Lithuanian has a declension system that is similar to declension systems in ancient Indo-European languages, such as Sanskrit, Latin or Ancient Greek. It is one of the most complicated declension systems among modern Indo-European and modern European languages.
Traditionally, scholars count up to ten case forms in Lithuanian. However, at least one case is reduced to adverbs and certain fixed expressions and another is extinct in the modern language. So the official variant of Lithuanian has seven cases; moreover, the illative case can be replaced with the locative case. The main cases are:
Lithuanian has two main grammatical numbers: singular and plural. There is also a dual number, which is used in certain dialects, such as Samogitian. Some words in the standard language retain their dual forms (for example ("two") and ("both"), an indefinite number and super-plural words (). Dual forms of pronouns used in the standard language are also optional. Although grammatically the dual number can be applied to any word, in practice it was used quite sporadically during the last century. The singular and the plural are used similarly to many European languages. Singular, plural and dual inflections of the same case always differ among themselves; no rule dictates how to form, for example, the plural inflection from the singular of the same case.
Lithuanian nouns have five declensions, which are defined by the inflection in singular nominative and genitive cases. Only a few borrowed words, like taksì â taxi, tabù â taboo, kupÃÂàâ compartment (in a train), coupé, are not subject to declension.
Each Lithuanian consonant (except ) has two forms: palatalized and non-palatalized (-, -, - and so on). The consonants preceding vowels and are always moderately palatalized.
The letter represents either the sound similar to i in the English lit or is a palatalization marker â softens the preceding consonant ( = like e, = ü, = ö; all samples where i is a softening marker are (), (, ), ). But is a diphthong and there are no combinations and . Other diphthongs are: , , , (this one is used only in foreign words; in Lithuanian-derivation it is present when a word 'sock, stocking' is pronounced shorter as ), , (palatalized , , , ; there is no combination because is already soft and same to ; a combination is only a diphthong and in use is succeeded by a consonant).
Feminine nouns ending in , and masculine ending in have their palatal forms: , (the latter is declined in the first paradigm in its plural). The nominative singular ending (sg. nom.; the first paradigm) alone is a palatal variant of , but pattern, differently from , , are not palatalized counterpart for (unpalatalized equivalent in sg. nominative) and there is no palatalized counterpart for type. The pattern is a type of pattern, its words are declined like words, except sg. nom. and, for some of the words, vocative . There are only a few words of type.
There are two consonants in Lithuanian, and , that become respectively and when they precede a palatalization marker (so, this does not include the softer sounds: , , , , , , ) and they still have to be pronounced softer, like all other consonants preceding the palatalization marker. Examples: masc. sg. nom. 'guest', fem. sg. nom. 'power (on somebody); government', m. sg. nom. 'number'; 'example', , , ; 'chair', etc. (Compare how T in English is pronounced like "sh" when followed by -ion in words like "station", "revolution", or how "due", "dew", and "Jew" are pronounced identically by many English speakers).
Note that the ending for the vocative singular applies only to common nouns; proper nouns take the ending . So, for example = 'John' [nominative] and = 'John!' [vocative]
Only two nouns end in : 'wife' and 'daughter-in-law'. Their declension is same to the second adjective feminine declension.
The noun has the same form as the pronoun 'herself; myself (feminine); itself (for feminine nouns)'.
The only difference in masculine and feminine nouns of this declension is between the dative singular forms.
The palatalized variant of this declension has the forms of the first declension.
There are also two feminine nouns of the fifth declension: (sister) and (daughter).
In Lithuanian, adjectives have three declensions determined by the singular and plural nominative case inflections. Adjectives agree with nouns in number, gender, and case. Unlike nouns, which have two genders â masculine and feminine â adjectives have three (except , adjectives), but the neuter adjectives (the third example in the table) have only one uninflected form.
Masculine adjectives of the III paradigm are of two types, they differ in plural nominative and dative: â copper, brazen, â wild have pl. nom. , and pl. dat. , ; an example of the second type: (big), in pl. nom. and in pl. dat.
The pronominal, or definite, form of an adjective is formed by merging adjectives with third person personal pronouns: 'small' + (is) 'he' = , + 'she' = . An example: 'the little prince' (the name of the novella is â The Little Prince). And a normal form: 'a little prince'.
Several forms have not only a pronoun added, but have different respective to non-pronominal adjectives ending syllable â longer sound retained: feminine singular nominative , masculine singular instrumental and plural accusative, respectively , (the respective forms of a pronoun are , ) and one with , feminine singular instrumental: , -; or has a sound not doubled: masculine singular dative and locative, masculine plural dative, feminine plural dative and instrumental, for example , , , not the non-existing , , .
The personal pronouns (I), (you) (he, it), (she, it) and the reflexive pronoun are declined as follows:
Note that the table contains only the objective genitive of pronouns , , . The possessive genitives of these words are , and respectively. Compare â 'he waits for me' and â 'my friend' ('friend' is masculine), but in â 'he waits for us' and â 'our friend', the two genitives coincide as in almost any word.
â daughter, and â sister, are the only two feminine words of the fifth declension, they have the suffix in the other cases. One word, â woman, female, is both of the fifth and the third declensions, because it has variant genitive singular, both variants of which ( and ) are equally apt, and it has a gen. pl. . Two more words, m (older) â brother-in-law, and f â apple tree, are the same case as . The word , () m, having a more close meaning to a proper one, possibly has the fifth-type-like masculine singular instrumental (), which is taken from the first declension, while the words of the third declension have (, ), without a gender distinction. But is normal as well for the masculine nouns of the fifth declension, for example â /.
A word â dog, differs from the other -uo words in that, that its stem is mixed with the suffix and it consequently does not have the suffix in the other cases (, ; , ), its singular instrumental normal ending is of the third type (; that can be understood as a part of a meaning: more like an indefinite gender) and its accentuation paradigm is fourth, the sole case for the words.
â month, moon, is of the first declension type, the only fifth type form is one of the two equal variants of singular nominative: mÃÂnuo (other is ); genitive is etc.
The word â man (human), historically had the nominative singular (compare Latin ). Today is declined in the fourth paradigm in singular (, etc.) and in the third paradigm in plural (, etc.).
The words m, f â one/my/him/her/itself (also noun meanings: husband and wife) have also peculiarities. The ending (f., sg. nom.) is present only in two words: and â daughter-in-law. (< ) is of the third adjectival declensional type, but the singular nominative is different ( < ), plural nominative is and the singular genitive -ies, like in nouns of the third declension. Its sg. gen. is also often said paÃÂio.
The words of the third declension (, ) have either or in the genitive plural. The dative singular, similarly to the fifth declensional type, differs depending on the gender ( f, m), the instrumental singular, differently from the fifth type, is the same for both genders. One noun of the third type, , , has the sg. nom. ending with a long i: . Some of the words having the suffix (there are few of such words) have parallel forms in the other declensions: , (common gender) and , m, , f. Such change can happen after the change of an accent place: if the word is accented on the ending , then the change of declension (, > , ) does not occur in speech, and if the accent moves from the ending to the stem in singular nominative, then the change of declension sometimes occurs. For most of -uonis words, declining in the first declension is considered to be a mistake.
There are few words which are sometimes declined mistakenly in other declensions. But some of the shifts are not rare: a word besides sg. gen. is often said and these two forms of sg. gen. are equal. Some words have parallel forms from other declensions with a little change in meaning: , ; , ; , , , . The forms and are more informal than , and , . For the word the form existed in dialects, but it is, differently from and , only a formal shift of declension without a meaning variation and such word would be perceived as a vernacular or obsolete form.
The forms from the first and third declensions sometimes occur in speech for the masculine words of the fifth declension. Similarly with masculine words of the third declension â they are sometimes declined in the first declension (because nominative singular is the same). Such a shift is a mistake of declension. For example, the word , can have the forms (third d.) (sg. nom., sg. gen.) , â more like older dialectal not widely used and little likely to be heard in a speech â and (first d.) , ; , ; , â sometimes said by speakers who don't know the fifth declension well, such as children. But these variants are possibly also present as dialectal forms. The other examples which are sometimes used by some are: (), (, ) etc. Examples of migrants from the third declension (, ) are, for example, , instead of , . Such use like , ; ; ; ; is a clear mistake and is not accepted. A case of , instead of , is also a mistake, but is the only one (instead of ) form declined in the third declension and consequentely tends to be declined like all other words (of the first declension).
For the word / the proper form is sg. gen. etc. (sg. gen. is known in dialects). The genitive of the word pats is , but it is also frequently said . Some of the cases of the word pats are of the third adjectival declension, some â sg. nom. (< ), sg. gen. (also , like in respective adjectives) and pl. nom. â of the third noun declension.
Some of the nouns occur in another declensional type only in one case. All these cases are more like dialectal and older. For example, can be said in dialects, but the genitive remains ; (older) , , but also a migrant form: (older) , . The dialectal and older form (a type of ), for example, can remain in the original paradigm with sg. gen. sesers or shift to the declension: , .
In the tables below the words from the fifth and the third declensions are compared with the words from the other declensions. Table cells with the correct forms written are coloured (not white). In the right outside column the variant forms within the fifth and third declensions are given. They are older, dialectal and not used or used only in small areas. For example, among the variant forms of singular nominative sesuo within the fifth declension are archaic sesuoj, sesuon, sesuva. The first column is for the words of the fifth (, /) declension and the second for the third (, ). These declensions are very similar. The words are given in the same column, when the forms are same. The column to the right from these, are for the forms of the first (, , , ) and second ( (), ) declensions; one word, , is of the fourth in singular.
The proper forms of the word / is not of the fifth-third declension and the same is with the word , which historically had the form . A word â move, is included for comparison with (they have the same suffix -es- and are declined in the same declension, except sg. nom. of /).
and are variants of , of a different declension and meaning â and are more like informal.
A word has two forms of different declensions: one of the third (original) â , and other shifted to the first declension â , , . There are few of words and only several of them have forms other than the original declension, but in a speech some of them are also sometimes declined in the first declension, for example, , c â sting, can be understood as , m.
For the words (except ) and the words (like ) the shift to the other declensions would be a mistake. When the shift is from the fifth to the third declension it can be understood as minor variation, but the shift to the first declension would be a clear mistake (however, some of the cases are the same, and that is one of the reasons why the shift can occur). But in speech some of the speakers say, for example, instead of (this can come on dialectal base), , instead of , . Besides these cases, there are shifts, which occur commonly in a speech: instead of , instead of (the original variants are not used less). A word can also be said (one of dialectal variants).
The words f 3 (1) â acid, and 2 â sourness; acidity, are two words of different declensions, their meanings are different, but related.
The a-paradigm is used to decline:
The a-paradigm is the most complex declension paradigm in Lithuanian. It has two different sub-paradigms, one of which is the main paradigm. The second sub-paradigm is called "palatalized", which means 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 the inflection. The a-paradigm is masculine.
Also note that inflection in the a-paradigm is different for nouns, adjectives, and pronouns in some cases. However, not every pronoun's declension uses 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.
Other features:
Other features:
Here is a list of numerals that don't use the a-paradigm in the masculine. See the o-paradigm for feminine numbers.
Notes:
The u-paradigm is used to decline:
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 the inflection. The u-paradigm is masculine.
Inflections of the u-paradigm differ between nouns and adjectives in some cases.
Note that:
The o-paradigm is used to decline:
Other features:
The ÃÂ-paradigm is used to decline:
The words in the table:
Note, that the inflection of the plural genitive is palatalized (-ià ³).
The i-paradigm is used to decline:
All these words use the unsuffixed sub-paradigm, except the nouns of the first declension, which apply the suffixed sub-paradigm
The words in the table:
Other features:
Irregularities:
Note, that the word pats is declined only in masculine in this table. Its feminine form pati is declined with the o-paradigm regularly.
The words in the table:
Other features:
Irregularities:
Other:
The dual number has its specific inflections, that are similar with plural inflections with some specific differences:
Other features:
Irregularities:
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:
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.
The declension of Lithuanian nouns of the different declensional patterns are given compared with Latin, Sanskrit, Latvian (in a separate section), Old Prussian, Gothic, Ancient Greek and Russian. Because Old Prussian has left a limited literature with not all the cases of all the stems employed, the Prussian samples are not full in the tables (the cases which existed are most probably already reconstructed from various data by linguists). At the same time there were fewer cases in Prussian than in modern common Lithuanian and mixing the declension patterns was more common, what could develop in a context of a slow decline in the use of Old Prussian, as the Prussians adopted the languages of the others, particularly German. Lithuanian declension varied in dialects.
The first declension. Sg. nom. ends in -as, sg. acc. â in -à. Latin words of this stem ends in -us in sg. nom., and -um in sg. acc. When these Latin endings succeeded a labial sound, their vowel was originally à Â: equos â horse, equom; servos â slave, serf, servom. Sg. nom. in Prussian and Gothic is shortened: tavs, dags. Such shortening is present in western and northern Lithuanian dialects: tÃÂvas, -o â father, and tÃÂvs, -o; dagas, -o â heat of the sun (from degti â to burn), and dags, -o. In Prussian there existed only a shortened form, and it developed one step further in a part of the nouns: kaimis / kaimâ±s â village < kaims < kaimas (Lith. kaimas â village, kiemas â yard). There are no neuter nouns in Lithuanian and Latvian, differently from the other given here: Lith. butas â flat, living place, Prus. butan â the same meaning, Lat. aedificium â building. Lithuanian instrumental -u derives from an older -uo, what is seen, for example, in pronominal (definite) adjective forms, pronouns: gerù (nom. sg. gẽras â good) and gerúo-ju (nom. sg. geràsis â that good one), juõ (nom. sg. jis / is â he). Lithuanian diphthong uo corresponds to Latin à Â. For dat. sg., an ending -uo is also known in dialects. Lithuanian acc. sg. and gen. pl. are written in the letters with an ogonek: àand à ³. An ogonek indicates that the sound is long. Historically these sounds were nasal: vilkà< vilkan, vilkà ³ < vilkun. The form with a sound -n is used in some places in north-west Samogitia today. Latin pl. dat.-abl. -ës corresponds to Ancient Greek pl. dat. -ois and Lithuanian pl. instr. -ais. Lithuanian sg. gen. corresponds to Slavic, for example, Lithuanian: vilko (also dial. vilkÃÂ) and Russian òþÃÂûúð. Prussian sg. loc. was probably -ai, -ei: bëtai (adverb) â in the evening, kvei â where; compare Lith. namiẽ â at home (namè â in the house).
The second declension. Lithuanian and Prussian o denotes a long à Â. Narrowed more, it becomes à «. When more open, it is ÃÂ; àwas used in Catechisms in Prussian, o â in Elbing vocabulary. The à, àcorrespond to à ³, ï in dialects of eastern Lithuania and acc. sg. is kalbà ³ (kalbà), gÃÂlï (gÃÂlÃÂ) in these dialects. The case of -à ³ corresponds to Latvian and Slavic languages: nom. sg. liepa (Lith.) â linden, liepa (Latv.), ûøÃÂÿð / lipa (Rus.) and acc. sg. liepàand liepà ³ (Lith.), liepu (Latv.), ûøÃÂÿà/ lipu (Rus.).
Fifth declension. Among variant declensional forms are known: sg. dat. -i, -ie: akmeni, akmenie, seseri, seserie. Sg. gen. akmenes, pl. nom. akmenes, akmens. In a case of Old Prussian emen â name, e is dropped in other than sg. nom. cases (sg. acc. emnin instead of emenin). A drop can similarly occur in other languages, for example: Lith. vanduo â water, sg. gen. variants: vandens, vandenies, vandinies, vandenio, vandinio, vandnio. Gothic wato n â water: pl. forms, for example, nom.-acc. watna.
The third declension.
The fourth declension. Prussian sg. nom. -us is known from Elbing vocabulary, it was shortened to -s in Catechisms. Sg. gen. -us is an innovative form, known from Catechisms, the older form was -aus. A word ÃÂÃÂýàis given in Old Slavonic cases.
The second declension, -ÃÂ type. Prussian -ÃÂ stems became -i in an unaccented position.
Lithuanian declensional endings are given compared with Latvian declensional endings in the table below.