Teach yourself lithuanian pdf

In the tables just presented, with the noun case endings, we put the question word of the case together with the name of the case: Nominative kas? Are you Lina? No, I am Rita. Are you from Vilnius? What languages do you speak? The ending of the present tense 3rd person is -a. To make present tense 1st and 2nd persons we drop -a the ending of the present tense 3rd person and add endings typical of the present tense 1st and 2nd persons: jis he , ji she jie they masc.

Do you speak English? He is German. Do you speak German? I do not speak Lithuanian. Where are you from? Where is she from? Are you from London? They are from Amsterdam. The question word in the genitive case is ko. We start a question with ko when we have a verb governing the genitive case in the question see Unit 3. Masculine Nom. Insight To greet people in formal situations shop, office, hairdresser, post office etc. Greeting our friends, colleagues, we say labas or sveikas to a man and sveika to a woman.

Men usually shake hands with men. If greeting close friends or family members, we hug and kiss them. Meeting other people, we say labas rytas, laba diena or labas vakaras and shake hands. In the villages, people greet everyone even if they do not know them. Lithuanians are not very precise when they say labas rytas, laba diena and labas vakaras.

In the autumn and winter, we say labas vakaras much earlier, at 4 pm or at 5 pm because it is dark by then. In summer, we can still say laba diena at 6 pm. It is usual to greet people only once a day like that.

If you meet someone again during the day, you just smile. According to data from the Statistic Department of Lithuania many men and women now living in Lithuania have traditional Christian names such as Ona, Jonas and Antanas. We celebrate namedays as well as birthdays. Older people prefer to celebrate namedays. The celebration of birthdays does not have a very old tradition only since the second half of the 20th century has this really happened. E Andrejus.

F Ne, jis yra lietuvis. Mano vardas Tomas. Test yourself 1 Select and indicate the appropriate question word Gediminas Castle. Photo by Eugenijus Stumbrys.

Unit 2 Kur susitinkame? Kaip gyveni? Kur eini? Taip, dabar. Vytautas Ar toli? Contd Unit 2 Kur susitinkame? In a street. Viso gero. Ten ir yra turgus. Kur susitinkam? Taikos 5. A conversation on the telephone. Reading 1 Read the text and complete the answers to the questions Vilnius Tai Vilnius yra mano miestas.

Netoli yra mano universitetas. Vilniaus simbolis — Gedimino pilis. Kur yra universitetas? If the noun is masculine the number must also be masculine; if a feminine noun is used, the number similarly has to be feminine. For numbers 4—9, endings are regular: the masculine ending is -i, feminine -ios. In Lithuanian, we ask: Kaip tu gyveni? This is also the way in which a cashier says goodbye to a client: geros dienos!

In this unit, you will learn a little more about it. Some nouns may have two variants of ending: both a soft and a hard one. For this reason, in following units, where cases are presented, both types will be given. In most cases, the gender of nouns can be distinguished quite easily according to the endings in the nominative case, but it is not quite like that all the time. One ending of nominative -is may be for both masculine and feminine nouns.

Gender is distinguished only by the ending of the genitive case. How do I get to the bank? How do I get to the airport? Sometimes these prefixes have a supplementary meaning: not only that of the result — e.

One opposite is the prefix at-, e. In the third dialogue in this unit, we saw the verb pereiti with a prefix per-, which has the meaning of crossing over something. As you learn Lithuanian it is extremely important to memorize which prefix fits with which verb to mean completed action, because there are not many regular instances and prefixes may, in many cases, change the meaning of the verb itself quite radically, therefore misunderstandings can occur.

So watch out for verbal prefixes! Where is the shop? Where is the hospital? There are many ways in which to express place in Lithuanian and it even uses a special case called the locative.

This has a meaning of location, place inside or some wider space. We form the locative case by changing the nominative case ending of the noun into the locative case ending. Masculine Sing. This e can sometimes be omitted in spoken Lithuanian. We reply with masculine cardinal numerals.

You can arrange them in groups but you can also say them one by one, i. To ask about the time something is happening we use kada? There are a few ways to answer this kind of question. This is not a complicated procedure. For plural add: -kime, -kite: eikim e! Vilnius pop. Its name is first mentioned in in the letters of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas inviting craftsmen, merchants and monks from western Europe to come and stay here.

Vilnius has always been a multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural city. Percentage wise, The Old Town, which is the historical centre of Vilnius, is one of the largest in eastern Europe ha. The most valuable historic and cultural heritage is concentrated here. The buildings in the Old Town — and there are about 1, of them! Although Vilnius is often called a baroque city, here you will find some buildings in the gothic, renaissance and other styles.

The main sights of the city are Gediminas Castle and Cathedral Square, both symbols of the capital. Their combination is also a gateway to the historic centre of the capital. If the noun is masculine the number must also be masculine; if a feminine noun is used, the number has to be feminine. Ar ne? Prie tilto. Taip, vakare. Ten prasideda senamiestis. Kur jis yra? Mano vardas Aleksandra. Jie jau studentai. Labas vakaras, Kristina. Kaip sekasi? O kaip tau? Taip pat gerai. Ar dabar gerai girdi?

Aaa, suprantu. Ne, nedirba. Which statements are true and which are false? Mano vardas Vilius. Dirbu mokykloje. Esu fizikos mokytojas.

Mes gyvename Vilniaus centre, Senamiestyje. Jie yra pensininkai. Gintaras Violeta Gintaras Violeta Klausau. B Tai tu vienas namie? Ji muzikos mokykloj. Gal ji yra? D Labas rytas, Gintarai, ar mama namie? Taip, ponia Violeta, dabar vienas. Gerai, Gintarai. Rita gyvena Vilniuje. It is -i type verb. Talking about family A Lithuanian verb is either transitive or intransitive.

Transitive verbs describe actions directed towards a particular object. To say that you have a brother, a sister or a grandmother you need to use the accusative case.

There is a large group of verbs in Lithuanian language that need the accusative case in the following noun. Every new verb that is presented in the vocabulary will show its three main forms and the question word of the case it governs. Please note, however, that there are verbs followed by other cases as well. Plural of nouns To use nouns in plural we change the endings as follows: Masculine Sing. How to say that you have more than one brother, sister etc.

Cardinal numbers are masculine and feminine. We match masculine cardinal numbers with masculine nouns: vienas brolis, du seneliai, keturi pusbroliai one brother, two grandfathers, four cousins. How many in your family? To ask how many brothers, sisters, cousins etc. How many brothers do you have? How many sisters do you have? I have two sons and my brother has two daughters.

Here is my brother. Is this your daughter? Jo vardas Vytautas. His name is Vytautas. Here are our sons. Their names are Saulius and Paulius. To ask to whom somebody or something belongs we use the question word kieno? Whose is this house? These are the names of streets and places in the city of Vilnius. It is called the genitive of name. Saying that somebody or something is not here To say that somebody is not at home, not at work, not in the city etc.

Viktor and Maria are not at home. He is not here at the moment. There is no square in the city. I like to be at home. Children like to play. I like to watch TV. What do you like? Women artists often retain their maiden surnames. Some women now prefer to have a surname that gives no information about their marital status. In Lithuania, especially in the villages, parents, children and grandparents often live together and take care of each other.

I love you. It is worth to learning the genitive ending! Mano mamos mama vardas Ona. Ji yra mokytoja. O tau? A Gerai. B Labai malonu. C Taip, jo vardas Linas. A Taip, jos vardas Marija. C Labai malonu. A Labas B Labas vakaras. C Labanakt! O tu, Birute? Ar turite sriubos? Marius Taip, abiem sriubos. Marius Taip, arbatos. Marius Taip, viskas. Ten minutes or so later Gero apetito! In a restaurant. In a bar. Norite vyno? Kiek kainuoja?

Penki litai. O jums? At home. Taip, labai. Yra sriubos, valgyk. O, kaip puiku! Valgyk valgyk, skanaus. Viskas labai skanu. O, kaip skanu! Nori kavos ar arbatos? Juodos kavos, jeigu galima. Ar nori cukraus? Gal dar pyrago? Visiting a friend. Kiek viskas kainuoja? CD1, TR 24 Turguje. In the market. Labas, teta. Ar gali pasakyti? O obuolius? Ir dar pabarstyk cinamonu.

The -a type may have a soft ending -ia, e. This is an example of the third -o type verb. To do this, we say: Skanaus! Gero vakaro! Have a good day! Have a good evening! Have a good trip! Countable and uncountable things Most nouns in Lithuanian can have both singular and plural forms. This kind of word in Lithuanian has only one number: it is either only singular or plural. There are many words of this kind in this unit. They are particularly the names of food and drinks: pienas, sviestas, arbata, druska, aliejus etc.

It is important to know this in order to be able to match correctly the adjective to these nouns. You will learn more about this in following units. Some countable nouns occur more frequently as a plural than they do as singulars. They are the names of things that are difficult to count and it is the sum, the mass that is more important than the unit expressed by the singular.

Eat some grapes. Imk vandens. Give me some apples. Could you give me some ice cream. Take some water. Genitive ko? They are always used with the plural genitive case of the nouns, e. We match the gender and the case of the nouns with them and use the plural of the nouns, e. Here it is used with a preposition su with. We form the instrumental case by changing the nominative case ending of the noun to the instrumental case ending.

The longer instrumental case endings -umi, -iumi of spoken Lithuanian are usually shortened: the final -i is dropped and we say su medum, su cukrum. Noun vocative has special endings only in singular. The plural is the same as the nominative plural; it does not have specific endings. We form the vocative case by changing the nominative case endings of the noun into the vocative case endings.

Masculine The most complex is the vocative case of -as words because there is not one but several different endings of the vocative. We change other endings into the vocative case like this: Masculine Sing. Gender of adjectives There are three types of adjective in Lithuanian: with endings -as, -us, and -is.

Unlike nouns, some adjectives have not only two genders but three: masculine, feminine and neuter. Adjectives ending with -as and -us have three genders.

The neuter form has neither case nor number. Adjectives ending with -is have masculine and feminine gender. Here are the endings of the nominative singular adjectives: 1 -as Sing.

Therefore you can easily recognize that these words are adjectives. Comparison of neuter form Adjectives have degrees of comparison: both comparative and the superlative degree. We will learn the comparison of masculine and feminine in the next unit, but here we will look at the neuter comparison, which is formed by taking away the -a, -u and adding -iau, -iausia instead: sveika, sveikiau, sveikiausia skanu, skaniau, skaniausia Both these suffixes soften the consonant in front of them.

We like to be asked to eat and drink ourselves and if we are not asked a couple of times to please help ourselves, we take nothing. When Lithuanians encourage guests to help themselves, they do not necessarily have to take it.

We regard this as a polite way to treat our guests. Good manners also require that you compliment the food and the chef! Lithuanians eat many different kinds of soup, sometimes more than once a day. Fresh cucumber is eaten with honey too. Lithuanians like quite fatty food, however this tends not to cause indigestion. Lithuanian food is quite healthy, tasty and eco-friendly.

Our home-produced food products are not genetically modified. Lithuanians value homemade food and also the vegetables, fruit and berries that they grow in their own gardens. Families often eat together with everybody sitting at the table; this tradition is especially alive in countryside villages.

In many families, breakfast is a hot meal different kinds of porridge, pancakes, scrambled eggs. In northern middle section of Lithuania, pancakes are preferred. A Lithuanian woman will not pour alcoholic drinks herself if there is at least one man at the table: it is the duty of the man to see that all the guests have something to drink and to serve them.

At mealtimes, guests usually drink alcoholic drinks in an organized way: after a toast or, at least, after encouraging the person sitting next to them at the table to drink up. Insight 1 When we want to say an indefinite quantity, in Lithuanian we use the genitive case. Labai skanu. Alus skaniau. Juodos ar baltos? B Gerai. A Kiek kainuoja? C Kiek? At a clothes shop. Labai tinka! Kokia jos kaina? Thank you for your help.

Lina Sveika, Ramune. Lina Taip, tikrai. Lina Iki! What gifts is Tomas going to buy for his friends? When you learn a new adjective, you are learning the masculine singular form, with endings -as, -us or -is.

Armed with this information, you can now make singular feminine, plural masculine and plural feminine adjectives according to the following schema: Sing. Dative case of nouns and personal pronouns To express the indirect object, we use the dative case of nouns and pronouns.

Do you like this ring? Does this dress suit me? To ask the question who likes, who needs, for whom somebody buys something, who is cold etc.

Who likes red? Who needs shoes? Who is cold? Masculine Singular Sing. Singular personal pronouns Sing. Feminine nouns Plural Sing. Have a look at the following table. It will help you to see the similarities and differences between case endings: Singular Nom. Contd 95 Plural Dat. Descriptions When we are asking about descriptions of nouns, we use the singular and plural forms of the masculine and feminine indefinite pronoun: koks, kokia, kokie, kokios: Sing.

The case of the question word in the question depends on the case governed by the verb: Kokio palto tau reikia? Kokie auskarai tau patinka?

The differences are indicated in the following table: Singular Nom. In a sentence, indefinite and demonstrative pronouns are matched with the noun. I want this ring. She is buying that dress. The cases of nouns, indefinite and demonstrative pronouns in the sentence depend on the case governed by the verb or preposition.

We live very well. You look very beautiful. How do I look? Was this ring you bought expensive? Comparisons To compare quality, we use the comparative and superlative degrees of the adjective. The coat is warmer than the jacket.

There is no preposition in the Lithuanian language to express the indirect object. Although we may often say that clothes are not very important and that personality is more important, Lithuanian women do like beautiful clothes.

You can buy clothes in the shops and at the market. In the main street of the Old Town of Vilnius, Pilies Street, you can buy linen and woollen handmade clothes and amber jewellery. There are many shops selling linen clothes and amber in the Old Town of Vilnius. We do not wear shoes at home. We like to wear slippers. Sometimes our friends say yes. Many Lithuanian women wear a fur coat in the winter because the temperature gets very low, sometimes as low as —10, —20 or even — Lithuanian men help women to put on or to take off their coats; most women seem to like this.

A B C Gerai. A B C Nieko tokio. Test yourself 1 Select and indicate the appropriate form 1 Man patinka Ar gerai? Tuojau turi pareiti Rasa. Kas jus domina? Ar butas ramus? Download Complete Lithuanian Books now! Are you looking for a complete course in Lithuanian which takes you effortlessly from beginner to confident speaker? Whether you are starting from scratch, or are just out of practice, Complete Lithuanian will guarantee success! Now fully updated to make your language learning experience fun and interactive.

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