Verbs With a Dative Person

Level 3

Put the person in the dative and the verb in the third person: Man garšo zupa (I like the soup, literally the soup tastes good to me). The same pattern works with trūkst, pietiek, gribas, izdodas and veicas.

How It Works

1. Thing in the nominative. Garšot (to taste good) is the verb for liking food and drink: Man garšo zupa. (I like the soup.) Vai tev garšo sēnes? (Do you like mushrooms?)

2. Thing in the genitive: how much there is.

  • trūkt (to be lacking): Man trūkst laika. (I don't have enough time.) With pie-, it means to miss someone: Man tevis pietrūkst. (I miss you.)
  • pietikt (to be enough): Mums pietiek naudas. (We have enough money.) Man pietiek! (I've had enough!)

3. With an infinitive.

  • gribēties (to feel like): Man gribas gulēt. (I feel sleepy.) It is softer than Es gribu gulēt.
  • izdoties (to manage, to succeed): Man izdevās atrast darbu. (I managed to find a job.)

4. Luck: veikties. Man veicas means things are going well for me: Kā tev veicas darbā? (How is work going?). It is the verb in Lai veicas!

5. The verb does not change for the person. It is always the third-person form: man garšo, tev garšo, mums garšo. For the negative, add ne-: Man negaršo piens (I don't like milk).

Examples (6)

  1. Man ļoti garšo tava zupa.

    I really like your soup.

    Word by Word: To me very tastes your soup.

    The person is dative (man), and the soup is nominative (zupa).

  2. Man trūkst laika sportam.

    I don't have enough time for sport.

    Trūkst takes what is missing in the genitive: laiks → laika.

  3. Man gribas gulēt.

    I feel sleepy.

    Word by Word: To me wants itself to sleep.

    Gribas with an infinitive means feeling like doing something.

  4. Paldies, man pietiek.

    Thank you, that's enough for me.

    A polite way to refuse more food or drink.

  5. Mums pietiek naudas biļetēm.

    We have enough money for the tickets.

    Pietiek takes the genitive: nauda → naudas.

  6. Vai tev izdevās atrast dzīvokli?

    Did you manage to find a flat?

    Izdevās is the past of izdodas, with the person in the dative: tev.

Common Mistakes

  • Making the person the subject.

    Es trūkstu laika.
    Man trūkst laika.

    With trūkt, the person who lacks something is in the dative, and the verb stays in the third person: man trūkst.

  • Changing the verb to match the person.

    Mums garšojam zupa.
    Mums garšo zupa.

    The verb agrees with the thing, not with the dative person, so it stays garšo.

  • Using the nominative with gribas.

    Es gribas ēst.
    Man gribas ēst.

    Gribas needs a dative person: man gribas. If you want to use es, use the ordinary verb: Es gribu ēst.

How It Connects

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Verbs With a Dative PersonLevel 3

Learn This First

Many verbs take a dative person.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

garšottrūktpietiktgribētiesizdoties