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Introduction to Lithuanian Basics:
Lesson 2

By Linas

Time to rock again with our next lesson! Let’s remember something. How do you say...

He has it

Answer: Jis tai turi.
Not correct. Please try again.

And what about the opposite:

He does not have it

Answer: Jis to neturi.
Not correct. Please try again.

Awesome. Now, we are ready to go.

Lithuanian for I is .

The š is pronounced just like sh in English in the word she. No need to worry about those special letters, Lithuanian has 10 of them but all are easy and they resemble Latin letters a lot.

(Useful tip: If you want to type the special letters, in the Lithuanian keyboard layout those letters are typed by pressing numbers on the top of the keyboard. For example, š is typed by pressing the number six. All other letters are just like the English counterparts. I suggest you start using it right away.)

Now, here is the good news: for all words when he does something, to make it I do something, you just add the letter u to the end.

So, try writing:

I have

Answer: Aš turiu
Not correct. Please try again.

I have it

Answer: Aš tai turiu
Not correct. Please try again.

What about wants.

He wants it.

Answer: Jis to nori.
Not correct. Please try again.

Did you remember that nori allies with ne? Alright. Now:

I want it.

Answer: Aš to noriu.
Not correct. Please try again.

Cool? It is.

I don’t want it.

Answer: Aš to nenoriu.
Not correct. Please try again.

Now, the iu is pronounced similar to the German ü (like in über). It just ended up being that way because it so happens when you say i and u fast together. Almost all letters are usually pronounced separately in Lithuanian so it is very easy to write but iu is one exception. Its pretty easy, though, so you don’t have to worry about it. Let’s try more difficult sentences.

He wants it but I don’t want it.

Answer: Jis to nori, bet aš to nenoriu.
Not correct. Please try again.

I want it but I don’t have it.

Answer: Aš to noriu, bet aš to neturiu.
Not correct. Please try again.

Do you remember how to say:

and

Answer: ir
Not correct. Please try again.

So, how do you write:

I want it and he wants it.

Answer: Aš to noriu ir jis to nori.
Not correct. Please try again.

But we have been talking about him (jis) all the time, haven’t we?

The Lithuanian word for she is ji.

It’s just "jis" with an "s" missing. It’s literally the other way around than in English because in English you have he and she so you add an s at the beginning while in Lithuanian you have jis and ji so you take it away from the end. Try:

She has it.

Answer: Ji tai turi.
Not correct. Please try again.

She wants it but I have it.

Answer: Ji to nori, bet aš tai turiu.
Not correct. Please try again.

If you add another e to ji you get jie - they.

And some more good news:

The form you use for jie is always (and I mean always, without exceptions) the same form that you use for jis.

Try saying this:

He can, she can and they can.

Answer: Jis gali, ji gali ir jie gali.
Not correct. Please try again.

Another nice example:

They want it but I have it.

Answer: Jie to nori, bet aš tai turiu.
Not correct. Please try again.

In this example Lithuanians would usually say "bet tai turiu aš" because what they want to emphasize (in this case they would want to emphasize "aš") goes in the end. This is not a strict rule, though, so we can follow it or we can ignore it. Our phrase is very much okay too.

Anyway, what about some negations.

He wants it and she wants it but they do not have it.

Answer: Jis to nori ir ji to nori, bet jie to neturi.
Not correct. Please try again.

Here you go: you can already construct pretty long sentences in Lithuanian. That’s it for lesson two. In the next lesson, we are going to learn how to say the remaining forms (you, we) for these words. It’s going to be just as easy. For now, we’re done.