This is the 527th most frequent Latvian word.
sāka
"Sāka" means "started" in English.
The word 'sāka' is used here as the past tense of 'sākt', meaning 'to start', indicating the initiation of the action of reading.
Viņš sāka lasīt grāmatu.
He started reading a book.
In this sentence, 'sāka' is the third person plural form of 'sākt', used to describe an action initiated by a group in the past.
Pēc pusdienām mēs visi sākām spēlēt futbolu.
After lunch, we all started playing football.
Here, 'sāka' is used to indicate the beginning of a professional activity in the past.