Reported Speech With ka
Reported Speech
Report a statement with teica, ka and the speaker’s own tense: „Es strādāju Rīgā.” → Viņš teica, ka strādā Rīgā (He said that he worked in Riga).
How It Works
1. The frame. A verb of saying or thinking, a comma, then ka and the reported words. Common verbs are teikt, stāstīt, rakstīt, atbildēt, domāt and zināt.
2. Keep the tense, change the person.
- Present stays present: „Es strādāju Rīgā.” → Viņš teica, ka strādā Rīgā. (He said that he worked in Riga.)
- Future stays future: „Es nākšu.” → Viņa teica, ka nāks. (She said that she would come.)
- Past stays past: „Es biju slima.” → Viņa teica, ka bija slima. (She said that she had been ill.)
The tense counts from the moment the person spoke, not from now. If you change strādā to strādāja, the sentence means that he said he had worked there before.
3. Other forms stay too. A debitive or a conditional stays as it was: „Jums nav jāuztraucas.” → Ārsts teica, ka man nav jāuztraucas. (The doctor said that I did not need to worry.)
4. Questions and requests. A reported question uses vai or a question word instead of ka (see reporting a question). A reported request uses lai: Viņa teica, lai es pagaidu. (She told me to wait.) See wanting someone to do something.
5. Ka, not kad. Kad means when. After a verb of saying, the word for that is ka.
6. Keeping your distance. To show that the information is only what someone else says, a speaker can use the renarrative -ot: Viņš teica, ka strādājot Rīgā. You will meet this in news reports. The plain form with ka is the everyday choice.
Examples (6)
- Viņš teica, ka strādā Rīgā.
He said that he worked in Riga.
Word by Word: He said, that works in-Riga.
His words were „Es strādāju Rīgā.” The present stays present.
- Viņa teica, ka nāks.
She said that she would come.
Her words were „Es nākšu.” The future stays future.
- Anna rakstīja, ka jau ir nopirkusi biļetes.
Anna wrote that she had already bought the tickets.
Her words were „Es jau esmu nopirkusi biļetes.” Only the person changes: esmu → ir.
- Ārsts teica, ka man nav jāuztraucas.
The doctor said that I did not need to worry.
The debitive stays a debitive; only jums becomes man.
- Toms stāstīja, ka bērnībā dzīvoja Liepājā.
Toms said that he had lived in Liepāja as a child.
The past tense is kept because Toms was already talking about the past.
- Mēs domājām, ka tu esi mājās.
We thought that you were at home.
Verbs of thinking work the same way: what we thought then was „Tu esi mājās.”
Common Mistakes
Moving the tense back as in English. He said: „Es strādāju Rīgā.”
Viņš teica, ka strādāja Rīgā.Viņš teica, ka strādā Rīgā.He spoke in the present, so the report keeps the present. Strādāja would mean that he said he had worked there earlier.
Using kad (when) instead of ka (that).
Viņš teica, kad ir noguris.Viņš teica, ka ir noguris.Kad asks or tells when. Reported words are introduced by ka.
Leaving out the comma before ka.
Viņa teica ka nāks.Viņa teica, ka nāks.Latvian always separates the reported clause with a comma before ka.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Reported speech uses ka.
Related Patterns
- kaThat: Ka
The conjunction that introduces reported statements.
Level 2 - gribēt, laiWanting Someone to Do Something
Reported requests and orders use lai: Viņa teica, lai es pagaidu.
Level 4 - Renarrative -otReported Information: -ot
The special form for information you are only passing on: ka strādājot.
Level 5 - Commas in Latvian
Why a comma always comes before ka.
Level 4 - kadWhen: Kad
Kad means when and should not replace ka.
Level 2
Words in This Pattern
Practice Reported Speech With ka in Bubblegum
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