his own.

    Here pats means without help.

  4. Mēs dzīvojam tajā pašā ielā.

    We live on the same street.

    Tā pati iela in the locative: tajā pašā ielā. All three words agree.

  5. Man to pašu, lūdzu!

    The same for me, please!

    Tas pats in the accusative is to pašu. A handy phrase when ordering.

  6. Viesnīca ir pašā centrā.

    The hotel is right in the centre.

    With a place word, pats means exactly or right.

Common Mistakes

  • Using masculine pats for a woman.

    Viņa pats to izdarīja.
    Viņa pati to izdarīja.

    Pats agrees with its person. Viņa is feminine, so use pati.

  • Using pats as the object of a verb, like English himself.

    Viņš redz pats spogulī.
    Viņš redz sevi spogulī.

    Viņš redz pats means he himself sees, and the sentence has no object. When the person is the object, use the reflexive pronoun sevi.

  • Leaving tas pats in the nominative inside a longer phrase.

    Mēs dzīvojam tas pats ielā.
    Mēs dzīvojam tajā pašā ielā.

    Tas pats agrees with the noun in gender and case. Ielā is feminine locative, so it becomes tajā pašā.

How It Connects

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

pats / patiLevel 3Myself and Yourself: Pats

Learn This First

Pats emphasizes a person.

Words in This Pattern

patspati