Lithuanian Basics: Lesson 18

The word for that (as in that thing) is…:

?That|Tas

If you change it a bit by replacing t with k (which is such a question-letter) you get the word for who. Guess how you say who in Lithuanian:

?Who|Kas

If you want to ask who somebody is, you simply say “Who you are” with a rising intonation (you don’t change the word order as English does). Try asking it informally:

?Who are you?|Kas tu esi?

What about:

?Who has it.|Kas tai turi?

Remember the last lesson and say it with emphasizing “it”.

?Who has IT?|Kas turi tai?

You already know that almost everything that applies to tas also applies to taip. So, if tas means like that and k is the question letter… can you guess what kaip? means:

?Kaip|How

We will be getting back to this later. Now, let’s concentrate on kas.

You will need to ask people formally. Use jūs and ask who you are?

?Who are you?|Kas jūs esate?

You see how it works: you don’t change the word order for questions in Lithuanian so you just put kas in front. Try this with it is. First, say:

?It is.|Tai yra.

Now, say:

?Who is it?|Kas tai yra?

Do you remember how to say he does:

?He does.|Jis daro.

Ask:

?Who does it.|Kas tai daro?

What about:

?Who doesn’t do it?|Kas to nedaro?

?Who wants it?|Kas to nori?

You can also ask things like:

?Who’s speaking?|Kas kalba?

Lithuanians would sometimes phrase that sentence as:

?Who’s speaking here?|Kas čia kalba?

As you see, kas is a very useful word. There is a lot more to how it can be used but we need to learn some other important things before we can do that. We’re going to put that off to a future lesson for now.

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