Grammar: The Vocative Case

The vocative case is used when addressing someone by their first name, family name, title or whatever.

Masculine nouns have many different endings in the vocative case.

Masculine words ending in -as

Addressing someone by their first name or family name:
-as becomes -ai
(Petras becomes Petrai)
(Paulauskas becomes Paulauskai)

If you use a common noun:
-as becomes -e
(studentas becomes studente)
(docentas becomes docente)

If the word ends in -tojas or ėjas:
-as becomes -au
(mokytojas becomes mokytojau)
(pardavejas becomes pardavejau)

Often a diminutive form is used, if the word ends in -ukas:
-ukas becomes -uk
(berniukas becomes berniuk)
(Jonukas becomes Jonuk)

Masculine words with other endings:
-is becomes -i
(brolis becomes broli)
(Algis becomes Algi or Algiuk)

-ys becomes -y
(mokinys becomes mokiny)
(Stasys becomes Stasy or Stasiuk)

-us becomes -au
(profesorius becomes profesoriau)
(Saulius becomes Sauliau or Saliuk)

Feminine nouns:

-a has no change
(The stress may change, if the stress is on the ending in the nominative, it moves to the beginning in the vocative)

-ė becomes -e
(Eglė becomes Egle)

Grammar: The Locative Case

The locative case is most commonly used to indicate the 'place where' or 'location'.

It is never used with a preposition, and is always used on it's own.

The locative case always ends with -e, but there are many different endings depending on the noun.


If the noun ends in -ė, add -je (aikštė becomes aikštėje)
If the noun ends in -a, change the -a- into -o- and add -je (šiema becomes šiemoje)
If the noun ends in -as, replace it with -e (miestas becomes mieste)
If the noun ends in -us or -ys, remove the -s and add -je (kambarys becomes kambaryje)
If the noun ends in -is, replace it with -yje (viešbutis becomes viešbutje)

Londonas/Londone (London/in London)
aikštė/aikštėje (square/in the square)
šeima/šeimoje (family/in the family)
Vilnius/Vilniuje (Vilnius/in Vilnius)
kambarys/kambaryje (room/in the room)
viešbutis/viešbutje (hotel, in the hotel)

In spoken Lithuanian, the -e of the locative is often dropped when it follows -j-.

The locative case does not include any sense of motion; in other words, it never means 'into' or 'to'.

Vocabulary: Verb List

būti - to be
gyventi - to live
ruošti - to prepare
dirbti - to work
norėti - to want
rašyti - to write
mėgti- to like
keliauti - to travel
atvykti- to arrive, to come
sportuoti - to do sports
skaityti - to read
pasivaikščioti - to go for a walk

Dialogue: First Meeting

Aldona: Laba diena!
Bilas: Laba diena!
Aldona: Aš esu Aldona, studentė. O jūs?
Bilas: Aš esu Bilas, aš irgi esu studentas.
Aldona: Labai malonu.

Diena - day
Naujas - new
Draugas/draugė - friend (male/female)
Susitikimas - meeting
Studentas/studentė - friend (male/female)
Laba diena - Hello, good day
Irgi - also
Labai - very
Malonu - it is pleasant
Labai malonu - (figuratively, pleased to meet you).

Grammar: The Genitive Case

SINGULAR

Feminine:
-a → -os (Amerika → Amerikos, Anglija → Anglijos)
-ė → -ės (studentė → studentės)

Masculine:-as → -o (Londonas → Londono)
-is → -io (Briuselis → Bruselio)
-ys → -io (Pasvalys → Pasvalio)
-us → -aus (Vilnius → Vilniaus)

-uo type nouns
vanduo  → vandens
šuo → šuns

duktė also acts this way:

duktė → dukters

PLURAL

The genitive plural always ends in ų
(Druskininkai → Druskininkų)

This place name is like "Athens", and is always in the plural.



USES

NUMBERS:

• The genitive is always used with all numbers between 10 and 20 and all numbers in the 10s and the 100s (e.g. 10, 20, 30, 100, 200, 300 ..) 

E.g. 10 mašinų, 13 namų, 19 studentų, 30 namų, 40 stalų.

VERBS IN THE NEGATIVE:

Many verbs are used with the accusative in the positive, like:
turėti, mylėti, mėgti, ruošti, rašyti, skaityti, žinoti, pasitikti, palydėti, duoti

When they are negated (by adding ne- to the beginning), they are used in the genitive.

E.g. turiu namą → neturiu  namo
skaito kyngą → neskaito knygos
myli brolį → nemyli brolio
mėgstu kavą → nemėgstu kavos

SPACIAL RELATIONSHIPS:

• iš + genitive = from, out of
• iki + genitive = until, as far as
• prie + genitive = by, near
• šalia + genitive = by, near 
• vidury + genitive = in the middle of
• virš + genitive = above
• už + genitive = behind, beyond
• tarp + genitive = between
• ant + gen = on

VERBS:

• klausti + genitive = to ask for something
• laukti/palaukti + genitive = to wait for 
• išlipti iš + genitive = to get out of 
• mokyti (+  accusative of whom taught + genitive of what taught)
• gydyti (+ accusative of whom cured + genitive of what cured from)
• versti iš + genitive = to translate from (į + accusative = into)
• traukti + genitive (to be lacking something + dative of who is lacking)

Asking Yes/No Questions (Taip/Ne)

A question can be asked by simply raising the tone at the end of a statement.

Jūs gyvenate čia - You live here.
Jūs gyvenate čia? - Do you live here?

Or the particle 'ar' can be used:

Ar jūs gyvenate čia?

A more polite way is to use 'gal' in place of 'ar'

Gal jūs gyvenate čia?

Taip - Yes
Ne - No

Grammar: Verbs in the present tense

In Lithuanian, verbs ('to do' words such as 'to eat, to drink, to laugh') change their form depending upon who is doing them and when they are doing it - just like in English (he writes, she wrote etc.).

Lithuanian verbs typically do this by changing the ending of the word.

Just to recap the pronouns:
aš - I
tu - you (informal, singular)
jis/ji - he/she
mes - we
jūs - you  (plural, singular polite)
jie/jos - they masculine/feminine

Look at the below verbs to see a pattern emerging, generally verbs in the aš (I) form end with -u, the tu (you) form with -i, the mes (we) form with -me and the jūs (you, plural and formal singular) form with -te. The jis/ji/jie/jos (he/she/they masculine/they feminine) form are the same and end with an -a, -o or -i depending on the verb.

Būti - To be (This is an irregular verb, but an important one. The different verb forms must be memorized)
aš esu
tu esi
jis/ji yra
mes esame
jūs esate
jie/jos yra

Dirbti - To work
aš dirbu
tu dirbi
jis/ji dirba
mes dirbame
jūs dirbate
jie/jos dirba

Mėgti - To like
aš mėgstu
tu mėgsti
jis/ji mėgsta
mes mėgstame
jūs mėgstate
jie/jos mėgsta

Skaityti - To read
aš skaitau
tu skaitai
jis/ji skaito
mes skaitome
jūs skaitote
jie/jos skaito

Gyventi - To live
aš gyvenu
tu gyveni
jis/ji gyvena
mes gyvename
jūs gyvenate
jie/jos gyvena

Norėti - To want
aš noriu
tu nori
jis/ji nori
mes norime
jūs norite
jie/jos nori

Keliauti - To travel
aš keliauju
tu keliauji
jis/ji keliauja
mes keliaujame
jūs keliaujate
jie/jos keliauja

Ruošti - To prepare
aš ruošiu
tu ruoši
jis/ji ruošia
mes ruošiame
jūs ruošiate
jie/jos ruošia

Rašyti - To write
aš rašau
tu rašai
jis/ji rašo
mes rašome
jūs rašote
jie/jos rašo