Lithuanian Basics: Lesson 40

Do you remember how to form the future:

?To have|Turėti

?He will have|Jis turės

?You (informal) will have.|Tu turėsi.

It should be turėsi for both but this i drops for jis. In any case, you change ti to si to travel to the past. Here is the rule to give commands:

You change ti to ki to give kommands.

You give comands for tu this way. What is to say (not to be saying but to say)?

?To say|Pasakyti

?Say!|Pasakyki!

?To understand|Suprasti

?Understand!|Supraski!

If you want to get aggressive, remember that to be silent is tylėti. What is:

?Be silent!|Tylėki!

You could also use patylėki instead but it doesn’t sound as aggressive because you imply be silent for some finite amount of time, complete being silent while tylėki implies be silent continuously or basically shut up forever.

As we move up the ladder of aggressiveness, what if you wanted to encourage somebody to speak Lithuanian to you:

?Speak Lithuanian!|Kalbėki lietuviškai!

That’s how you give informal commands: you change ti to ki. What about formal Kommands (commands for jūs). Well, just like you always do, you simply add the ending for jūs which is te.

To make a command for tu into a command for jūs, you add te to the command for tu.

How would you say formally:

?Speak Lithuanian.|Kalbėkite lietuviškai.

Not be saying but say (again formally):

?Say it.|Pasakykite tai.

I want to clearify this: you use jūs when you are either talking to somebody formally or when you are talking to a group of people (it works just like vous in French).

So, imagine that you are talking to a group of children and you want to make them silent. How would you say to them all:

?Be silent!|Tylėkite!

This means roughly shut up (at least it’s used in that sense in Lithuanian).

Finally, say a formal command:

?Do not want it.|Nenorėkite to.

Alright, now you can give commands.

But there is one thing I forgot....

When you give commands for tu, the i drops from the end.

Actually, the i didn’t use to drop until fairly recently and there still are people who say sakyki (or especially in poetry) however that form is a bit unusual now. Usually you would say sakyk, daryk, tylėk, kalbėk and so on. You still don’t drop the i when you add te so you still say sakykite, darykite and so on...

Say it properly now (except informally):

?Speak Lithuanian!|Kalbėk lietuviškai!

Lithuanian word for or is arba.

Take an aggressive stance again:

?Speak Lithuanian or be silent!|Kalbėk lietuviškai arba tylėk!

Actually, if you think that’s aggressive you should come to Lithua... just kidding.

Alright, you know how to describe things, give commands, talk about the past, the present and the future and a handful or words you can put to use immediately. There is another important thing you have to learn (hint nouns) and we will be focusing on it now.

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