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"Kas ir...?" What is...?

"Kas ir..?" = "What is..?" or "Who is..?"

Kas tas ir? = What is that?

Tas/Tā = that (m/f) . Tas is for masculine words and tā is used for feminine words.

Tie/Tās = that (plural m/plural f)

REMEMBER

As mentioned in the About Latvian section, nouns are either masculine or feminine. The gender of the noun can usually be determined by the word ending.
Masculine(m) nouns end with the following letters: s, ø, is, us.
Feminine(f) nouns end with the following letters: a, e, s (s is more common for masc. nouns)

Examples:

Since galds (table) is a masculine(m) word, you would use the tas form of "that". Tas ir galds.

Since grâmata (book) is a feminine(f) word, you would use the tâ form of "that". Tā ir grāmata.

Since saknes (vegetables) is feminine pl., you would use tās form of "that". Tās ir saknes.

Since āboli (apples) is masc. pl., you would use the tie form of "that". Tie ir āboli.

Remember that Kas means both "what" and "who". Kas tas ir? can also mean "Who is that?". The reply might be "Tas ir Pēteris (the name Peter)." For a woman this would be: Kas tā ir? Tā ir Anna.

Šis/Šī = this (m/f) Šis is for masculine words and šī is used for feminine words. Šis and šī are used for something close, within reach. Tas/tā is used for things that are farther away.