prast

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word prast. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word prast, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say prast in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word prast you have here. The definition of the word prast will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofprast, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: präst and praṣt

Latvian

Etymology

From an earlier *prasti, from *prat-ti, from Proto-Baltic *prat-, from Proto-Indo-European *pret-, *prot- (to understand); the first-person form is derived from a variant with an extra n, *prantuo, from *prantu, from protu. Up until the 17th century, prast basically meant “to understand,” “to perceive,” i.e, it was synonymous with saprast; the present-day meaning occurred alongside the older meaning and became dominant only by the end of the 19th century. Cognates include Lithuanian pràsti (to get used to, to understand, to perceive), Old Prussian issprestun (to understand) (compare Latvian izprast), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌸𐌾𐌰𐌽 (fraþjan, to think, to recognize, to understand), 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌸𐌹 (fraþi, mind, intelligence), Latin interpres (intermediary, mediator, interpreter), Tocharian A pratim, etc.

Pronunciation

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Verb

prast (transitive or intransitive, 1st conjugation, present protu, proti, prot, past pratu)

  1. (often with an infinitive) to know how to, to be able to do (a certain activity, task, etc.)
    prast šūt, zīmēt, lasītto know how to sew, draw, read
    Oto labi prata visus zvejas darbusOto knew well all the work of fishing
  2. to know, to speak, to be fluent in (a language)
    Puškins prata vairākas valodasPushkin knew several languages
    viņš labi prata angļu valodu un bez kādām grūtībām varēja lasīt katru grāmatu vai laikrakstuhe knew English well and could read all books and magazines without any difficulty
  3. (intransitively) to know, to be able
    “dzīvojam, kā kurais prot,” vecais jūrnieks norūca“we live as each (of us) can”, the old sailor growled
    tu esi man laba bijusi, es gribu tev laba būt, kā jau nu es, muļķe, protuyou have been good to me, I want to be good to you, as (much) as I, poor fool, am able

Conjugation

Synonyms

Derived terms

prefixed verbs:
other derived terms:

Related terms

References

  1. ^ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “prast”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN