bryonj2255 wrote:Jā, es garšoju kakao.
You just said you're tasting cacao (like, you go wine tasting but instead of wine you taste cacao).
My statement should have been your clue. A handful of verbs in Latvian use a different pattern:
The subject in the dative case +
the verb in the third person +
the object in the nominative case (well, technically the subject I just called the subject is not the subject lol it's the object but whatever).
I only know of three such verbs (maybe there's more):
patikt (
patīk) - to like
garšot (
garšo) - to like (about food)
sāpēt (
sāp) - to hurt, ache
Man patīk ziema. I like winter.
Tev patīk skriet. You like jogging.
Nākamajam cilvēkam garšo kakao. The following person likes cacao.
Viņam sāp kāja. His leg hurts.
If you use these verbs normally then the meaning changes
Es patīku Ievai. Ieva likes me.
Tu patīc Jānim. Jānis likes you.
Es garšoju kakao. I'm tasting cacao.
Es sāpu (doesn't make much sense). I hurt.
Sean of the Dead wrote:Jā, es ziemu mīlu.
ziema is the direct object in this sentence and it must be in the accusative case.
You probably already know this but I will explain anyway...
In a basic sentence there is a subject, a verb and optionally an object. The subject is in the nominative case, the verb agrees in person and number with the subject and the object is either in the accusative, dative or locative case (depending on which case the verbs likes).
(If there is more than one subject, verb or object then they are separated by commas or "un" (and) or "vai" (or) or "kā arī", "gan, gan" (as well as) or similar phrases.)
There is really no way to tell which case the verbs likes. Most verbs like the accusative case that's for sure, others will prefer the dative case, some are friends only with the locative case, others can be friends with both the accusative and dative case.
Some verbs are loners (intransitive verbs), some can't stand being alone (transitive verbs), other verbs don't mind being either (they can be transitive and intrasitive verbs).
If a verb is (in)transitive in English it doesn't mean it will also be (in)transitive in Latvian and vice versa. To find out whether a verb is transitive or intransitive or both you can look it up
in a dictionary. To figure out which cases a verb likes you will have to look closely at the sample sentences.
I don't know why I just told you all that because most of the time the direct object will be in the accusative case and you will not have to worry about this.
Sean of the Dead wrote:(I'm not sure if you can use "mīlēt" like that, although the emotion I feel for the month of winter is definitely stronger than "like".
It's not wrong to use "mīlēt" like that but we don't usually do that. You could say "ļoti patīk" which is stronger than "patīk"
Another word is "dievināt" (it's derived from Dievs (God) but has no religious meaning whatsoever)
bryonj2255 wrote:Nākamais cilvēks mīlēj ziemu.
Sean of the Dead wrote:Nākamais cilvēks lasīja "Mazais Princis".
It's correct but will not make much sense unless you add some adverbs or other sentences. You probably wanted to say "Nākamais cilvēks ir lasījis "Mazais Princis" (The person below me has read The Little Prince).
Note that in a conversion we would say "Nākamais cilvēks ir lasījis mazo princi."
Sean of the Dead wrote:I have no idea where "labi" should go.
You got it right
"Labi" modifies "dziedāt" that's why it should go before "dziedāt": "labi dziedāt" but "dziedāt labi" is also fine.
I have a new theory. The adverbs you usually leave at the end of a sentence in English modify the verb so in Latvian they should go before the verb.
She worked in a hospital (1) for two days (2) every week (3) last year.
Viņa (3) pagājušogad (2) katru nedēļu (1) divas dienas strādāja slimnīcā.