nav + Genitive

There Is No and I Have No

Level 2

Man ir laiks. (I have time.) becomes Man nav laika. (I have no time.) When something is missing, it goes in the genitive.

How It Works

From ir to nav

Sentences about having and about what exists use ir with the nominative. When you say the thing is missing, ir becomes nav, and the missing thing goes in the genitive. See Having: Man Ir and There Is and There Are.

  • Man ir laiks. → Man nav laika. (I have no time.)
  • Šeit ir veikals. → Šeit nav veikala. (There is no shop here.)
  • Mājās ir piens. → Mājās nav piena. (There is no milk at home.)

Countable things in the plural take the genitive plural: Šeit nav veikalu. (There are no shops here.) You also hear this in the phrase Nav problēmu! (No problem!). See Genitive Plural in -u.

Past tense

The past nebija (there was not, did not have) takes the genitive too: Man nebija naudas. (I had no money.)

Someone is not here

When you say that a person is away, Latvian often uses the genitive as well: Tēva nav mājās. (Father is not at home.) You will also hear the nominative in this kind of sentence.

When nav does not take the genitive

  • "X is not Y" keeps the nominative: Viņš nav ārsts. (He is not a doctor.) Kafija nav karsta. (The coffee is not hot.) See Negative Present of Būt.
  • Other negative verbs keep their normal object: Es neredzu Annu. (I do not see Anna.) Es nedzeru kafiju. (I do not drink coffee.)

This is why nobody after nav and nebija is the genitive neviena: Mājās nav neviena. (Nobody is home.) See Nobody, Nothing and Never.

Examples (6)

  1. Šeit nav veikala.

    There is no shop here.

    veikals becomes the genitive veikala.

  2. Man nav laika.

    I have no time.

    Word by Word: To-me is-not of-time.

    The positive is Man ir laiks. After nav, laiks becomes laika.

  3. Mājās nav piena.

    There is no milk at home.

  4. Viņam nav brāļa, bet viņam ir māsa.

    He does not have a brother, but he has a sister.

    nav takes the genitive brāļa. ir takes the nominative māsa.

  5. Vakar man nebija naudas.

    Yesterday I had no money.

    The past nebija also takes the genitive.

  6. Tēva nav mājās.

    Father is not at home.

    For an absent person, the genitive tēva is common. You may also hear Tēvs nav mājās.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping the nominative after nav.

    Man nav laiks.
    Man nav laika.

    When nav says something is missing, that thing goes in the genitive: laiks → laika.

  • Using the genitive in an "X is not Y" sentence.

    Viņš nav ārsta.
    Viņš nav ārsts.

    This sentence does not say something is missing. It says what he is not, so ārsts stays in the nominative.

  • Using the nominative plural after nav.

    Šeit nav veikali.
    Šeit nav veikalu.

    In the plural, the missing things take the genitive plural in -u: veikalu.

How It Connects

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

nav + GenitiveLevel 2There Is No and I Have No

Learn This First

Nav + genitive combines negation with the genitive.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern