Läti verbiprefiksite vastetest eesti keeles viie verbi näitel
Showing the correspondences of the Latvian verb prefixes in Estonian through five verbs

Summary/Abstract: Latvian verb prefixes is one of the most difficult and complicated grammar topics for Estonians to comprehend and acquire. Since Estonian lacks verb prefixes, it is substantial to investigate and carry out a systematic overview of the possible equivalents of the Latvian verb prefixes in Estonian for the purpose of the better teaching and learning of both languages. In Latvian verb prefixes are considered to be part of the verb aspect and in addition to the perfectiveness they may also variate the lexical meaning of the verb for example in spatial, temporal, or quantitative level (Ahero et al. 1959: 567; Paegle 2003: 130–131; Kalnača 2014: 93–94). Estonian, however, uses different measurements for the expression of aspect – object case, perfectively adverbs, lative adverbials, time forms etc (Erelt 2017: 112–117). In this article we introduce some of the basic correspondences of the Latvian verb prefixes in Estonian. Te goal of the research was to analyse how Latvian verb prefixes change or modulate the meaning of the verbs and how and if these changes are expressed in Estonian. Te data materials of this study are the examples taken from six Latvian literary works and their translations into Estonian. Te analysis of the data material is done using a contrastive method – we compared the Latvian sentences consisting of corresponding prefixed verbs to their Estonian translations. Te functions of the prefixes in this study material represented only a small part of the functions. You can clearly see how the meaning of the prefixes changes starting with a specific spatial meaning, and becoming more abstract. Te fewer different prefixes joined the verb, the more the prefix function moved away from spatial and became more abstract. This is illustrated by the comparison of the movement of iet ‘to go’ and just ‘to feel’: the first verb is used with all prefixes and each prefix has a function of expressing the direction (in addition to perfection), but the last verb has only two prefixes, and their meaning difference is not very specific. Te correspondences of the verb prefixes in Estonian mainly consisted of a simple verb (+ substantive case, prepositional phrase). Te second group of responses consisted of analytical forms: predominantly a compound verb with the corresponding afixal verb, in rare cases an expression verb or phraseology. In some cases, the meaning of the prefix was reflected in the semantics of the verb (for example, in the case of a movement, the prefix iz- meaning adverb ārā ‘out’ was carried out as Estonian verb väljuma). In many cases (eg verb iet ‘to go’) the response in the Estonian language was not forwarded at all and was translated into verb minema (to go) and the spatial meaning occurred only in the context. Thus, the local meaning of the prefix can best be expressed by compound verbs. It is important to distinguish and emphasize when it comes to learning Latvian, when a prefix is obligatory when expressing an activity. Since all the prefixes have multiple functions, it is necessary to examine what causes a particular prefix to be used to express a certain function for each verb. For a language learner, it is first important to recognize what type of verb is involved. If there is a movement verb, it may be quite easy to try to find matches for the prefixes from the adverbs that give the verb meaning of spatiality. Te less the verb is connected to the motion, the further the probability of the prefix is to be spatial. From this study, we can again conclude that the subject of verb prefixes is rather complicated and requires further investigation.

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