Introduction to Lithuanian II: Lesson 3

Let’s have more practice of the accusative. Do you remember the word for studies:

?she studies|ji studijuoja

I am going to let you take a guess what Mathematics is in Lithuanian (hints: it ends in a, Lithuanian simply has t instead of th and it is not capitalized):

?Mathematics|matematika

If you wanted to say she studies Maths you would see that there is a difference between she studies Maths and Maths studies her thus Maths is in the accusative. Thus say:

?She studies Mathematics.|Ji studijuoja matematiką.

It is not so hard, is it?

Lithuanian for sees is mato.

You will also need to apply the UltImate dOgmA rule in the next phrase:

?I see.|Aš matau.

Now the accusative works with words like he which is jis as well. Because jis belongs to the short words (like tai) category, it gets in the middle of the phrase. How would you say:

?I see him.|Aš jį matau.

Lithuanian for loves is myli.

Say:

?Do you love him?|Tu jį myli?

The word for she is ji so its accusative form should be jį too but that would be too much confusion: how would one know whether you mean him or her? That’s why there is an exception:

Lithuanian for her is ją.

Say:

?I love her.|Aš ją myliu.

Now the Lithuanian word kas is not only the simple form for ką but it’s also the simple form for who.

You will need the accusative form for who to ask literally whom you love:

?Whom do you love?|Ką tu myli?

You also have this in English where you say whom instead of who.

Do you remember the Lithuanian word for he/she works:

?She works.|Ji dirba.

Lithuanian word for work or job is related:

Lithuanian for work is darbas.

How would you say (applying the accusative):

?She has a job.|Ji turi darbą.

You apply the accusative because there is a difference between she has a job and a job has her.

Lithuanian for a house is namas.

Think of saying: Namaste, welcome to your house!.

?I have a house.|Aš turiu namą.

Ask:

?Do you have a house?|Tu turi namą?

Good. Forming the accusative is no big deal once you know the underlying rules and now you do. We will soon get into other cases where you use the accusative.

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