Meaning of svešs | Babel Free

Definitions

1. unknown, foreign (which one has not met before)
2. foreign, of others (belonging to unknown people;belonging to other people)
3. of others; unrelated (not part of one's extended family)
4. unknown, unfamiliar, strange, foreign (with which one has no previous experience, of which one has no previous knowledge)
5. unfamiliar, strange, unusual (which is perceived as unknown, different)
6. strange, foreign (with whom one shares no interests, no friendship, no spiritual connection)
7. foreign, alien (not natural, not typical, not normal to someone; not acceptable to someone)

Equivalents

Examples

“svešs zēns”

unknown boy

“sveša sieviete”

unknown woman

“sveša tauta”

unknown, foreign people

“sanākuši sveši ļaudis”

unknown people (= strangers) have come

“vairākus no sanāksmes dalībniekiem Tauriņš pazīst, bet ir arī sveši, kurus viņš redz pirmo reizi”

Tauriņš knows several of the people in the meeting, but there are also strangers, whom he sees (now) for the first time

“Ieviņu sūtīt pie saimniekiem ganos Līzei bija žēl, meitene arvien vēl no svešiem baidījās”

Līze didn't want to send Ieviņa (little Eve) to the landlord's shepherds, the little girl was always so afraid of strangers

“svešas mantas”

property of others

“sveša automašīna”

someone else's car

“svešs apģērbs”

someone else's clothes

“svešas šūnas”

foreign cells (from some other body)

“dzīvot, būt svešā maizē”

to live, to be on someone else's bread (= to live from someone else's resources)

“svešs kažoks nesilda”

someone else's coat is not warm (proverb)

“daudz es esmu mācījusies no svešām kļūdām?!”

have I learned a lot from the mistakes of strangers (= others)?

“ir cilvēki, kuri nevar vienaldzīgi paiet garām svēšam bēdām”

there are people who cannot indifferently pass by the misfortune of others

“es nezinu neko labāku par godīgu darbu; maniem pirkstiem nekad naw pielipis ne santīms svešas naudas”

I know nothing better than honest work; in my hands there has never been even one cent of someone else's money

“audzināt svešu bērnu”

to raise someone else's child (= a child unrelated to those who raise him/her)

“svešs novads”

unknown, unfamiliar region

“sveša pilsēta”

unknown city

“sveša melodija”

unknown, unfamiliar melody

“svešas paražas”

strange, foreign, alien customs

“sveša valoda”

foreign, alien language

“nonākt svešā vietā”

to come to an unknown place

“iejusties svešos apstakļos”

to get into strange, unfamiliar circumstances

“Annele pakāpas augstāk skatīties svešo apkārtni”

Annele climbed up to have a look at the unknown surroundings

“vecā Sīmaņa nebeidzamie nostāsti par svešām zemēm puikam bija uzdzinuši zināšanu slāpes”

old Sīmanis' endless tales of foreign lands had driven the boys' thirst for knowledge

“jā, mājās... kur vēl ir tik labi?... bet to cilvēks tā īsti saprot tikai tad, kad liktenis viņu izmētājis pa svešām malām, kur nav ne māju, ne draugu, ne dzīves siltuma”

yes, home... what is so good (as home)?... but people only really understand that when destiny throws them in foreign places, where there is no home, no friend, no warmth

“tīri tāds pazīstams ceļš; būtu diena, tad jau pazītu, bet tumsā dažreiz pašam sava māja liekas sveša”

a clearly well-known path; if it were day, he would have known it, but in the darkness often even one's own house seems unfamiliar

“Nadīna nedzirdēja; viņa klausījās savas satrauktās sirds dunoņā: tā bija sveša, gluži kā nebūtu pašas sirds”

Nadīna didn't hear; she was listening to her anxious hearts' rumbles: it was strange, as if it weren't her own heart

“ilūzijas bija zudušas, bet patiesība izrādījās tāda, itin nekā viņiem nav kopīga; viņi - pilnīgi sveši cilvēki”

the illusions were gone, and truth showed itself, they had nothign in common; they (were) fully foreign people (to each other)

“mani vecāki izšķīrās, un, kad māte apprecējās otrreiz, es viņai kļuvu vēl svešāka, varbūt tādēļ, ka ļoti izskatījos pēc tēva”

my parents divorced, and, when (my) mother married again, I became even more foreign to her, maybe because I took very much after (my) father

“skaudības jūtas viņam ir svešas”

feelings of envy are foreign to him (= he does not feel envy)

“Gētem, kam dzīves jēga bija pati dzīve, Dantes viņpasaules mistika bija sveša”

Dante's otherworldly mystique was foreign to Goethe, to whom the meaning of life was life itself

“šie cilvēki visi bija kara lietām sveši, cerējuši nekad savā mūžā nāves ieročus rokā neņemt”

these people were all foreign to the affairs of war, (they) had hoped never in their lives to have to take weapons in (their) hands

CEFR level