Lithuanian declension
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- This is an article about declension system of the Lithuanian language
Declension of the Lithuanian language is quite sophisticated similarly to that in ancient Indo-European languages (such as Sanskrit, Latin or Ancient Greek). It also is one of the most complicated declension systems among modern Indo-European languages or modern European languages.
Traditionally, scholars count up to ten case forms in the Lithuanian language. However at least one of them is reduced to adverbs, but one is extinct in modern language. So, the official variant of Lithuanian has seven cases, but the eighth is used in some dialects or reduced to adverb in others. The cases are:
- nominative
- genitive
- dative
- accusative
- instrumental
- locative
- illative (dialectic)
- vocative (nouns only)
- allative (reduced to adverbs)
- adessive (extinct)
The Lithuanian language has three grammatical numbers: the singular , the dual and the plural. The dual number can be applied to any word, but it was used quite sporadically during the last century. And it's almost unused presently, except few words, that retain their dual forms. The singular and the plural are used similarly to many European languages. Singular, dual and plural inflections of the same case always differ among themselves and there's no rule, how to make, for example, the plural inflection from the singular of the same case.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Declension paradigms
[edit] a-paradigm
The a-paradigm is used to decline:
- nouns of the first declension
- adjectives of the first declension (their masculine forms)
- adjectives of the third declension (masculine forms, palatalized sub-paradigm)
- all pronouns (their masculine forms), except pronoun pats – 'own, self'
- all passive (the main sub-paradigm) or active (the palatalized sub-paradigm) participles (masculine, - active participles have their specific nominatives)
- all ordinal numbers (masculine forms, adjective inflections)
- significant part of cardinal numbers (masculine, see the list below)
The a-paradigm is the most complex declension paradigm in Lithuanian. It has two different sub-paradigms, one of which is the main. The second sub-paradigm is so-called palatalized, what mean, that the last consonant of the stem before the inflection is always palatalized. Note, that in this case the palatalization mark (the letter "i") is marked as a part of inflection. The a-paradigm is masculine.
Also note, that inflection of the a-paradigm are different for nouns, adjectives and pronouns in some cases. However not every pronoun is declined, using the inflections from the pronoun column in the table below. Some pronouns as well as every numeral of the a-paradigm use the inflections from the adjective column.
[edit] The main sub-paradigm
- Tas - 'that', rudas - 'brown', namas - 'house'.
singular | plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pronoun | adjective | noun | pronoun | adjective | noun | |
Nominative | tas | rudas | namas | tie | rudi | namai |
Genitive | to | rudo | namo | tų | rudų | namų |
Dative | tam | rudam | namui | tiems | rudiems | namams |
Accusative | tą | rudą | namą | tuos | rudus | namus |
Instrumental | tuo | rudu | namu | tais | rudais | namais |
Locative | tame | rudame | name | tuose | ruduose | namuose |
(Illative) | tan | rudan | naman | tuosna | ruduosna | namuosna |
Vocative | name | (namai) |
Other features:
- the -e ending for the vocative singular applies only to common nouns; proper nouns take the ending -ai. So, for example Jonas = John [nominative] and Jonai! = John! [vocative])
[edit] The palatalized sub-paradigm
- Šis - 'this', žalias - 'green', uosis - 'ash' (a tree).
singular | plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pronoun | adjective | noun | pronoun | adjective | noun | |
Nominative | šis | žalias | uosis | šie | žali | uosiai |
Genitive | šio | žalio | uosio | šių | žalių | uosių |
Dative | šiam | žaliam | uosiui | šiems | žaliems | uosiams |
Accusative | šį | žalią | uosį | šiuos | žalius | uosius |
Instrumental | šiuo | žaliu | uosiu | šiais | žaliais | uosiais |
Locative | šiame | žaliame | uosyje | šiuose | žaliuose | uosiuose |
(Illative) | šian | žalian | uosin | šiuosna | žaliuosna | uosiuosna |
Vocative | uosi | (uosiai) |
Other features:
- The inflection of noun for singular nominative can be -is, -ys or -ias, depending on word. Pronouns however always have inflection -is, but adjectives never have -ys in this case.
- The inflection in singular accusative depends on the inflection in singular nominative. If the singular nominative ends with -ias, a word has -ią in singular accusative, otherwise it has the inflection -į.
- Significant part of adjectives, that end with -is in the singular nominative (adjectives of the third declension), have noun inflections in plural.
- The inflection in singular vocative follows the inflection of the singular nominative too:
nominative | vocative |
---|---|
-is | -i |
-ys | -y |
-ias | -e or -iau |
[edit] Pronouns
- Part of pronouns (kas - 'who, what', kažkas - 'somebody, something', tas - 'that', šitas - 'this' etc.) use the main sub-paradigm, but others (jis - 'he', šis - 'this', kuris- 'which' etc.) the palatalized.
- Pronouns koks - 'what' (quality), kažkoks - 'somewhat', toks - 'such', šitoks - 'such'(demonstrative) , kitoks - 'different, other' have the inflection -s instead of the regular -is in the singular nominative.
- Pronoun kitas - 'another, other' is declined using adjectival inflections.
- There are few pronouns, that don't use the a-paradigm:
- Personal pronouns aš - 'I', tu - 'you, thou', mes - 'we', jūs - 'you' (plural), that formally are of the indefinite gender, each has its own specific paradigm.
- Pronoun pats - 'own, self' uses the i-paradigm.
- Note, that pronouns kas - 'who, what' or kažkas - 'somebody, something', that have the indefinite gender only, do use the a-paradigm.
[edit] Numbers
- The a-paradigm (the main sub-paradigm) is used with all ordinal numbers in masculine and with all collective numbers.
- The a-paradigm (the palatalized sub-paradigm) is used with all numbers-for-plural-only in masculine.
- Cardinal numbers, that use the adjectival a-paradigm (the palatalized sub-paradigm) in plural (as they're plural only) are:
keturi - 'four' penki - 'five' šeši - 'six' septyni - 'seven' aštuoni - 'eight' devyni - 'nine'
- Cardinal numbers, that use inflections of nouns of the a-paradigm both in singular and in plural are:
šimtas - 'a hundred' tūkstantis - 'a thousand' milijonas - 'a million' milijardas - 'a billion' ... and other internationally accepted words for big numbers.
- Some cardinal numbers have their specific paradigms:
- a number du - 'two' uses a paradigm of the dual number.
- a number trys - 'three' uses a specific paradigm, similar to the i-paradigm.
- a number dešimt - 'ten' is undeclinable (however it's a shortened word from dešimtis - 'ten', which is of the i-paradigm).
[edit] List of numbers, that don't use the a-paradigm
This is a list of numerals, that don't use the a-paradigm in masculine. See the o-paradigm about feminine numbers.
du - 'two' (dual number, has a special paradigm) trys - 'three' (the i-paradigm) vienuolika - '11' dvylika - '12' trylika - '13' keturiolika - '14' penkiolika - '15' šešiolika - '16' septyniolika - '17' aštuoniolika - '18' devyniolika - '19' (numbers 'vienuolika' - 'devyniolika' are singular words of the o-paradigm) dešimt - 'ten' (undeclinable, sometimes "dešimtis" as a word of the i-paradigm)
[edit] Nominatives of the active participles
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
short | long | short | long | |
Present tense | -ąs | -antis | -ą | -antys |
Present tense (palatalized) |
-iąs | -iantis | -ią | -iantys |
Past tense | -ęs | -ę | ||
Future tense | -siąs | -siantis | -sią | -siantys |
Notes:
- Short forms of the nominatives skip the active participle suffix -(i)ant-, e. g.
miegantis 'sleeping' (masculine singular, the long form) - miegąs (idem, the short form),
sakantys 'saying' (masculine plural, the long form) - saką (idem, the short form).
This is valid in the masculine nominative only. - The past tense doesn't have the long forms.
[edit] u-paradigm
The u-paradigm is used to decline:
- nouns of the fourth declension
- adjectives of the second declension (their masculine forms)
The u-paradigm has two different sub-paradigms, the main and the palatalized. Note, that in this case the palatalization mark (the letter "i") is marked as a part of inflection. The u-paradigm is masculine.
Inflections of the u-paradigm differ between nouns and adjectives in some cases.
[edit] The main sub-paradigm
- Drąsus - 'brave', sūnus - 'son'.
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
adjective | noun | adjective | noun | |
Nominative | drąsus | sūnus | drąsūs | sūnūs |
Genitive | drąsaus | sūnaus | drąsių | sūnų |
Dative | drąsiam | sūnui | drąsiems | sūnums |
Accusative | drąsų | sūnų | drąsius | sūnus |
Instrumental | drąsiu | sūnumi | drąsiais | sūnumis |
Locative | drąsiame | sūnuje | drąsiuose | sūnuose |
(Illative) | drąsian | sūnun | drąsiuosna | sūnuosna |
Vocative | sūnau | (sūnūs) |
[edit] The palatalized sub-paradigm
- Narsus - 'brave, hardy', karalius - 'king'.
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
adjective | noun | adjective | noun | |
Nominative | narsus | karalius | narsūs | karaliai |
Genitive | narsaus | karaliaus | narsių | karalių |
Dative | narsiam | karaliui | narsiems | karaliams |
Accusative | narsų | karalių | narsius | karalius |
Instrumental | narsiu | karaliumi | narsiais | karaliais |
Locative | narsiame | karaliuje | narsiuose | karaliuose |
(Illative) | narsian | karaliun | narsiuosna | karaliuosna |
Vocative | karaliau | (karaliai) |
Note that:
- The sub-paradigm for adjectives is fully identical with the main sub-paradigm and is mixed-type, with some palatalized inflections and others not.
- The plural of nouns in this sub-paradigm is identical with the plural of nouns of the a-paradigm (the palatalized sub-paradigm).
[edit] o-paradigm
The o-paradigm is used to decline:
- part of nouns of the second declension (whose singular nominative ends with -a or -i)
- adjectives of the first declension (their feminine forms)
- adjectives of the second declension (their feminine forms, the palatalized sub-paradigm)
- all pronouns (their feminine forms)
- all passive (the main sub-paradigm) or active (the palatalized sub-paradgm) participles (feminine)
- all ordinal numbers (feminine forms, the main sub-paradigm)
- cardinal numbers from vienuolika - 'eleven', dvylika - 'twelve' to devyniolika - 'nineteen' (in singular!)
- (feminine) cardinal numbers, that are used in plural, except a number trys - 'three'.
[edit] The main sub-paradigm
- Ta - 'that', ruda - 'brown', meška - 'bear'.
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
Nominative | ta ruda meška | tos rudos meškos |
Genitive | tos rudos meškos | tų rudų meškų |
Dative | tai rudai meškai | toms rudoms meškoms |
Accusative | tą rudą mešką | tas rudas meškas |
Instrumental | ta ruda meška | tomis rudomis meškomis |
Locative | toje rudoje meškoje | tose rudose meškose |
(Illative) | ton rudon meškon | tosna rudosna meškosna |
Vocative | meška | (meškos) |
[edit] The palatalized sub-paradigm
- Ši - 'this', stipri - 'strong, potent' , galia - 'power'.
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
Nominative | ši stipri galia | šios stiprios galios |
Genitive | šios stiprios galios | šių stiprių galių |
Dative | šiai stipriai galiai | šioms stiprioms galioms |
Accusative | šią stiprią galią | šias stiprias galias |
Instrumental | šia stipria galia | šiomis stipriomis galiomis |
Locative | šioje stiprioje galioje | šiose stipriose galiose |
(Illative) | šion stiprion galion | šiosna stipriosna galiosna |
Vocative | galia | (galios) |
Other features:
- Words of the palatalized sub-paradigm may have -i or -ia in the singular nominative. This doesn't affect other inflections.
- Adjectives of the first declension have -ia, but adjectives of the second declension have -i in the singular nominative.
[edit] Pronouns
- Part of pronouns (ta - 'that', šita - 'this' etc.) use the main sub-paradigm, but others (ji - 'he', ši - 'this', kuri- 'which' etc.) the palatalized.
- There are few pronouns, that don't use the o-paradigm:
- Personal pronouns aš - 'I', tu - 'you, thou', mes - 'we', jūs - 'you' (plural), that are of the indefinite gender, each has its own specific paradigm.
- Pronouns kas - 'who, what' or kažkas - 'somebody, something', that have the indefinite gender only, use the a-paradigm.
[edit] Numbers
- The i-paradigm (the main sub-paradigm) is used with all ordinal numbers in feminine.
- The a-paradigm (the palatalized sub-paradigm) is used with all numbers-for-plural-only in feminine.
- Cardinal numbers, that use the o-paradigm (the palatalized sub-paradigm) in feminine plural (as they're plural only) are:
keturios - 'four' penkios - 'five' šešios - 'six' septynios - 'seven' aštuonios - 'eight' devynios - 'nine'
- Cardinal numbers, that use the o-paradigm (the palatalized sub-paradigm) in feminine singular are:
vienuolika - '11' dvylika - '12' trylika - '13' keturiolika - '14' penkiolika - '15' šešiolika - '16' septyniolika - '17' aštuoniolika - '18' devyniolika - '19'
-
- Numbers vienuolika to devyniolika have the inflexion -a instead of -ą in the (singular) accusative.
- Some cardinal numbers have their specific paradigms:
- a number dvi - 'two' (feminine) uses a paradigm of the dual number.
- a number trys - 'three' uses a specific paradigm, similar to the i-paradigm.
[edit] ė-paradigm
The ė-paradigm is used to decline:
- part of nouns of the second declension (that end with -ė in the singular nominative)
- adjectives of the third declension (their feminine forms)
The words in the table:
- Didelė - 'big', upė - 'river'.
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
Nominative | didelė upė | didelės upės |
Genitive | didelės upės | didelių upių |
Dative | didelei upei | didelėms upėms |
Accusative | didelę upę | dideles upes |
Instrumental | didele upe | didelėmis upėmis |
Locative | didelėje upėje | didelėse upėse |
(Illative) | didelėn upėn | didelėsna upėsna |
Vocative | upe | (upės) |
Note, that the inflection of the plural genitive is palatalized (-ių).
[edit] i-paradigm
The i-paradigm is used to decline:
- nouns of the third declension, which are mostly feminine (dantis - 'tooth', debesis - 'cloud', vagis - thief and few nouns that end with -uonis in the singular nominative are masculine exceptions)
- nouns of the fifth declension, which are mostly masculine (duktė - 'daughter', sesuo - 'sister' are feminine exceptions)
- pronoun pats - 'own, self' (masculine form)
- number trys - 'three' (has the plural only)
All these words use the unsuffixed sub-paradigm, except the nouns of the first declension, which apply the suffixed sub-paradigm
[edit] Unsuffixed sub-paradigm
The words in the table:
- pilis - 'castle', vagis - 'thief'.
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
feminine | masculine | feminine | masculine | |
Nominative | pilis | vagis | pilys | vagys |
Genitive | pilies | vagies | pilių | vagių |
Dative | piliai | vagiui | pilims | vagims |
Accusative | pilį | vagį | pilis | vagis |
Instrumental | pilimi | vagimi or vagiu | pilimis | vagimis |
Locative | pilyje | vagyje | pilyse | vagyse |
(Illative) | pilin | vagin | pilysna | vagysna |
Vocative | pilie | vagie | (pilys) | (vagys) |
Other features:
- Many words have -ų instead of -ių in the plural genitive, for example, žąsis - žąsų 'goose', naktis-naktų 'night', debesis - debesų 'cloud'.
Irregularities:
- Words pats - 'own, self' and trys - 'three' are declined as following:
singular | plural | ||
---|---|---|---|
pronoun | number | pronoun | |
Nominative | pats | trys | patys |
Genitive | paties | trijų | pačių |
Dative | pačiam | trims | patiems |
Accusative | patį | tris | pačius |
Instrumental | pačiu | trimis | pačiais |
Locative | pačiame | m. trijuose / f. trijose | pačiuose |
(Illative) | pačian | m. trijuosna / f. trijosna | pačiuosna |
Note, that the word pats is declined only in masculine in this table. It's feminine form pati is declined with the o-paradigm regularly.
[edit] Suffixed sub-paradigm
The words in the table:
- akmuo - 'stone', sesuo - 'sister'.
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | masculine | feminine | |
Nominative | akmuo | sesuo | akmenys | seserys |
Genitive | akmens | sesers | akmenų | seserų |
Dative | akmeniui | seseriai | akmenims | seserims |
Accusative | akmenį | seserį | akmenis | seseris |
Instrumental | akmeniu | seseria or
seserimi |
akmenimis | seserimis |
Locative | akmenyje | seseryje | akmenyse | seseryse |
(Illative) | akmenin | seserin | akmenysna | seserysna |
Vocative | akmenie | seserie | (akmenys) | (seserys) |
Other features:
- Other cases than the singular nominative always have a suffix, -en- for masculine words and -er- for feminine words. There are only two feminine words, using the suffixed sub-paradigm, duktė - 'daughter' and sesuo - 'sister'.
Irregularities:
- A word duktė - 'daughter' has the inflexion -ė instead of -uo in singular nominative.
- A word šuo - 'dog' has a suffix -un- instead of -en-. The root of this word formally is a single š-, but historically it was šu-, that subsequently amalgamated with the suffix, and the further cases are šuns, šuniui, šunį and so on.
Other:
- A word sesuo - 'sister' has a synonim sesė, that's used in vocative ('sese!') more often, than the first ('seserie!'). The synonim sesė is of the ė-paradigm.
[edit] Dual number
The dual number has its specific inflections, that are similar with plural inflections with some specific differencies:
- Nominative, accusative or vocative: masculine words end with -(i)u, feminine with -i
- Genitive and locatives are the same as in the plural.
- Dative has the inflection of the plural dative, but without the final -s, so -(i)ams, -iems, -(i)oms, -ėms, -ims in the plural give -(i)am, -iem, -(i)om, -ėm, -im in the dual respectively
- Instrumental has the same inflections as the dual dative, but they are pronounced in different intonation.
Other features:
- It depends on the paradigm, whether -(i) in the brackets is used or not. The masculine i-paradigm always has -iu as the nominative inflection.
Irregularities:
- A word du - 'two' has three modifications of the stem, d- (in nominative and accusative), dv- (in dative and instrumental) and dviej- (in genitive and locatives)
- Words mudu - 'we (both)', judu - 'you (both)', juodu - 'they (both)' (masculine), jiedvi - 'they (both)' (feminine), as well as šiuodu - 'these (both)', tuodu - 'that (both)', abudu - 'both' and their feminine counterparts have a specific paradigm, based on declension of a word du - 'two' (see an example in the paragraph about pronouns).
[edit] Shortened inflections
Inflections, that have two or more syllables, are often shortened in Lithuanian, eliding the final short vowel. Shortened inflections are especially used in the spoken language, while in the written language full inflections are preferred. The elision occur in:
- Singular locative. Inflections -ame, -yje, -oje, -ėje may be shortened to -am, -y(j), -oj, -ėj. Note, that a one-syllable inflection -e of the a-paradigm isn't a subject of the rule.
- Plural instrumental. Feminine inflections -omis, -ėmis, -imis may be shortened to -om, -ėm, -im. These inflections coincide with respective inflections of the dual number.
- Plural dative has one-syllable inflections, but sometimes they are shortened, skipping the final -s, to -am, -iem, -om, -ėm, -im. These inflections coincide with respective inflections of the dual number too.
- Plural locative. A masculine inflections -uose may be shortened to -uos. What however doesn't pertain to inflections -yse, -ose, -ėse, whose shortened variants would coincide with inflections of other cases.
Also there's just one occasion, when the whole one-syllable inflection may be skipped. This may be done with feminine active participles of the past tense (or of the past iterative tense) in the singular nominative. So a word dariusi - 'who was making, who has made' can be said as darius. Note, that this shortened form coincides with the sub-participle of the past tense.
[edit] Nouns
Nouns in Lithuanian language have five declensions which are defined by the inflection in singular nominative and genitive cases. It is currently proposed that the classical declension rules should be reformed to better reflect inflections.
Only few borrowed words, like taksi (taxi) or tabu (taboo), are not subject to declension rules.
# | Inflection in singular cases | Examples | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | Genitive | |||
I | -as, -is, -ys | -o | Vyras (man), medis (tree), traukinys (train) | Masculine nouns, very popular and strong |
II | -a, -i, -ė | -os, -ės | Varna (crow), marti (daughter-in-law), varlė (frog) | With few exceptions, feminine nouns |
III | -is | -ies | Avis (sheep), dantis (tooth), pilis (castle) | Feminine nouns with few masculine exceptions, weaker than the first two |
IV | -us | -aus | Sūnus (son), skaičius (digit), medus (honey) | Archaic, has not many words |
V | -uo, -ė | -(en)s, -(er)s | Vanduo (water), akmuo (stone), duktė (daughter) | Archaic, has fewer words, than others |
[edit] First Declension
-as, -is, -ys (masculine)
vaikas = child | brolis = brother | arklys = horse | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | |
Nominative | vaikas | vaikai | brolis | broliai | arklys | arkliai |
Genitive | vaiko | vaikų | brolio | brolių | arklio | arklių |
Dative | vaikui | vaikams | broliui | broliams | arkliui | arkliams |
Accusative | vaiką | vaikus | brolį | brolius | arklį | arklius |
Instrumental | vaiku | vaikais | broliu | broliais | arkliu | arkliais |
Locative | vaike | vaikuose | brolyje | broliuose | arklyje | arkliuose |
(Illative) | vaikan | vaikuosna | brolin | broliuosna | arklin | arkliuosna |
Vocative | vaike | vaikai | broli | broliai | arkly | arkliai |
(note that the -e ending for the vocative singular applies only to common nouns; proper nouns take the ending -ai. So, for example Jonas = John [nominative] and Jonai! = John! [vocative])
[edit] Second Declension
-a, -ė, -ti (feminine)
motina = mother | katė = cat | pati = wife | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | |
Nominative | motina | motinos | katė | katės | pati | pačios |
Genitive | motinos | motinų | katės | kačių | pačios | pačių |
Dative | motinai | motinoms | katei | katėms | pačiai | pačioms |
Accusative | motiną | motinas | katę | kates | pačią | pačias |
Instrumental | motina | motinomis | kate | katėmis | pačia | pačiomis |
Locative | motinoje | motinose | katėje | katėse | pačioje | pačiose |
(Illative) | motinon | motinosna | katėn | katėsna | pačion | pačiosna |
Vocative | motina | motinos | kate | katės | pati (or pačia) | pačios |
(pati is one of only two Lithuanian nouns with the ending -ti; the other is marti, which means "daughter-in-law")
[edit] Third Declension
-is (masculine & feminine)
vagis = thief (masculine) | akis = eye (feminine) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
singular | plural | singular | plural | |
Nominative | vagis | vagys | akis | akys |
Genitive | vagies | vagių | akies | akių |
Dative | vagiui | vagims | akiai | akims |
Accusative | vagį | vagis | akį | akis |
Instrumental | vagiu | vagimis | akimi | akimis |
Locative | vagyje | vagyse | akyje | akyse |
(Illative) | vagin | vagysna | akin | akysna |
Vocative | vagie | vagys | akie | akys |
(notice that there are only small differences between masculine and feminine nouns of this declension, namely the dative & instrumental singular forms)
[edit] Fourth Declension
-us, -ius (masculine)
sūnus = son | profesorius = professor | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
singular | plural | singular | plural | |
Nominative | sūnus | sūnūs | profesorius | profesoriai |
Genitive | sūnaus | sūnų | profesoriaus | profesorių |
Dative | sūnui | sūnums | profesoriui | profesoriams |
Accusative | sūnų | sūnus | profesorių | profesorius |
Instrumental | sūnumi | sūnumis | profesoriumi | profesoriais |
Locative | sūnuje | sūnuose | profesoriuje | profesoriuose |
(Illative) | sūnun | sūnuosna | profesoriun | profesoriuosna |
Vocative | sūnau | sūnūs | profesoriau | profesoriai |
(again, make notice of the slight differences between the two variants of this declension: in the plural, the nominative, dative, instrumental and vocative cases all differ)
[edit] Fifth Declension
-uo (masculine)
There are also two feminine nouns of the fifth declension: sesuo (sister) and duktė (daughter).
vanduo = water | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
singular | plural | singular | plural | |
Nominative | vanduo | vandenys | sesuo/duktė | seserys/dukterys |
Genitive | vandens | vandenų | sesers/dukters | seserų/dukterų |
Dative | vandeniui | vandenims | seseriai/dukteriai | seserims/dukterims |
Accusative | vandenį | vandenis | seserį/dukterį | seseris/dukteris |
Instrumental | vandeniu | vandenimis | seserimi/dukterimi | seserimis/dukterimis |
Locative | vandenyje | vandenyse | seseryje/dukteryje | seseryse/dukteryse |
(Illative) | vandenin | vandenysna | seserin/dukterin | seserysna/dukterysna |
Vocative | vandenie | vandenys | seserie/dukterie | seserys/dukterys |
[edit] Adjectives
In Lithuanian language adjectives have three declensions determined by the singular and plural nominative case inflections. It is proposed that the three classical declension rules would be regrouped into four: two masculine and two feminine.
Declension | Singular nom. inflection | Plural nom. inflection | Examples | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masculine | Feminine | Masculine | Feminine | ||
I | -(i)as | -(i)a | -i | -os | šaltas, šalta (cold), šlapias, šlapia (damp) |
II | -us | -i | -ūs | -ios | švarus, švari (clean), malonus, maloni (pleasant) |
III | -is | -ė | -iai | -ės | varinis, varinė (cooper), laukinis, laukinė (wild) |
-is | -ė | -i | -ės | didelis, didelė (big) |
[edit] Pronouns
Personal pronouns aš (I), tu (you) jis (he, it), ji (she, it) and the reflexive pronoun savęs are declined as follows:
Nominative | Genitive | Dative | Accusative | Instrumental | Locative | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | 1st Person | aš | manęs | man | mane | manimi | manyje | |
2nd Person | tu | tavęs | tau | tave | tavimi | tavyje | ||
3rd Person | Masculine | jis | jo | jam | jį | juo | jame | |
Feminine | ji | jos | jai | ją | ja | joje | ||
Reflexive pronoun | savęs | sau | save | savimi | savyje | |||
Dual | 1st Person | Masculine | mudu | mudviejų | mudviem | mudu | mudviem | mudviese |
Feminine | mudvi | mudvi | ||||||
2nd Person | Masculine | judu | judviejų | judviem | judu | judviem | judviese | |
Feminine | judvi | judvi | ||||||
3rd Person | Masculine | juodu or jiedu | jųdviejų | jiedviem | juodu | jiedviem | juodviese | |
Feminine | jiedvi | jųdviejų | jodviem | jiedvi | jodviem | jiedviese | ||
Plural | 1st Person | mes | mūsų | mums | mus | mumis | mumyse | |
2nd Person | jūs | jūsų | jums | jus | jumis | jumyse | ||
3rd Person | Masculine | jie | jų | jiems | juos | jais | juose | |
Feminine | jos | jų | joms | jas | jomis | jose |
Note, that the table contains only the objective genitive of pronouns aš, tu, savęs. The possessive genitives of these words are mano, tavo and savo respectively. Compare jis manęs laukia - 'he waits for me' and mano draugas - 'my friend' ('friend ' is in masculine), but in jis mūsų laukia - 'he waits for us' and mūsų draugas - 'our friend' the both genitives coincide as in almost any word.
[edit] References
- J. Marvan. Modern Lithuanian declension: a study of its infrastructure. University of Michigan. 1979
- Lituanus. Lithuanian in the 21st century. Retrieved 2007.04.28
- I. Savickienė, A. Kazlauskienė, L. Kamandulytė. Naujas požiūris į lietuvių kalbos daiktavardžio linksniavimo tipus pagal natūraliosios morfologijos teoriją. Retrieved 2007.04.28
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