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Definition 2024

vajadzēt

vajadzēt

Latvian

Verb

vajadzēt intr. + dat., 3rd conj., only 3rd person, pres. vajag, past vajadzēja

  1. to be necessary, to be needed, to be desired
    vajag paveikt iesākto‎ ― it is necessary to finish what was started
    man vajag padoma‎ ― I need (some) advice
    ko tev vajag? — what do you need?
    viņam vajadzēja daudz strādāt‎ ― he needed, had to work a lot
    mājai vajadzētu jaunu jumtu‎ ― the house would need (= should get) a new roof
    mums vajadzētu satikties‎ ― we would need (= should) meet
    vajadzēt vairāk brīva laika‎ ― to need more free time
  2. (with an infinitive verb) must, should (expressing confidence about the existence or occurrence of something)
    ezeram vajadzēja būt tepat netālu‎ ― the lake must, should be here nearby
    viņam drīz vajag nākt‎ ― he must, should come soon (= I think he will come soon)
    vajadzēja būt pagājušai jau kādai stundai‎ ― an hour must have already passed
    drīz vajag būt rītam‎ ― it should soon be morning

Declension

Usage notes

The arguments of this verb are: a dative, for the person to whom something is necessary, and an accusative or genitive, for the thing that is necessary; e.g.: man vajag naudu or man vajag naudas “I(dat.) need money(acc. or gen.).” The accusative has more widespread use, though the genitive is not infrequent, often with a partitive sense (“I need some money”).

Derived terms

References

  1. ↑ Karulis, Konstantīns. 1992, 2001. Latviešu etimoloģijas vārdnīca. Rīga: AVOTS. ISBN 9984700127.

Etymology

A borrowing from Livonian vajag ‎(“necessary”); cf. Estonian vaja ‎(“necessary; need; lack”), Finnish vajaa ‎(“incomplete, inadequate; need”), Veps vajag ‎(“incomplete”). In 16th-18th century texts, the word (in the older form vaijaga) is used as an adjective, often accompanied by the copula (vaijaga ir... “it is necessary”), following the original Livonian pattern. From the 17th century on, it began occurring also by itself in a dative construction (man vajag... “I need”), from which it was reinterpreted as a verb, so that further forms — an infinitive vajadzēt, a past tense vajadzēja, a future tense vajadzēs, a conditional form vajadzētu, etc. — were created by analogy (compare tecēt ‎(“to flow”), third person present tek, third person past tecēja, etc.). Some participial forms, however, are lacking, and others (vajagošs) are barely attested.[1]

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