Learn Lithuanian

Before starting to learn the language, you should know what you are getting yourself into. Here are a few facts about Lithuanian and the country it comes from:

Lithuanian is the oldest living Indo-European language.

There are only around 4mln. Lithuanian speakers in the world.

It’s a Baltic Language, the closest to it are Latvian, then Latin and Sanskrit in India (some say that it belonged to Proto-Slavic language, but that is still up to discussion).

The words are almost always pronounced as they are written.

                          (more facts to follow)

Lithuanian has a Latin based alphabet with a few additions:

Now that the letters look familiar and we have learned a few words, you can construct your first conversation:

-Labas!

-Labas!

-Iki!

-Iki!

 And the first few sentences, can you translate them?

Labas rytas! 

Mano vardas Kęstutis. Tavo vardas Kęstutis.

Aš esu Kęstutis.  Aš esu herojus. Ką? Aš esu zebras?

Čia mano telefonas. Čia tavo telefonas.

Čia mano žalia citrina. Čia tavo zebras.

Ačiū, dešimt metų.

Kaip jis?

Sykį, gėlė kaip citrina- žalia.

Well, the sentences might seem a bit redundant, but it’s a start, now you know to say you are a zebra and compare a lemon to a flower! 

Off to Lesson 1.

Vocabulary so far: Vocabuary 0.

Grammar so far: Grammar 0.

There are no exercises for the introduction.

Notes:

                                  Part 1

Let us start from saying hello and introducing yourself:

Labas - hello

Iki - bye

More formal version:

Laba diena - good afternoon

Viso gero - goodbye

Now that you know how to say hello and goodbye, you need to say something about yourself:

Mano vardas yra Jonas. -My name is Jonas.

Aš esu iš Lietuvos. - I am from Lithuania.

Now, you would want to ask the same things from your new friend:

Koks tavo vardas? -What is your name?

Iš kur tu esi? - Where are you from?

The construction of a sentence is a bit different in Lithuanian than in English in a sense, that you have a lot more freedom- for example, you do not have to use "to be" or "is" if you do not want to:

"Mano vardas-Jonas" is the same as "Mano vardas yra Jonas"

"Aš - iš Lietuvos" is the same as "Aš esu iš Lietuvos"

The same works for questions as well:

"Iš kur tu?" is equal to "Iš kur tu esi?"

                                 Part 2

Please read the dialogues out loud and try to guess where Steffi, Emily and Gemma are from.

-Labas. Koks tavo vardas?

-Labas, mano vardas Gemma. O tavo?

-Aš Emily. Iš kur tu esi?

-Aš esu iš Anglijos, o tu?

-Aš iš Amerikos. Iki!

-Iki.

-Laba diena. 

-Labas, aš Steffi, o tu? 

-Aš esu Kęstutis. Aš iš Lietuvos, o tu?

-Aš iš Ispanijos. Viso gero!

-Iki!

Now you should be able to say your name, ask for a person's name, say hello, goodbye infomally and formally as well as say that you are from Lithuania/England/America/Spain and ask where is your friend from.

Next: Lesson 2

Exercises for Lesson 1: Exercises 1

Grammar so far: Grammar 1

Vocabulary so far: Vocabulary 1

Notes: