Latvian prepositions

This article describes the use of prepositions and postpositions in Latvian grammar.

The lists below are organized according to the case of the noun phrase following the preposition. In the plural, however, all prepositions in Latvian can be described as governing the dative case. For example:

• singular: bez manis/*man "without me-gen/*me-dat"
• plural: bez mums/*mūsu "without us-dat/*us-gen"

Examples

Latvian	English approximate	Case	Frequency	Example phrase	Translation
aiz	behind	genitive	172	paslēpties aiz liela koka	to hide behind a large tree
aiz	behind	dative*	172	apspriede notika aiz slēgtām durvīm	the discussion took place behind closed doors
bez	without	genitive	446
kopš	since	genitive	133
no	from	genitive	3524	skaitīt no viens līdz desmit	to count from one to ten
pēc	after	genitive	980	pēc darba braucu uz mājām	after work I go home
pēc	after	dative*	980	pēc diviem mēnešiem būs pārbaudījumi	after two months there will be a test
pie	at, on, to	genitive	1275	māja pie jūras	a house on the sea
pirms	before (time or location with time connotation).	genitive	0	Viņš stāvēja pirms manis rindā	he stood before me in line
uz	to, on (location)	genitive	3664
virs	above, over	genitive	191	mati virs galvas	hair over the head
virs	above, over	dative	191	uzraksts virs durvīm	the inscription above the door
zem	under	genitive	106
ap	around, about, ca.	accusative	72
ar	with	instrumental	4682
caur	through	accusative	106	jāt caur mežu	to ride through the forest
caur	through	dative*	106	smaidīt caur asarām	to smile through the tears
gar	along	accusative	24
pa	by	accusative	637	iet pa ceļu	to walk along the road
pa	in, on, during	dative	637	pa naktīm	during night
pār	over, across	accusative	63	pār upi	across the river
par	about	accusative	4328
pret	against	accusative	407
starp	between	accusative	191	galds atrodas starp skapi un logu	the table is situated between the cabinet and the window
starp	between	dative*	191	sēdēt starp draugiem	to sit among friends
uz	to, towards	accusative	3664
līdz	until	dative	619

• Sometimes plural nouns are found in the dative case for some prepositions.

Archaic forms

Latvian	English approximate	Case	Example phrase	Translation
apakš	under	genitive
ārpus	beside, out of	genitive
iekšpus	inside	genitive
lejpus	below	genitive
otrpus	across, beyond, on the other side (of), over	genitive
šaipus	on this side (of)	genitive
viņpus	in other side	genitive
virspus	above, on	genitive
iekš	in	genitive
iz	from, out of	genitive	iz apakšzemes	from the underworld
priekš	for (location wise)	genitive

Semi-prepositions

Latvian has also some adverbs, known as pusprievārdi "semi-prepositions", which can be used like prepositions or postpositions, in combination with a dative noun phrase:

• cauri - through
• garām - past, over, by
• iepretim - in front of
• līdzi - with
• pāri - over, across
• pretī - in front of, against

Postpositions

The following postpositions govern the genitive case, in both singular and plural:

• dēļ - through, of, for
• labad - for, for the sake of
• pēc - because of

See also

• Latvian declension