Latvian

Adverb

tāpēc

1. used to refer to the cause, motive or purpose of something previously mentioned, sometimes as the antecedent of the conjunction ka “that”; so, therefore, because of that, on account of that, for that reason; because...

   taisni tāpēc es nācu‎ ― precisely because of that I have come

   tu nāci kā pureņu smarža no lauka, / un tāpēc tu biji visskaistākā‎ ― you came like the smell of marigold from the field, / and because of that you are the most beautiful one

   “bet Marei jūs neko vis nepatīkat...” “taisni tāpēc esmu šeit... dodiet padomu, kā viņai pielabināties”‎ ― “but Mare doesn't like you...” “precisely because of that (= that is why) I am here... give me advice on how to ingratiate myself to her”

   pagasta ļaudis abi braucēji pazina labi un tāpēc par tiem varēja pārspriest daudz tiešāk‎ ― the people of the parish knew both travelers well and because of that could judge them more directly, more precisely

   durvis bija ciet tāpēc, ka visi aizgājuši‎ ― the door was closed for that reason, that (= because) everybody had gone out

   “tavi draugi ar tevi nerunās” “kāpēc?” “tāpēc, ka es viņiem to esmu aisliedzis” — “your friends are not talking to you” “why?” “because I have prohibited them (from talking to you)”

2. used, together with lai, to indicate intention or purpose; so that..., in order to...

   viņš saprātā, ka puisis aiziet tikai tāpēc, lai te nevienu netraucētu‎ ― he realized that the boy was leaving only in order to not inconvenience anybody here

   man pat likās, ka vecā krustmāte tāpēc vien ir pasaulē, lai mums ar Martu būtu katrā laikā kādas palīdzīgas rokas‎ ― it even seemed to me that the old aunt was (= existed) in (this) world only so that Marta and I would have a pair of helping hands for a while

Conjunction

tāpēc

1. (used to indicate a cause-and-effect or intention-and-effect relation between clauses); so..., therefore..., because of that...

   upe plūst ļoti strauji, tāpēc puikas peldas īpatnējā veidā‎ ― the river is flowing too quickly, so / because of that the boy is swimming in a strange way

   tā ir laba un interesanta grāmata, neskaitāmas reizes gājusi no rokas rokā, tāpēc arī paplukuši‎ ― this is a good and interesting book, gone dozens of times from hand to hand, (and) therefore (it had) also lost color, faded

   pus pasaules vēl jāapskrien, tāpēc viņš traucas laukā no egļu un ošu pakrēšļa‎ ― he still had to run around half the world, so he rushed out of the shade of the spurce and ash trees

2. (in the combination tāpēc ka) used to indicate cause; because...

   Ješka nepaguva atbildēt, tāpēc ka papriekš gribēja iedzert‎ ― Ješka couldn't answer, because he first wanted to drink

   redziet, tā ir Studentu iela, tāpēc ka atrodas līdzās mūsu skolai un kalnu tehnikumam‎ ― look, this is the Students' street, because it is located in the vicinity of our school and of the hills' technical school

Synonyms

• tādēļ
• tālab
• (dated) tamdēļ