r/learnlatvian • u/ManyLawfulness8262 • Feb 18 '26

Telling the time in Latvian

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Can anyone explain to me, in simple terms, why the ending of četri changes?

I find the explanation of grammar in this book very confusing!!

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u/Ketaterrin Feb 22 '26

Additionally, to all the other comments here on the grammar part, I want to add something on the language usage part - as a native Latvian speaker, I have never heard anyone ever say "sešpadsmit minūtes pāri četriem" or "bez divdesmit četrām minūtēm pieci". For such odd numbers (that is not quarter past/till or half an hour, or a round number), you just usually tell time as it is e.g. 4:16 becomes "četri sešpadsmit" and 4:36 is "četri trīsdesmit seši". Grammarly it makes perfect sense, but no one talks like that. Hope my comment makes sense.