Introduction to Lithuanian II: Lesson 4

Lithuanian word for teaches is moko.

It is just another word that you know how to treat already because it’s one of the o-category words. This means that it does the o-a transformation (from dogma) before getting its ending: either u or i from UltImate.

Try saying:

?I teach Mathematics.|Aš mokau matematiką.

Good.

Lithuanian word for Physics is fizika.

?She teaches Physics.|Ji moko fiziką.

Right. Now look at the word moko. The word for school is constructed from it:

Lithuanian word for school is mokykla.

This ykla thing shows how it is a place where something is happening. There are more Lithuanian words that use this word too. This word is not enough because we need to learn something else before we can use it in meaningful ways.

Lithuanian word for to is į.

That’s not all. There’s another thing:

The word į requires the accusative case from its object (that is, from the words following it).

So, for example, if you want to say to school, you have to say school in the accusative. Try to work out what it comes out to be:

?to school|į mokyklą

Lithuanian word for goes is eina.

It’s an a word because it ends in an a. The transformation of dogma means that that a changes to the next vowel in the word dogma which is... nothing - thus the a simply disappears, and then you add the ending from ultimate.

Try saying:

?I go to school.|Aš einu į mokyklą.

What about:

?You go to the house.|Tu eini į namą.

Lithuanian for university is universitetas.

?Do you go to university?|Tu eini į universitetą?

The name of the capital of Lithuania is Vilnius in Lithuanian.

You could also use į and form the accusative in the way we have learned it to say:

?to Vilnius|į Vilnių

Lithuanian word for ticket is bilietas.

It comes from the French word billet and is practically the same only Lithuanified. If you want to buy a ticket, you would usually imply (give me) a ticket and in this phrase the word ticket is in the accusative because there is a difference between you giving a ticket and a ticket giving you. You will, however, just imply give me and not say it so the only thing you would be saying is ticket in the accusative. Try saying:

?(give me) a ticket to Vilnius|bilietą į Vilnių

Just for the fun of it:

The second biggest Lithuanian city is Kaunas.

?(give me) a ticket to Kaunas|bilietą į Kauną

Alright. Of course, you don’t have to try to remember those. But still:

The third biggest Lithuanian city is Klaipėda.

?(give me) a ticket to Klaipėda|bilietą į Klaipėdą

That’s pretty good. You can talk about going to directions by using į + accusative. Let’s learn another word:

Lithuanian for about is apie.

Let’s talk about a pie or apie a pie. That’s how it rolls.

The good news is:

Just like į, the word apie also uses the accusative case.

You could say:

?about the house|apie namą

The Lithuanian word for speaks and talks is the same so we can use the same word - kalba - from he speaks Lithuanian to mean he talks. How would you say:

?She is talking about school.|Ji kalba apie mokyklą.

?I am talking about university.|Aš kalbu apie universitetą.

Alright. We are almost done now. Let’s learn another word:

Lithuanian for for is už.

It is not for as in for you (i.e. showing the receiver) but rather for showing the reason or the purpose of something (for the ticket, for freedom, etc.). Don’t worry about this distinction too much, though.

Just like į and apie, the word už uses the accusative.

How would you say:

?for the ticket|už bilietą

You could use that in phrases like how much do I pay for the ticket and so on. There are other words which use the accusative such as the word per through, prieš before and a few more but it’s more of a matter of looking the word up. Don’t worry about that now.

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