Lithuanian Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Lithuanian grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Lithuanian and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Lithuanian and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Lithuanian.

Prepositions - Lithuanian
and ir
above aukščiau
under pagal
before prieš
after po
in front of priešais
behind už
far from toli nuo
near šalia
in į
inside viduje
outside už
with su
without be
about apie
between tarp
but bet
for už
from nuo
to į

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Lithuanian
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] valgau be peilio
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] ji gyvena netoli bažnyčios
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] jis yra aukštesnis už ją
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] jis atėjo su savo šuniuku
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] ar galite eiti su manimi?

Negation in Lithuanian

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Lithuanian
I understand you [affirmative form] aš jus suprantu
I don't understand you [negation + verb] aš jūsų nesuprantu
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] tai nėra teisingas žodis
don't leave me [imperative negation] nepalikite manęs
no problem [negation + noun] jokių problemų

Negative Sentences - Lithuanian
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] aš nekalbu prancūziškai
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] ji nesilankė vokietijoje
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] jis mūsų nemato
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] ji nemoka žaisti šachmatais?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] mes nepavėluosime

Questions in Lithuanian

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Lithuanian
how? kaip?
what? kas?
who? kas?
why? kodėl?
where? kur?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Lithuanian
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] kur jūs gyvenate?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] ar ji kalba kiniškai?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] kiek tai yra?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] ar galiu jums padėti?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] kuo jūs vardu?

Adverbs in Lithuanian

It's time to learn the adverbs in Lithuanian. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Lithuanian
now dabar
yesterday vakar
today šiandien
tonight šįvakar
tomorrow rytoj
soon greit
quickly greitai
slowly lėtai
together kartu
very labai
almost beveik
always visada
usually paprastai
sometimes kartais
rarely retai
never niekada

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Lithuanian
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] ardabar jūs mane suprantate?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] man tučtuojau reikia pagalbos
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] ji yra labai protinga
I will always love you [verb + adverb] aš visada tave mylėsiu
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] ar galime kartu mokytis vokiškai?

Pronouns in Lithuanian

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Lithuanian. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Lithuanian
I aš
you tu/jūs
he jis
she ji
we mes
they jie/jos

Object Pronouns - Lithuanian
me man/mane
you jums/jus/tau/tave
him jį/jam/juo
her ją/jai/ja
us mus/mums
them jų/juos/jiems/joms

Possessive Pronouns - Lithuanian
my mano/savo
your tavo/savo
his jo/savo
her jos/savo
our mūsų/savo
their jų/savo

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Lithuanian
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] aš esu tavo draugas
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] kalbate labai greitai
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] jis turi tris šunis
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] ji moka vokiškai
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] mes nepavėluosime
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] jie nusipirko pieno ir duonos

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Lithuanian
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] ar galite man pasakyti savo vardą?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] aš duosiu jums pinigų
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] ji parašė jam laišką
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] jie aplankė ją vakar
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] ji gali mums padėti?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] jis jiems davė maisto

Possessive Pronouns - Lithuanian
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] mano vardas maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] tavo brolis gyvena čia
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] jos mama mums verda
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] jo hobis - skaityti knygas
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] mūsų svajonė - aplankyti paryžių
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] jų namas netoli

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Lithuanian
this is my house tai mano namas
that restaurant is far tas restoranas toli
these apples are delicious šie obuoliai skanūs
those stars are shiny tos žvaigždės spindi

I hope you learned a lot about the Lithuanian grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!