Noun: bērns
Hyphenation:
Gender: Masculine
Declension:
Singular
| Nominative | bērns |
| Accusative | bērnu |
| Genitive | bērna |
| Dative | bērnam |
| Instrumental | bērnu |
| Locative | bērnā |
| Vocative | bērns |
Plural
| Nominative | bērni |
| Accusative | bērnus |
| Genitive | bērnu |
| Dative | bērniem |
| Instrumental | bērniem |
| Locative | bērnos |
| Vocative | bērni |
Sample Sentences
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mazs bērns (small child)
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raudošs bērns (crying, weeping child)
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nerātns bērns (naughty child)
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neiznests bērns (premature (lit. not-fully-carried) child)
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ārlaulības, nelikumīgs bērns (out-of-wedlock, illegitimate child)
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bērna audzināšana (a child's education)
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auklēt bērnu (to baby-sit a child)
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kopt bērnu (to care for a child)
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mācīt bērnu (to teach a child)
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adoptēt bērnu (to adopt a child)
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bērnu ratiņi (strollers)
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bērnu autiņi (diapers)
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bērnu nams, bērnunams (orphanage)
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bērnu dārzs, bērnudārzs (kindergarten)
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bērnu laukums ((children's) playground)
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bērnu literatūra (children's literature, books)
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bērnu ārsts (pediatrician (lit. children's doctor))
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bērnu spēle (children's play (= something very simple and easy))
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tu runā kā bērns (you talk like a child (= too naively, childishly))
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vienu vecāku bērni (children of the same parents, siblings)
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pieauguši bērni (grownup children)
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viņai ir vienpadsmit bērnu: septiņas meitas un četri dēli (she has eleven children: seven daughters and four sons)
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kad bērni lieli, iet tie paši ar savu galvu un vecāku prātu
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“vai, māt, Brūnaļai teļinš!” meitene priecīgi sasit rokas... “Brūnaļa mani vairs nepazīst...” “viņai bail, ka tu nedari pāri viņas bērnam” (“oh, Mum, Brūnaļa (the cow) has a little calf!” the girl happily clapped her hands... “Brūnaļa doesn't know me anymore...” “she is afraid of what you might do to her child”)
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tu biji krietnais tautas bērns (you were an honest, decent child of the people)
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dziesma, ai dziesmiņa, skani skaļi / visur, kur Latvijas bērniem mājas! (song, oh little song, do sound loud / everywhere where Latvia's children have homes!)
Nouns inflected like bērns
vēders,
akvārijs,
ziloņkauls,
iekaisums,
šāvējs,
ģitārists,
ābols,
dievs,
ezers,
tārps,
omārs,
bērns,
kakls,
kalns,
kauls,
putns,
zieds,
gājiens,
grāmatsējējs,
deguns, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. From an earlier *berns, with lengthening ([èɾ] > [æ̀ːɾ]), from Proto-Baltic *bernas, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- with an extra -no-s. The meaning evolved from “carry, bear” > “carried thing, burden” > “baby (being carried by pregnant woman)” > “child.”
2. Cognates include Lithuanian bérnas (“young, unmarried man; child; boy; servant”), Sudovian barnaj (“children”) (< *bernai), Proto-Germanic *barną (“child”) (Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐍂𐌽 (barn), Swedish barn, English bairn (“child”)). In the sense of “burden,” also Proto-Slavic *bermę < *bermen- (dialectal Russian бере́мя (berémja, “burden; lap”)), Old Armenian բեռն (beṙn), Ancient Greek φέρνη (phérnē, “dowry”); in the sense of “pregnant,” Russian бере́менная (berémennaja), Polish brzemienna, from brzemienny (“full of cargo”); and in the sense of “to be born, birth,” Ancient Greek φέρμα (phérma, “fruit of the earth”), Old English ġeberan (“to bring forth, to give birth”), German gebären, English bear, be born. See: Gothic Nouns '
𐌱𐌰𐍂𐌽', Swedish Nouns '
barn', English Nouns '
bairn', Ancient Greek Nouns '
φέρμα', Old English Nouns '
ġeberan', German Nouns '
gebären', English Nouns '
bear'.
Verbs referencing "bērns"
Faroese Nouns
barn, Old Norse Nouns
barn, Swedish Nouns
barn.
Translations