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Introduction to Lithuanian Basics:
Lesson 16

By Linas

Welcome back. It’s been a while. Let’s get back to having fun.

Do you remember how to say that (as in – that thing)?

That

Answer: Tas
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Good. Here is a word for like that.

Like that in Lithuanian is taip.

The word taip usually takes up the same relative position as the word tai.

Remember how to say:

I understand it.

Answer: Aš tai suprantu.
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In Lithuanian, you can legitimately say: I understand like that. Try saying that:

I understand like that.

Answer: Aš taip suprantu.
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Unlike tai, taip never changes to to. How would you say:

I don’t understand like that.

Answer: Aš taip nesuprantu.
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Actually, the Lithuanian word taip means yes as well.

Most Lithuanians aren’t conscious of this connection between these two words but it is evident. I always imagined that this meaning of taip as yes probably comes from confirmations where people would ask “Is it like that?” and ancient Lithuanians would confirm “Like that” or “Taip” and they would keep confirming things like that saying “Taip” until it just began meaning “yes”.

(Just for trivia: Latin also uses "yes" in the same way. So does Polish. And probably a bunch of other languages.)

Use the word “ar” to ask formally:

Do you understand

Answer: Ar jūs suprantate?
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And answer:

Yes, I understand.

Answer: Taip, aš suprantu.
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For the record, you already know the word for no which is ne. How would you answer that same question:

No, I do not understand.

Answer: Ne, aš nesuprantu.
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Let’s get back to taip. Do you remember how to say:

He does.

Answer: Jis daro.
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Imagine you are explaining how to do something in Lithuanian. You can say I do like that in Lithuanian. Try that:

I do like that.

Answer: Aš taip darau.
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Now, do you remember that you only need ši (this ship is near) to make tas (that) into šitas (this). You can also use ši with taip.

Can you guess how to say:

Like this

Answer: Šitaip
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Say:

I do like this.

Answer: Aš šitaip darau.
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If you remember, you use ki to make tas into kitas – other. So, you can also use ki with taip and get kitaip which would roughly mean – other way or differently. Try saying:

You do differently.

Answer: Jūs kitaip darote.
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Kitaip

Answer: Other way
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Alright. This was a short introduction to taip. It takes up everything that tas does so you don’t need to learn too much about taip. We will look back at Lithuanian sentence constructions from a more global view in the next lesson.