[ˈkâːpêːts], [kâːˈpêːts]
CilmeFrom kā (“what[gen.]”) + pēc (“after; for”).
- why? for what reason? for what purpose?
“kāpēc tu nenāc?” — why aren't you coming?
“kāpēc darbs nav izdarīts?” — why isn't the work done?
“kāpēc viņš ir noskumis?” — why is he sad?
- why?, oh why?
“kāpēc iet, ja varam braukt!” — why go (on foot), if we can go (by car)?
“kāpēc Brīviņos nevar būt divdesmit pieci slaucami lopi?” — why can't there be 25 dairy cows in Brīviņi? (the speaker is annoyed)
- why; used to introduce subordinate clauses indicating cause, motive, purpose, and relating to elements of the main clause with various different functions
“(a) subject:”
“nav saprotams, kāpēc viņš tā runā” — it is not clear why he talks like that
“viņiem te jāzina viss, kādi mēs esam un kāpēc neko nedarām” — they had to know everything, what we are and why we do nothing
- colloquialbecause; used to link two relatively independent sentence components
“meži gadu aiz gada tika tālāk izcirsti, kāpēc katru gadu meža cirtējiem bija jānocilpo aizvien garāks gabals” — the forests are being further and further cut down, because every ear the lumbermen had to cover a longer (= larger) piece (of territory)