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"
Genitive case
- aiz - behind
- apakš - under
- bez - without
- iekš - in
- iz – from, out of
- kopš - since
- no – from
- pēc - after
- pie - at
- pirms - before
- priekš - for
- uz - on (location) [governs accusative with different meaning, see below]
- virs - above, over
- zem - under
Spatial prepositions containing the element -pus:
- ārpus - beside, out of
- iekšpus - inside
- lejpus - below
- otrpus - across, beyond, on the other side (of), over
- šaipus - on this side (of)
- viņpus - in other side
- virspus - above, on
Accusative case
- ap - around, about, ca.
- ar - with
- caur - through
- gar - along
- pa - by [governs dative with different meaning, see below]
- pār - over, across
- par - about
- pret - against
- starp - between
- uz - to, towards [governs genitive with different meaning, see above]
Dative case
- līdz – until
- pa - in, on [governs accusative with different meaning, see above]
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