A small set of Latvian phrases covers most everyday interaction, and learning the formal-informal distinction alongside them prevents an easy early mistake.
| Latvian | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sveiki | Hello (plural/general use) |
| Paldies | Thank you |
| Lūdzu | Please / you're welcome |
| Labrīt | Good morning |
Like many European languages, Latvian distinguishes an informal tu (used with friends, family, and people your own age or younger) from a formal jūs (used with strangers, elders, and in professional contexts). Choosing the wrong one isn't a disaster, but defaulting to jūs with people you don't know well is the safer habit to build early.
Fixed phrases like greetings don't require understanding the case system to use correctly — they can be learned and used immediately, giving real conversational value long before grammar study catches up.
Sveiki (hello) works broadly across everyday situations and is a safe default starting point.
Tu is the informal "you," used with friends, family, and peers; jūs is the formal "you," used with strangers, elders, and in professional settings — defaulting to jūs with people you don't know well is the safer habit.
No — fixed phrases like greetings and courtesy expressions can be learned and used correctly from day one, independent of the case system or verb conjugation.
Yes — Latvian vocabulary and phrase content includes audio, so pronunciation and stress placement are learned alongside the words themselves.
See also: Latvian Pronunciation · Latvian Vocabulary · Learn Latvian