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lai

Pronunciation: [laî]

“lai” is a Latvian word. Its 13 meanings in English:

conjunction

  1. with the conditional, indicating purpose, sometimes cause; sometimes correlating with tāpēc, tādēļ in the main clause; so that, in order to, in order that
  2. indicating concession, especially in the combinations lai gan, lai arī; though, although, even though
  3. indicating strong concession, in combination with arī, nu, vai and with interrogative pronouns like cik, kāds, kurš, kas, kur; no matter how, which, who, what, where; however, wherever, whichever, whoever, whatever, wherever
  4. after certain verbs, introducing a direct object clause; that, for ... to, to
  5. indicating manner and/or purpose, usually correlating with an adverb like tā (“like that”) in the main clause; so that, such that, in such a way that
  6. indicating consequence, especially with tik (“so (much)”), pārāk (“too much”) and an adjective or participle in the main clause; so that, so ... that, too (much) ... for, to, that

particle

  1. used to express an optative (wish) nuance: may, may it be that
  2. used to express encouragement, agreement: let
  3. used to mark third person imperative forms of verbs; sometimes used with the first person also: let
  4. used to give a nuance of indecision or doubt, especially in a question should, could
  5. used to add strength to a word or expression, to link it more tightly to the rest of the sentence
  6. used to reinforce a word, highlighting it among others
  7. used, sometimes with nu or ir, to indicate tolerance of, or agreement with, someone else

Etymology

Traditionally, lai is derived from the imperative form of the verb laist (“to allow, to permit”) (quod vide): laid → lai, an evolution reminiscent of Russian пускай (puskaj), пусть (pustʹ, “let, so be”) from пускать (puskatʹ, “to allow, to permit”). The form laid is indeed attested as a conjunction in the earliest sources. This view, however, has been recently criticized on the basis that Latvian…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.