Notes for Episode Number 51 – Į Parką to the Park Hi There

Notes for episode number 51 – Į Park ą To The Park

Hi there, I’m Jack. Just so you know, the staff here at Lithuanian Out Loud, also known simply as, Raminta, Jack and a computer, we’re always trying to bring you something better, something that improves the Lithuanian lessons. Right now we’re focused on trying to improve the audio quality. You’ll probably notice an improvement on this very episode, and we want to bring you more interesting shows including native speakers who might want to co-host a few shows and interject their own unique speech patterns and experiences for you. If you know of any native speakers who’d like to do a show, or if you are a native speaker and you’d like to be part of a show – please let us know. It’s easy to co-host a show because every episode is scripted so you won’t have to worry about thinking up things to say. So, we’ll try to bring some Lithuanians on the show, and if we’re successful – you’ll be the first to know…

La- Labas vakar ėlis! (Good evening – diminutive)

Kaip sekasi? (How are you?)

Gerai, a čiū, o tau? (Well, thanks! and you?) irgi (also)

Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Margarita and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud. Do you remember the Lithuanian word for February? We’ll give you a moment…vasaris. In vasaris we’re looking forward to summer or vasara.

Rūpestis is the Lithuanian word for anxiety, concern or worry. A charming part of Lithuania’s culture is the tradition of the worrying man. You can see him at crossroads, or sitting on a tree stump. He worries while sitting on a wall or even in a home. The worrying man is named R ūpintoj ėlis and he can often be seen by the side of the road. He’s one of the oldest symbols of Lithuanian culture.

Rūpintoj ėlis is carved from wood in many different styles but mostly you see him sitting, leaning on an elbow worrying about his troubles. Of course, gift shops have picked up on the idea and now it’s easy to find a small R ūpintoj ėlis who can go home with you in the palm of your hand.

Very nice, your English is very clear Margarita, very nice. Not really! So you speak, you speak Lithuanian, English, how many other languages? Russian. So, you speak three languages… and French a little bit, and very, very little Greek. Ah, French, I don’t know much French, let’s see…je ne parle pas français (I don’t speak French) pourquoi? (why?) I don’t know – nežinau, I’m lazy I guess…

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Today we’ll continue working our way through the introduction to galininkas. If you need to review what we’ve already done please listen to episode 0050 again. Today we’re going for a taxi ride. Try to learn these words well. We’ll be using them quite a bit in the future.

Kaip pasakyti lietuviškai? How do you say it in Lithuanian? the coffee shop kavin ė a coffee shop kavin ė to the coffee shop į kavin ę to the coffee shop, please į kavin ę, prašom the square - a city square aikšt ė town square - city square aikšt ė to the square į aikšt ę to the square, please į aikšt ę, prašom the tower bokštas a tower bokštas to the tower į bokšt ą to the tower, please į bokšt ą, prašom

Now, I notice Margarita, your accent is a little different from Raminta’s, are you from Vilnius? I am from Vilnius! You’re from where? I’m sorry? From Vilnius. My wife, she was raised in Klaip ėda. Ah, okay, she’s (from) near the seaside. So, when you hear somebody speaking from Klaip ėda, can you tell right away, that they’re from Klaip ėda? Actually, I personally can’t but I know that that person is not from Vilnius. Ah, really, that’s interesting. Actually, if I would study this – differences maybe I would say, but now I can say this person is not from Vilnius or not from Kaunas. Uh-huh, interesting. You know – small country, but we have distinctions. I’ve heard that there are like, there are parts of Lithuania you can go to and the people are very hard to understand. It’s near Klaip ėda, from Klaip ėda – to the north. It’s called – this region – Žemaitija. It’s northwest, maybe more…so, and some people would like to have even the separate state, Žemaitija, and we have jokes that, here is speaking, like, different languages. Lithuanian language and Žemaitiškai. Aha, I understand, almost like two different languages. Not just – similar, but we have like very different words, I can’t tell you at the moment, but, like bread – duona, we have duona and we have another name for this, but it’s dialect, it was the Lithuanian dialect, but official language is based on the dialect which is around Vilnius. Actually, this region is called Aukštaitija, Aukštaitija it means like, highlands and Žemaitija, lowlands. Also the language – the dialect is also different.

Okay, so I will continue… the post office paštas a post office paštas to the post office į pašt ą to the post office, please į pašt ą, prašom the castle pilis a castle pilis to the castle į pil į to the castle, please į pil į, prašom the park parkas a park parkas to the park į park ą to the park, please į park ą, prašom the beach papl ūdimys a beach papl ūdimys to the beach į papl ūdim į to the beach, please į papl ūdim į, prašom the hospital ligonin ė a hospita ligonin ė to the hospital į ligonin ę to the hospital, please į ligonin ę, prašom the bar, as in a pub baras a bar baras to the bar į bar ą to the bar, please į bar ą, prašom the bridge tiltas a bridge tiltas to the bridge į tilt ą to the bridge, please į tilt ą, prašom

Great! Šaunu! Now, let’s do a review of what we’ve learned in the last two lessons. Try to say it in Lithuanian – Out Loud after we say it in English. On the next lesson we’ll get back in a taxi and drive around Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Here we’ll say the phrase in English first, can you say the phrase in Lithuanian before Margarita? to the university, please į universitet ą, prašom to the airport, please į oro uost ą, prašom to the cathedral, please į katedr ą, prašom to the street, please į gatv ę, prašom to the museum, please į muziej ų, prašom to the church, please į bažny čią, prašom to the store, please į parduotuv ę, prašom to the coffee shop, please į kavin ę, prašom to the square, please į aikšt ę, prašom to the tower, please į bokšt ą, prašom to the post office, please į pašt ą, prašom to the park, please į park ą, prašom to the beach, please į papl ūdim į, prašom to the hospital, please į ligonin ę, prašom to the bar, please į bar ą, prašom to the bridge, please į tilt ą, prašom to the restaurant, please į restoran ą, prašom to the city, please į miest ą, prašom to Kaunas į Kaun ą to Palanga į Palang ą to the Akropolis mall, please į Akropol į, prašom to the hotel, please į viešbut į, prašom to the automobile į automobil į to the room, please į kambar į, prašom to the train, please į traukin į, prašom to the basement į r ūsį to the bookstore, please į knygyn ą, prašom to Vilnius, please į Vilni ų, prašom to Sidney į Sidn ėjų to the school, please į mokykl ą, prašom to the library, please į bibliotek ą, prašom to Lithuania į Lietuv ą

Šaunu! Great! You made it to the end of another lesson! Šaunu!

That is great, now Margarita I want to thank you very, very much for helping us out with this lesson. You’re welcome. That was great.

That was wonderful. That was wonderful. It was really great to talk to you and to hear somebody else speaking Lithuanian, so…

Jack: Aš turiu klausim ą, prašom kalb ėti lietuviškai, kur jums patinka valgyti Vilniuje? I have a question, please speak Lithuanian, where do you like to eat in Vilnius? Margarita: Kur man patinka valgyti Vilniuje? Where do I like to eat in Vilnius? Jack: Taip, koks restoranas? Yes, which restaurant? Margarita: Man patinka valgyti vegetariškas restoranas indiškas, vadinasi - “Balti drambliai" I like to eat (in the) Indian (style) vegetarian restaurant called “White Elephants" Jack: A, okay, a čiū! O ar jums patinka gerti kav ą? Ah, okay, thanks! Do you like to drink coffee? Margarita: Gerti kav ą patinka. Mes turim tokias kelias parduotuves, tok į tinkl ą, vadinasi “Double coffee," angliškas.... I like to drink coffee. We have a few shops, the chain called "Double coffee“, English style.... Jack: A, tikrai Ah, really Margarita: Ir tenais, nežinau kas yra savininkas, bet ten įvairiausi ų kav ų galima, pavyzdžiui koki ų penkiasdešimt r ūši ų yra. And there, I don‘t know who is the owner, but there is big variety of coffee, for example there are about 50 kinds of coffee. Jack: Aha Margarita: Labai daug kav ų gali išsirinkti, įvairiausi ų. You can choose from many coffees, a variety. Jack: Okay, gerai, aš suprantu beveik visk ą. Okay, well, I understand almost everything. Margarita: Šaunu! Great! Jack: Ar jums patinka gyventi Vilniuje? Do you like to live in Vilnius? Margarita: Man patinka, nes yra transportas, visuomeninis transportas: troleibusai, autobusai. Ir tarkim jeigu mums reikia nuvažiuoti iš vienos miesto pus ės į kit ą tai nedaug užtrunka, be to jie labai dažnai važin ėja – kas penkias minutes, jeigu tai yra dienos metu. Jeigu vakare tai ne taip dažnai – kas penkiolika minu čių, kas dvidešimt. O nakt į, nakt į mes turime autobusus naktinius tai nakt į galima… važiuoja vien ą kart per valand ą autobusas. Kai kur netgi du kartus per valand ą I like it because there is transportation, public transportation: tolleybuses, buses. And for example if we need to have a ride from one side of the city to another it doesn’t take long and they go very often – every five minutes, if it is in the day time. If it is in the evening not so often – every 15 to 20 minutes. And at night, at night we have night buses so at night one can…..the bus goes every hour. Sometimes even up to two times in one hour. Jack: Wonderful, I understood most of what you just said there, that’s great, your Lithuanian sounds beautiful! Margarita: Nuostabu! Wonderful! Jack: Kaip graži (How beautiful) (Jack makes a mistake here – one can say, kaip gražu, koks graži or koks gražus, but not kaip graži – oops!) Margarita: Kaip gražiai gražiai mane augino...... How pretty pretty they were raising me...... Jack: Well, I want to thank you very, very much for helping us out on the show… Margarita: You are welcome! Jack: I will let you know as soon as it is on the internet and everybody is listening, I think they will enjoy listening to you very much. Margarita: Supratau! Labai… turiu vien ą klausim ą – kaip jums kilo id ėja prad ėt daryt šit ą projekt ą internete? Understood! Very.... I have one question – how did you get the idea to start this project on the internet?

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To answer Margarita’s last question I simply explained, in English of course, that Raminta and I decided to start this series as a tool to help me learn Lithuanian. Raminta and I would like to stress that we offer these lessons to anyone who can use them but we aren’t teachers, we just do the best we can.

Thanks a million to Margarita who was so nice to come on the show and share her great personality with us. This episode was actually recorded before the lesson with Romas and we had some technical problems trying to record the episodes. Margarita made herself available for a few days patiently waiting for me to work the bugs out of our new system. So, Margarita, again, you were super, thanks for helping us out with the show and I know everyone who’s listening is very impressed with you.

Of course, in an upcoming episode we’ll break down and practice some aspects of Margarita’s unscripted responses to my questions.

Just a reminder, if you are a native Lithuanian speaker and you’d like to do a show with us, or if you know a friend or a significant other who’s a native Lithuanian speaker who might like to help us with a show, please get in touch with us. Like we said, the lessons are all scripted so you don’t have to worry about what to say. Please give us a call.

Notes for episode number 52 – Man Tai Patinka I Like This

Ready Freddy, Man tai patinka! Okay! Finally! It’s been so long, where have you been dear? Maybe you’ve been skiing? I’ve been skiing!!! Like the wind! From the mountains – down – fast!

Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language. Here we are still in the month of February which in Lithuanian is…vasaris.

One of our listeners named Autumn sent me an email alerting us to something interesting. The prime minister of Lithuania is leading a commission that is considering a proposal to change Lithuania’s name in English. Of course, Lithuania’s name wouldn’t be affected in Chinese, German, French, Lithuanian, etcetera. The commission feels that English speakers not only confuse Lithuania and Latvia, they have trouble locating the Baltic nations on a map . The Lithuanian government is very interested in promoting investments and tourism and they think a name change might just do the trick. Thanks for the email and the interesting topic Autumn!

Have you heard about this Raminta? No! It’s kind of interesting. It sounds interesting, I should look. What do you think Lithuania should be called in English? Lietuva!

Because of the conversation I had with Margarita in lesson 0051, maybe it’s time to learn how to say, “I like" something. For example, I like the coffee – man patinka kava. The verb patikti means, “to please." Here we’re actually saying, “to me is pleasing the coffee." prašom pakartoti, please repeat…

I like the city man patinka miestas I like the city man patinka miestas I like the university man patinka universitetas I like the university man patinka universitetas I like Lithuania man patinka Lietuva I like Lithuania man patinka Lietuva

To get technical, the first word here – man – is an example of naudininkas or the dative case combined with the third person present of the verb patikti. But, we’re not going to study naudininkas much on this episode. We’ll save it for later. prašom pakartoti, please repeat…

I like man patinka I like man patinka you like (familiar) tau patinka you like (familiar) tau patinka he likes jam patinka he likes jam patinka she likes jai patinka she likes jai patinka we like mums patinka we like mums patinka you like (formal) jums patinka you like (formal) jums patinka you all like jums patinka you all like jums patinka they like (male or male/female) jiems patinka they like (male or male/female) jiems patinka they like (all females) joms patinka they like (all females) joms patinka

Now let’s run through some examples…

Do you like Madonna? (tu) Ar tau patinka Madona? Do you like Madonna? (tu) Ar tau patinka Madona? Yes, I like Madonna Taip, man patinka Madona Yes, I like Madonna Taip, man patinka Madona Do you like ABBA? (tu)

ABBA – likes my father – for sure!

Ar tau patinka ABBA? Do you like ABBA? (tu) Ar tau patinka ABBA? Yes, I like ABBA Taip, man patinka ABBA Yes, I like ABBA Taip, man patinka ABBA Do you like Romas? (j ūs) Ar jums patinka Romas? Do you like Romas? (j ūs) Ar jums patinka Romas? Yes, I like him Taip, patinka Yes, I like him Taip, patinka Do you like Raminta (j ūs) Ar jums patinka Raminta? Do you like Raminta (j ūs) Ar jums patinka Raminta? I like her Patinka I like her Patinka Do you like England? (j ūs) Ar jums patinka Anglija? Do you like England? (j ūs) Ar jums patinka Anglija? I like England Man patinka Anglija I like England Man patinka Anglija

The word “tai" translates as, this, that, these, or those

Do you like this? (tu) Ar tau tai patinka? Do you like this? (tu) Ar tau tai patinka? I like this Man tai patinka I like this Man tai patinka Do you like those? (j ūs) Ar jums tai patinka? Do you like those? (j ūs) Ar jums tai patinka? I like them Man tai patinka I like them Man tai patinka Does he like that? Ar jam tai patinka? Does he like that? Ar jam tai patinka? He likes that Jam tai patinka He likes that Jam tai patinka Does she like these? Ar jai tai patinka? Does she like these? Ar jai tai patinka? She likes these Jai tai patinka She likes these Jai tai patinka

We can also use this with the infinitive of a verb.

Do they like to dance? (all male) Ar jiems patinka šokti? Do they like to dance? (all male) Ar jiems patinka šokti? Yeah, they like to dance Taip, jiems patinka šokti Yeah, they like to dance Taip, jiems patinka šokti Do they like to do sports? (mixed m/f) Ar jiems patinka sportuoti? Do they like to do sports? (mixed m/f) Ar jiems patinka sportuoti? Yes, they like to do sports Taip, jiems patinka sportuoti Yeah, they like to do sports Taip, jiems patinka sportuoti Do they like to sing? (all female) Ar joms patinka dainuoti? Do they like to sing? (all female) Ar joms patinka dainuoti? They like to sing Joms patinka dainuoti They like to sing Joms patinka dainuoti

Sometimes people really like to do something…

Do they like to swim? (all girls) Ar joms patinka plaukioti? Do they like to swim? (all girls) Ar joms patinka plaukioti? They really like to swim Joms labai patinka plaukioti They really like to swim Joms labai patinka plaukioti Do you all like to play? Ar jums patinka žaisti? Do you all like to play? Ar jums patinka žaisti? Yes, we really like to play Taip, mums labai patinka žaisti Yes, we really like to play Taip, mums labai patinka žaisti Do all of you like the club? Ar jums patinka klubas? Do all of you like the club? Ar jums patinka klubas? Oh, we really like the club O, mums labai patinka klubas Oh, we really like the club O, mums labai patinka klubas

Now, during my interview with Margarita from Vilnius, I asked her, ar jums patinka gerti kav ą? We’ll go over this only because we touched on it on the last lesson. Gerti is the verb, to drink. Coffee, or kava, receives the direct action of the verb – you drink the coffee. Sorry to get so technical with you. So, kava is declined using galininkas.

Do you like to drink coffee? Ar jums patinka gerti kav ą? Do you like to drink coffee? Ar jums patinka gerti kav ą? I like to drink coffee Man patinka gerti kav ą I like to drink coffee Gerti kav ą - patinka I like to drink coffee Gerti kav ą - patinka Does he like to drink coffee? Ar jam patinka gerti kav ą? Does he like to drink coffee? Ar jam patinka gerti kav ą? He likes it Jam patinka He likes it Jam patinka Does she like to drink coffee? Ar jai patinka gerti kav ą? Does she like to drink coffee? Ar jai patinka gerti kav ą? She likes it Jai patinka She likes it Jai patinka Where does he like to drink coffee? Kur jam patinka gerti kav ą? Where does he like to drink coffee? Kur jam patinka gerti kav ą? Where does she like to drink coffee? Kur jai patinka gerti kav ą? Where does she like to drink coffee? Kur jai patinka gerti kav ą?

Now, if we answer the last two questions we’ll start to get into the locative case, or vietininkas. That lesson is still about five episodes away, but we’ll get there. Also, you probably noticed we didn’t go over how to say we don’t like something. Another lesson. To wrap this up let’s do some more simple examples.

I like Klaip ėda Man patinka Klaip ėda I like Klaip ėda Man patinka Klaip ėda Do you like the color? (tu) Ar tau patinka spalva? Do you like the color? (tu) Ar tau patinka spalva? He likes the location Jam patinka vieta He likes the location Jam patinka vieta She likes the car Jai patinka mašina She likes the car Jai patinka mašina We like the country Mums patinka šalis We like the country Mums patinka šalis Do you like the restaurant? (j ūs) Ar jums patinka restoranas? Do you like the restaurant? (j ūs) Ar jums patinka restoranas? Do you all like the coffee shop? Ar jums patinka kavin ė? Do you all like the coffee shop? Ar jums patinka kavin ė? They like the flat (male/female group) Jiems patinka butas They like the flat (male/female group) Jiems patinka butas They like the bookstore (female group) Joms patinka knygynas They like the bookstore (female group) Joms patinka knygynas

Nuostabu! Wonderful! You made it to the end of another lesson! Nuostabu!

On this lesson you were introduced to quit a few new verbs such as gerti – to drink, and šokti – to dance, to name a couple. We plan to do a lesson in the future for every verb we go over. So, eventually expect to see an episode focused just on gerti, a lesson focused just on šokti, etcetera.

Notes for episode number 53 – Vilniaus Universitetas Vilnius University

According to the Wikipedia pages entitled, Vilnius TV Tower, and the page, January Events, the tallest building in Lithuania is the Lithuanian Radio and Television Center or Lietuvos radijo ir televizijos centras. Sadly, it was also the location of the Vilnius Massacre during the events of January 1991. Lithuania was the first nation to declare independence from the Soviet Union. The Russians had occupied Lithuania since 1945, so even though World War II had ended for most of the world, the war didn’t end for Lithuania until 1991. Soviet troops, tanks, planes and ships still controlled Lithuania.

On 11 March 1990 Lithuania declared independence but going from a declaration to full independence wasn’t going to be easy. Russia had other ideas. By January 1991 the Speaker of the Lithuanian Supreme Council Vytautas Landsbergis called for independence supporters to form crowds and protect government buildings and other important locations. On January 8th and 9th more Soviet troops poured into Lithuania to head off any attempts of revolution.

On January 10th, Michailas Gorba čiovas announced a military intervention was possible within days. On January 11th, Soviet troops attacked and took control of many government buildings, TV stations, radio stations, airports and railway stations. On the 13th of January Soviet tanks attacked the Vilnius TV Tower but the civilian crowds refused to give way. The Russian tanks drove through the crowd crushing unarmed Lithuanian civilians. 14 people were killed that day at the tower by machine guns and after being run over by tanks.

Today you can visit the site of the massacre and at the base of the tower there’s a small museum dedicated to the patriots who lost their lives. At the top of the tower you can have a meal in the rotating restaurant which has a spectacular view of Vilnius.

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In lessons 0050 and 0051 we worked on galininkas or the accusative case. Today we’ll practice some more with this declension.

Let’s get back in the taxi and see some of Vilnius, but first we need to learn the names of some Vilnius landmarks. Today’s lesson focuses on how to name things in Lithuanian. To do this we need to use kilmininkas or the genitive case. If you need a review just listen to episodes 0022, 0030, 0031, 0033, 0037, and 0039.

When we name something, such as Castle Street or Cathedral Square, we give the street a name and we give the square a name. Castle Street – Cathedral Square. When you name something you use kilmininkas or the genitive case. The first word, castle, in Castle Street is declined. The second word, gatv ė, is not affected. The first word, cathedral, in Cathedral Square is declined. The second word, aikšt ė, is not affected.

Here are some new words. Kaip pasakyti lietuviškai? How do you say it in Lithuanian? center centras center centras city center miesto centras downtown miesto centras

In this example the word for city is miestas. The first word, miestas, is declined using kilmininkas. Miestas changes to miesto. The second word, center – centras is unchanged. bend vingis curve vingis Bend Park (as in river’s bend) Vingio Parkas Curve Park Vingio Parkas the television televizija a television televizija television tower televizijos bokštas the television tower televizijos bokštas genocide genocidas genocide genocidas genocide museum genocido muziejus genocide museum genocido muziejus air or weather oras the air or the weather oras a port or a harbor uostas the port or the harbor uostas an airport oro uostas the airport oro uostas

Okay, now let’s name things using Vilnius landmarks. Remember, the first word is declined using kilmininkas, the second word is unchanged. please repeat, prašom pakartoti…

Vilnius University Vilniaus Universitetas Vilnius University Vilniaus Universitetas Castle Street Pilies gatv ė Castle Street Pilies gatv ė Cathedral Square Katedros aikšt ė Cathedral Square Katedros aikšt ė Gediminas Castle Gedimino pilis Gediminas Castle Gedimino pilis

Okay! Now we’ll add the phrase, “I’m going to…" Notice that in the following examples the first word of whatever is named stays in kilmininkas. When we say, “I’m going to…" we have to use the accusative case or galininkas because the destination is the direct object of the verb. We’ll go over direct objects and verbs more in the future. Again, when something is named, for example, Vilniaus Universitetas the first word of the named thing is declined, Vilnius changes to Vilniaus.

I’m going to Vilnius University.

When we decline Vilniaus Universitetas using galininkas or the accusative case, the first word, Vilniaus stays in kilmininkas and the second word Universitetas is declined and changes to Universitet ą. So, keep in mind the first word stays in kilmininkas, the second word is declined in the new declension.

Vilnius University Vilniaus Universitetas to Vilnius University į Vilniaus Universitet ą the television tower televizijos bokštas to the television tower į televizijos bokšt ą

Now we’ll show you how to use the verb, važiuoti in the present tense. This is the verb we use when we’re talking about going somewhere using some kind of means of transportation. When you use važiuoti, you’re saying, to go, to drive, or to ride, using a car, a bus, a train, a bicycle, whatever. You’re not talking about walking somewhere. Please repeat, prašom pakartoti…

I’m going aš važiuoju I’m going aš važiuoju He’s going jis važiuoja He’s going jis važiuoja She’s going ji važiuoja She’s going ji važiuoja

I’m going to Vilnius University aš važiuoju į Vilniaus Universitet ą I’m going to Vilnius University aš važiuoju į Vilniaus Universitet ą I’m going to Castle Street aš važiuoju į Pilies gatv ę I’m going to Castle Street aš važiuoju į Pilies gatv ę I’m going to Cathedral Square aš važiuoju į Katedros aikšt ę I’m going to Cathedral Square aš važiuoju į Katedros aikšt ę He’s going to downtown jis važiuoja į miesto centr ą He’s going to downtown jis važiuoja į miesto centr ą He’s going to the television tower jis važiuoja į televizijos bokšt ą He’s going to the television tower jis važiuoja į televizijos bokšt ą She’s going to The Genocide Museum ji važiuoja į Genocido muziej ų She’s going to The Genocide Museum ji važiuoja į Genocido muziej ų She’s going to Bend Park ji važiuoja į Vingio park ą She’s going to Bend Park ji važiuoja į Vingio park ą She’s going to the airport ji važiuoja į oro uost ą She’s going to the airport ji važiuoja į oro uost ą I’m going to Gediminas Castle aš važiuoju į Gedimino pil į I’m going to Gediminas Castle aš važiuoju į Gedimino pil į

Now, that was a challenging lesson! In the next lesson we‘ll work some more on the names of places in the capital, Vilnius, Lithuania and we‘ll give you much more practice with the concepts here. Sveikinu! Congratulations for making it through another episode! Sveikinu!

Notes for episode number 54 – Žinoma Of Course

Do you have time for this short lesson now, on žinoma? Sure! Žinoma!

Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language. We’re not teachers, but we do the best we can. Don’t we dear? We do. We do…

Dangus is the Lithuanian word for the sky or heaven. Dievas is the word for a god. According to the article, “Lithuanian Mythology” written by Gintaras Beresnevi čius of the Lithuanian Institute of Culture and Arts, the Lithuanian God of the sky was Dangaus Dievas.

Long ago Dangaus Dievas gave Perk ūnas his powers of thunder and lightning and afterwards Dangaus Dievas fades into the background and becomes an inactive deity. Perk ūnas is pictured as a middle-aged man. He has a large axe and arrows. Perk ūnas rides on a two-wheeled chariot pulled by a team of goats, similar to the Norwegian God Thor.

Very nice, nicely done, very good! Well done!

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In lesson 0046 we learned, galima and negalima, one can or one cannot. Another word that can be extremely useful is the word for, of course! Žinoma! prašom pakartoti, please repeat… of course! žinoma! of course! žinoma! of course not! žinoma ne! of course not! žinoma ne! can I pet your dog? of course! žinoma! can I be honest with you? of course! žinoma! can I have another hug, please? of course! žinoma! do you get mail delivery on Sunday? of course not! žinoma ne! can I borrow your car? of course not! žinoma ne! can I keep an elephant in my house?

žinoma ne! of course not! can I? galima? of course! žinoma! can I? galima? of course not! žinoma ne! really? tikrai? really! tikrai!

Sveikinu! Congratulations for making it through another episode! Sveikinu!

Notes for episode number 55 – Tuoj Pat Wait A Moment

Hi there, I’m Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud. Today I’m cleaning out my computer. I found an episode that Raminta and I recorded months ago but never got around to putting it out on the internet. It’s not a significant lesson – it’s just for fun but I thought I’d put it out there just as a bonus lesson for you. Now, I apologize, the audio quality isn’t perfect, it’s got a little bit of a hiss in the background but you should be able to understand it just fine. Enjoy!

Hi everybody, this is Jack, and I’m Raminta and you’re listening to Lithuanian Out Loud! The world’s only, the world’s first…the first, the only one…Lithuanian language lessons in a podcast series!

One day a few years ago, my wife Raminta and I were visiting a family in Klaip ėda. Klaip ėda is a port city on the west coast of Lithuania. At one point Raminta was playing with some children and I heard her say the phrase, tuoj pat a couple of times. So I asked her, hey honey, what does tuoj pat mean? She brushed me off and said, wait a minute. I figured, okay, no problem, she’s just busy. So, I waited about five or ten minutes and I was getting tired of waiting so I asked her again, what does tuoj pat mean? She gave me a funny look and said a little more sternly, wait a minute. Hm! Now I wasn’t happy! Why the heck is she putting me off and ignoring me??? But, we were with friends and I didn’t want to show I was irritated so I just said to myself, okay, and decided to wait a bit longer. Half an hour later I was finally tired of waiting and being ignored. So, I gently took her hand, and made her look at me so I could get her complete attention. I said, Raminta, please tell me, I really want to know, what does tuoj pat mean??? She gave me a confused look and said, Jack, tuoj pat means, wait a minute.

Hey guess what? We’re going drinking with some buddies again! Woohoo! We seem to do a lot of these episodes, funny that, but it’s perfectly appropriate because we’re sitting here having a nice glass of what? Wine, wine. Cabernet Sauvignon, we’re having a good time…so, let’s start off with the phrase…

Hey! Let’s drink! Ai! išgerkim! Hey! Let’s drink! Ai! išgerkim! Hey! Let’s drink! Ai! išgerkim!

So, when the drinks arrive, everybody’s got one in their hand, and somebody says…

Glasses up! Pakelkime taures! okay, let’s say that a little bit slower

Glasses up! Pakelkime taures! Glasses up! Pakelkime taures! Glasses up, let’s drink! Pakelkime taures! and the infinitive verb would be… to lift pakelti to lift pakelti to lift pakelti okay, so that’s one way to get people to start drinking. So, let’s say in the middle of things you want to make a toast, you would say… noriu pasakyti tost ą

I want to make a toast noriu pasakyti tost ą Hey, I want to make a toast noriu pasakyti tost ą I want to make a toast noriu pasakyti tost ą now, after somebody makes a toast, you might say, so for that, glasses up! už tai ir pakelkime taures so for that, we raise our glasses už tai ir pakelkime taures so for that, we raise our glasses už tai ir pakelkime taures okay, now we haven’t had enough to drink, let’s drink some more išgerkime daugiau let’s drink some more išgerkime daugiau let’s drink some more išgerkime daugiau okay, now let’s say we’ve overdone it, we’ve had a little bit too much to drink, I’m very drunk a woman would say,

I’m very drunk aš labai girta I’m very drunk aš labai girta I’m very drunk aš labai girta a man would say,

I’m very drunk aš labai girtas I’m very drunk aš labai girtas I’m very drunk aš labai girtas okay, now you’ve had too much to drink, so you need to get to the restroom either a man or a woman would say, man bloga

I’m sick man bloga I’m sick man bloga I feel bad man bloga and now something that we learned in an earlier lesson, a woman would say, where’s the lady’s room? kur damo kambarys? where’s the lady’s room? kur damo kambarys? where’s the girl’s room? kur damo kambarys? a man would probably just stick with, where’s the restroom? kur tualetas? where’s the restroom? kur tualetas? where’s the restroom? kur tualetas? where’s the restroom? kur tualetas?

Notes for episode number 56 – Konstitucijos Prospektas Constitution Avenue

Hi there, I’m Jack. Hi there I’m Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language. We’re not teachers, but we do the best we can.

What do you think about that? It’s good to try to do the best, I think!

Recently, we talked about Saul ė, the Lithuanian sun goddess of life, nature and fertility. You might be surprised to know her most sacred animal is žaltys, a small harmless green grass snake. The Lithuanian word for green is žalias. So, žalias – green, žaltys – green grass snake.

The žaltys spirit lives by the stove but to ensure fertility and wealth for the family a living žaltys snake was kept in a special corner of the home and at times the entire family would not only recite prayers to it, they would invite the green grass snake to share a meal at the dinner table.

That would be a lot of fun!

Elena Brad ūnas has written a wonderful story for the magazine Lituanus named, If You Kill A Snake – The Sun Will Cry. You can find a link to the article on the Lithuanian Out Loud blogpage. According to the article, written in 1975, Elena states, “to this day in Lithuania, the gabled roofs are occasionally topped with serpent-shaped carvings in order to protect the household from evil powers.”

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Since we touched on it in the last lesson, let‘s work some more on naming things. It‘s fairly simple and you‘ve already seen it. We just use kilmininkas or the genitive case. This is all simple stuff assuming you‘ve studied lessons 0022, 0030, 0031, 0033, 0037, and 0039 on kilmininkas.

Here‘s some new vocabulary for you. First, let’s go over the words in vardininkas or the naming case. Kaip pasakyti lietuviškai? How do you say it in Lithuanian? an avenue prospektas the avenue prospektas a bridge tiltas the bridge tiltas the constitution konstitucija a constitution konstitucija freedom laisv ė freedom laisv ė

Europe Europa Europe Europa the townhall rotuš ė a townhall rotuš ė art dail ė fine art dail ė the museum muziejus a museum muziejus

Now we’ll name things using kilmininkas or the genitive case, for example, what’s the name of the street? It’s name is University Street. What’s the name of the park? It’s named Europe Park.

In the following examples we’ll give the streets, the squares, the avenues, the parks and the museums names. These are all real locations in Vilnius, Lithuania. please repeat, prašom pakartoti…

University Street Universiteto gatv ė University Street Universiteto gatv ė Tower Street Bokšto gatv ė Tower Street Bokšto gatv ė Castle Street Pilies gatv ė Castle Street Pilies gatv ė Bridge Street Tilto gatv ė Bridge Street Tilto gatv ė Vilnius Street Vilniaus gatv ė Vilnius Street Vilniaus gatv ė Townhall Square Rotuš ės aikšt ė Townhall Square Rotuš ės aikšt ė Cathedral Square Katedros aikšt ė Cathedral Square Katedros aikšt ė Vilnius Square Vilniaus aikšt ė Vilnius Square Vilniaus aikšt ė Europe Square Europos aikšt ė Europe Square Europos aikšt ė Gediminas Avenue Gedimino prospektas Gediminas Avenue Gedimino prospektas Constitution Avenue Konstitucijos prospektas Constitution Avenue Konstitucijos prospektas Vytautas Avenue Vytauto prospektas Vytautas Avenue Vytauto prospektas Freedom Avenue Laisv ės prospektas Freedom Avenue Laisv ės prospektas Bend Park Vingio parkas Bend Park Vingio parkas Europe Park Europos parkas Europe Park Europos parkas The Amber Museum Gintaro muziejus Amber Museum Gintaro muziejus The Castle Museum Pilies muziejus Castle Museum Pilies muziejus The Art Museum Dail ės muziejus Art Museum Dail ės muziejus Castle Bridge Pilies tiltas Castle Bridge Pilies tiltas

So, we started with vardininkas, changed to kilmininkas in order to name things, and now let‘s change all these examples to galininkas or the accusative declension using į, or to, but first let‘s learn three more conjugations of the verb važiuoti.

We‘re going mes važiuojame We‘re going mes važiuojame They’re going (males only or male/female group) jie važiuoja They’re going (males only or male/female group) jie važiuoja They’re going (females only) jos važiuoja They’re going (females only) jos važiuoja

Now for something challenging. We‘ll say a destination in English and we‘ll say, mes, jie or jos. You conjugate the verb and decline the destination and say the sentence in Lithuanian. For example, we‘ll say, “University Street – mes.“

Your response should be, “Mes važiuojame į Universiteto gatv ę.“ We‘re going to University Street.

Just a reminder - when you use the verb važiuoti, you’re saying, to go, to drive, or to ride, using a car, a bus, a train, a bicycle, whatever. You’re not talking about walking. Sėkm ės! Good luck!

University Street (mes) mes važiuojame į Universiteto gatv ę Tower Street (mes) mes važiuojame į Bokšto gatv ę Castle Street (mes) mes važiuojame į Pilies gatv ę Bridge Street (mes) mes važiuojame į Tilto gatv ę Vilnius Street (mes) mes važiuojame į Vilniaus gatv ę Townhall Square (jie) jie važiuoja į Rotuš ės aikšt ę Cathedral Square (jie) jie važiuoja į Katedros aikšt ę Vilnius Square (jie) jie važiuoja į Vilniaus aikšt ę Europe Square (jie) jie važiuoja į Europos aikšt ę Gediminas Avenue (jie) jie važiuoja į Gedimino prospekt ą Constitution Avenue (jos) jos važiuoja į Konstitucijos prospekt ą Vytautas Avenue (jos) jos važiuoja į Vytauto prospekt ą Freedom Avenue (jos) jos važiuoja į Laisv ės prospekt ą Bend Park (jos) jos važiuoja į Vingio park ą Europe Park (jos) jos važiuoja į Europos park ą Amber Museum (jos) jos važiuoja į Gintaro muziej ų Amber Museum (aš) aš važiuoju į Gintaro muziej ų Castle Museum (aš) aš važiuoju į Pilies muziej ų Art Museum (aš) aš važiuoju į Dail ės muziej ų

Sveikinu laim ėjus! Congratulations on making it through another episode! Sveikinu laim ėjus!

Notes for episode number 57 – Iš Vilniaus Į Kaun ą From Vilnius To Kaunas

Hi there, I’m Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud. Just a quick note before we get to today’s show, so far we’ve had listeners from the nations of Lithuania, United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Croatia, Ireland, Russia, Egypt, Botswana, Nigeria, Brazil, United States, Australia, Angola, and Indonesia. This week we got some messages from new listeners and we’d like to welcome Malaysia and Belgium! Welcome aboard guys!

Also, thanks to the hundreds of you who’ve downloaded our shows, already we’ve had over 15,000 downloads of Lithuanian Out Loud episodes, that’s super. Now, if you are one of the seven listeners who’ve left us a review on iTunes, then I’d like to personally thank all seven of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

For the rest of you, if you are getting anything at all out of these programs, if you’d like to show your appreciation for everything you get for free – please, please go to iTunes and leave us a review. Will you do that for us? If you do, we’ll keep the shows coming.

Okay, as we’ve said before, we’re trying hard to get more native Lithuanian speakers on the show. If we can do it – you’ll be the first to know.

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Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Aist ė Motekaitien ė and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.

Hey! We’re in a new month! In English the month of March is named after the Roman God of War, Mars. In Lithuanian this month is known as kovas.

Kovas is the Lithuanian word for rook. A rook is a bird which is very similar to a crow. The small black bird’s feathers sometimes appear to have a purple or bluish sheen in bright sunlight. In the month of kovas, the kovas bird is starting to build nests and mate.

According to the Wikipedia page entitled, Columns of Gediminas, one of the oldest symbols of Lithuania are the Columns of Gediminas or Gediminai čių Stulpai. We’ll place an image of this symbol on the Lithuanian Out Loud blogpage. This symbol was used by ancient Lithuanian rulers on coins and personal insignia.

After the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania in World War II, the Columns of Gediminas were banned. The symbol was painted or scratched on walls or fences during the occupation as a form of protest against the communist government by Lithuanian patriots.

Today we have a special guest on the show, Aist ė Motekaitien ė, I’m sorry if I’m garbling that, from the LCC International University in Klaip ėda, Lithuania. Welcome to the show Aiste! Thank you, my pleasure. So, can you tell us a little bit about LCC International University?

Well, it’s a North American University in Lithuania. It’s North American because it was founded by Canadians and Americans and a majority of our faculty are volunteer faculty from North America, so we teach everything in English and we are an international university because our students come from 21 different countries.

So, all of your classes are taught in English. You don’t teach any classes in Lithuanian?

We do have a Lithuanian minor for students who want to improve in their Lithuanian language or want to study the Lithuanian language, so there is a minor for that, so that’s basically – yeah, the majority of classes are taught in that minor would be taught in Lithuanian but all other classes are taught in English, yes.

Okay, now just before I called you this evening I was watching the 15 minute video on the school and kind of like the mission goal of the school. What would you describe the goal of the university?

Well, we are a unique university in this part of the world because we teach from a Christian perspective and our mission is also to reach out to students who want to not necessarily just get at the knowledge, but would also want to become responsible citizens and contribute to the development of their society, of the civil society. We’ve been in existence for 17 years now and our alumni are kind of the living proof that the mission is an important mission because, the change that they do in their job places and the comments we get back from their employers do show that we’re able to make a difference in people’s lives. First of all in our alumni and then they can be spreading the change in their environment.

When I was watching the video I got the impression that LCC International University is maybe trying to change the way that people were thinking during the Soviet era to a new era now.

Yes, because when this college…at that time, which was called Lithuania Christian College was established in Lithuania, the location was also chosen strategically because Lithuania gained its independence and the college started the very first year that Lithuania became independent again and the mission of the school at that time continues to be the same, is to provide education for students from the East, from the former Soviet Union countries…because it’s the western style of education, from a very different perspective and with the Christian world, gives a new approach and a new start for young people.

Okay, I see, that’s very interesting…now, how many students do you have normally?

Well, we are a small school, intentionally so. Currently we have 600 students and every semester we have in addition to the 600 students we have up to 30 study abroad students that come from U.S. colleges and universities. We have study abroad programs where American students can come and spend a semester at LCC and transfer the credits for the same programs and then European exchange students – the same way. So, usually about 600, up to 650 students each year.

Ah, okay, and I saw somewhere on your webpage that you have a summer language institute and you have about 350 students during the summer?

Yes, that’s an additional summer program for people who want to advance in English, so, just kind of as you teach Lithuanian over on your blogpage, we do English summer language institute and we have a volunteer staff – volunteer teachers that come for three weeks. They teach adults and the high school kids English and it’s a fun summer camp, you know, there are lots of activities in the summer in Klaip ėda. We have a nice beach, so there are classes in the morning, then various activities in the afternoon so it’s a fun summertime.

It sounds great. I’m always jealous when I see a university like this and I think that it’s just too bad that I have to work for a living. I’d like to just travel and attend university but I just can’t do that right now.

I know. All of us who have done our share of studies…you see the new generation and you wish you could repeat the same…

Does your university have t-shirts? I didn’t see anything, any place on your page where anybody can get t- shirts that say the university name, the simbolis and Klaip ėda, anything like that.

No, we don’t have that on the website. We have a bookstore on campus, so if people would want to have something they could send an email to [email protected] and then we would send them a catalog of what we have and then they could get what they would like.

Great, I might have to get one of your t-shirts.

Well, we’ll need to send you something.

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Okay, today we‘ll continue exploring galininkas or the accusative case using the preposition ” į” or “to.” Of course, if we want to go from a place we use the genitive case or kilmininkas. So, from Vilnius, would translate as, iš Vilniaus, and, from Kaunas, would translate as, iš Kauno, etcetera.

If you need to review kilmininkas, just listen to episodes 0022, 0030, 0031, 0033, 0037, and 0039.

Let’s finish off the verb važiuoti in the present tense. Like we said, važiuoti is the verb, to go. When you use the verb važiuoti, you’re saying, to go, to drive, or to ride, using a car, a bus, a train, a bicycle, etcetera. prašom pakartoti, please repeat…

I go aš važiuoju you go (familiar) tu važiuoji he goes jis važiuoja she goes ji važiuoja we go mes važiuojame you go (formal) jūs važiuojate you all go jūs važiuojate they go (all males or mixed male/female group) jie važiuoja they go (females only) jos važiuoja

Okay, now in this exercise, we’ll say, for example, from Vilnius to Kaunas, in English and we’ll give you a moment to say it in Lithuanian. Then we’ll say it in Lithuanian and you’ll have a moment to repeat it. Kaip pasakyti lietuviškai? How do you say it in Lithuanian?

I’m going from Vilnius to Kaunas aš važiuoju iš Vilniaus į Kaun ą I’m going from Kaunas to Vilnius aš važiuoju iš Kauno į Vilni ų you’re going from the avenue to the park tu važiuoji iš prospekto į park ą you’re going from the park to the avenue tu važiuoji iš parko į prospekt ą he’s going from the castle to the church jis važiuoja iš pilies į bažny čią he’s going from the church to the castle jis važiuoja iš bažny čios į pil į she’s going from Klaip ėda to Palanga ji važiuoja iš Klaip ėdos į Palang ą she’s going from Palanga to Klaip ėda ji važiuoja iš Palangos į Klaip ėdą we’re going from London to Amsterdam mes važiuojame iš Londono į Amsterdam ą we’re going from Amsterdam to London mes važiuojame iš Amsterdamo į London ą you’re going from America to Europe jūs važiuojate iš Amerikos į Europ ą you’re going from Europe to Amerika jūs važiuojate iš Europos į Amerik ą you’re all going from Lithuania to Ireland jūs važiuojate iš Lietuvos į Airij ą you’re all going from Ireland to Lithuania jūs važiuojate iš Airijos į Lietuv ą they’re going from the store to the post office jos važiuoja iš parduotuv ės į pašt ą they’re going from the post office to the store jos važiuoja iš pašto į parduotuv ę I’m going from the square to the tower aš važiuoju iš aikšt ės į bokšt ą I’m going from the tower to the square aš važiuoju iš bokšto į aikšt ę you’re going from the street to the coffee shop tu važiuoji iš gatv ės į kavin ę you’re going from the coffee shop to the street tu važiuoji iš kavin ės į gatv ę we’re going from the store to the post office mes važiuojame iš parduotuv ės į pašt ą you’re going from the post office to the store jūs važiuojate iš pašto į parduotuv ę

Sveikinu! Congratulations for making it through another episode! Sveikinu!

That’s great. Thank you so much for helping with the lessons.

You‘re welcome, it was a fun evening for me.

Your English is magnificent. Where did you learn to speak so well?

Well, I graduated from LCC so, I graduated in ’97 – I was in the second graduating class and now I recruit new students.

Well, I want to thank you very much for coming on the show today and for sharing your university with us.

Well, thanks for sending us the email and inviting us on, it was really my pleasure and I hope our paths will cross in the future.

Can I ask you two questions in Lithuanian? Sure.

Kur jums patinka valgyti Klaip ėdoje? Where do you like to eat in Klaip ėda?

Klaip ėdoje? Klaip ėdoje yra daug ger ų restoran ų, kuriuose galima labai skaniai pavalgyti. In Klaipeda? In Klaipeda there are a lot of good restaurants where you can eat very tasty.

Aš labai m ėgstu kinietišk ą maist ą. I really like Chinese food.

Klaip ėdoje dabar labai yra populiaru atidaryti naujus kinietiškus restoranus, tai mes ten ir valgome. In Klaip ėda now it is very popular to open new Chinese restaurants, so we eat there.

O, kur jums patinka gerti kav ą? Kokia kavin ė? Oh, where do you like to drink coffee? Which coffee shop?

Kokia kavin ė. What cafe.

Kai dirbi universitete ir universitete yra valgykla, tada dažniausiai ten valgai, o mieste... When you work at the university and in university is a cafeteria so you eat mostly there, in the city...

Mieste dabar nežinau kokia b ūtų m ėgstamiausia kavin ė. In the city now I don‘t know what would be my favorite cafe.

Yra daug kavini ų Klaip ėdoje ir labai ger ų kavini ų. There are a lot of cafes in Klaip ėda and very good cafes.

Yra daug? There are many?

Daug, taip. Tai kad kai atvažiuosi į Klaip ėdą gal ėsi rinktis. A lot, yes. So, when you will come to Klaip ėda you can choose.

Aha, okay (Jack pretending to understand the conversation) . Alright, well, thank you, it’s been a pleasure, an honor to have you on the show and please get to sleep, I know you need to sleep so you can get to work in the morning.

Yeah, it’s okay, thank you and all the best of your learning Lithuanian and of your teaching others as well.

Okay, thank you very much, gero vakaro ir a čiū labai (good evening and thank you very much).

Jums geros dienos ir iki pasimatymo, viso gero, ate. You have a good day and until later, have a good day, bye.

Notes for episode number 58 – Cha Cha Cha Ha Ha Ha

Okay, well, we’ve got a lot to do so we should get started. Okay, no blah, blah, blah, blah. Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language. We’re not teachers, but we do the best we can.

Do remember the word for the month of March in Lithuanian? …kovas.

How cute! Do you like this little bird kovas? Oh, I love kovas, I’m waiting for kovas so bad in Lithuania.

According to the Wikipedia page entitled, The Hill of Witches or Ragan ų Kalnas is an outdoor sculpture gallery in Juodkrant ė, Lithuania. The Hill of Witches is on a forested sand dune on the Curonian Spit near the town of Neringa. On the hill you can find about 80 wood sculptures and a series of trails. The artists are following a tradition of woodcarving from the Samogitian culture. The artwork depicts characters from Lithuanian folklore and the traditional Lithuanian religion. This is a must-see part of Lithuania and admission is free. We’ll paste a link to a photo gallery of the artwork on the Lithuanian Out Loud blogpage.

Very nice. On this episode we’re going to work on the sounds of letters. In episode 0050 we introduced the accusative case or galininkas. Some listeners have been asking us to clarify the sounds of letters that are associated with nosin ė. These are the letters that have a little tail on them and they have a long sound. What does nosin ė mean? Well, I read somewhere that it means, nasal but I can’t find the reference. Nosin ė also translates as handkerchief. Let’s focus on the difference in sound between nosin ė and non-nosin ė letters…

Lietuva Lietuv ą Palanga Palang ą gatv ė gatv ę kavin ė kavin ę bokštas bokšt ą parkas park ą pilis pil į automobilis automobil į kambarys kambar į traukinys traukin į muziejus muziej ų Sidn ėjus Sidn ėjų

So, again here is the accusative case. Words with vardininkas endings change to galininkas endings.

-a changes to –ą nosin ė -ė changes to –ę nosin ė -as changes to –ą nosin ė -is changes to –į nosin ė -ys changes to –į nosin ė -us changes to -ų nosin ė

Now, here are the sounds one last time

-a –ą -ė –ę -as –ą -is –į -ys –į -us -ų

We hope that helps clear it up a bit for you.

Here are some more sounds. Don’t worry too much about learning all these new words. All we want you to learn here are the new Lithuanian vocal sounds. The combination of the letters, c, and, h, makes a sound like, ch. Here are some examples… prašom pakartoti, please repeat… chameleon chameleonas chaos chaosas chemistry chemija surgeon chirurgas chorus choras chronic chroniškas hooligan chuliganas ha ha ha cha cha cha to jingle džeršk ėti jazz džiazas jungle džiungl ės jeans džinsai joy džiaugsmas a Lithuanian folk-dance džig ūnas a dryer džioviklis a thin, emaciated person dži ūsna kaip aš (like me), oh sorry! a piece of dry bread džiuv ėsis toast džiuv ėsiukas

Don’t worry too much about learning all these words, we just want you to be familiar with these Lithuanian sounds.

Šaunu! Great! You made it to the end of another episode! Šaunu!

Notes for episode number 59 – Gedimino Prospektas Gediminas Avenue

Hi There, this is Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud. Just a few notes before we get to the episode Raminta and I recorded a few weeks ago. This is the last episode in this series for a while focusing on how kilmininkas and galininkas interact with the prepositions “iš” and “ į.” Just so you know, the next few episodes of Lithuanian Out Loud will be focused on the locative case or vietininkas, how to use the diminutive in Lithuanian and some new verbs including how to negate verbs. We’ll roll them out as soon as they’re ready.

I didn’t know it until somebody made me aware, our email spamblocker was working too well and we were missing some emails. We never got them. So, if you sent us an email and never got a response, send us another one and we’ll get back to you.

Since March 1st Lithuanians have been able to travel to Canada visa-free. Last Friday, 14 March 2008, Estonia and Latvia joined the United States’ Visa Waiver Program, meaning that soon their citizens can travel to the U.S. without a visa. Lithuania is scheduled to sign the same agreement Monday, 17 March 2008. You have no idea how happy that makes us. Lastly, if you haven’t written us a review on iTunes yet, please take two minutes to do that for us, okay? We’d really appreciate it. Great! On with the show!

Labas vakaras, Dear. Labas vakaras, Dear. You’re being recorded again. Oh, thank you darling, nice to hear that. So, now you have Gedimino prospektas? Gedimino prospektas! The great prospekt in Vilnius! Love it!

Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language. We’re not teachers, but we do the best we can. Do you remember the word for the month of March in Lithuanian? …kovas.

According to Wikipedia, Palanga is a seaside resort town in western Lithuania. The city sits on the shore of the Baltic Sea, it is the busiest Lithuanian summer resort with beautiful sand beaches, dunes and an unspoiled natural environment. In summer, masses of vacationers arrive in Palanga for sun, sand and the seaside carnival. There are dozens of restaurants, bars, rides, sideshows, and other entertainment, most featuring bright lights, loud music, and thousands of people on the weekends.

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Now for an important point.

We’ve already established that if we want to say, for example, from the cathedral to the museum, katedra is declined using kilmininkas and changes to katedros and muziejus is declined using galininkas and changes to muziej ų. We end up with, iš katedros į muziej ų.

We’ve also established that if we want to say Cathedral Square, using the word katedra and the word aikšt ė, that we have to decline katedra with kilmininkas and we end up with Katedros aikšt ė. The second word here, square, is unaffected and remains in vardininkas. We’re saying, in effect, the cathedral’s square. This is possession. The square of the cathedral.

The cathedral’s square – Katedros aikšt ė.

Same goes for the Amber Museum. Amber, or gintaras, and museum, or muziejus. This is possession as well. In effect, we’re saying the amber’s museum, the museum of the amber. So, gintaras is declined using kilmininkas and we end up with gintaro. The second word, museum or muziejus, is unaffected. We end up with Gintaro muziejus, the amber’s museum.

Now we’ll say, from Cathedral Square. If we say, from, we have to decline using kilmininkas. Before we do that, we start with Katedros aikšt ė. Prašom pakartoti…

Cathedral Square Katedros aikšt ė

If we want to say, from Cathedral Square, we start with, iš. So, we combine, iš, with Katedros aikšt ė, but as soon as we put the two together, we have to decline Katedros aikšt ė once again using kilmininkas and aikšt ė changes to…aikšt ės. Prašom pakartoti…

Cathedral Square Katedros aikšt ė from Cathedral Square iš Katedros aikšt ės University Street Universiteto gatv ė from University Street iš Universiteto gatv ės Gediminas Avenue Gedimino prospektas from Gediminas Avenue iš Gedimino prospekto Europe Park Europos parkas from Europe Park iš Europos parko The Art Museum Dail ės muziejus from The Art Museum iš Dail ės muziejaus

Something similar happens when we use a two-word example and we decline using galininkas. Prašom pakartoti...

Tower Street Bokšto gatv ė to Tower Street į Bokšto gatv ę Constitution Avenue Konstitucijos prospektas to Constitution Avenue į Konstitucijos prospekt ą Bend Park Vingio parkas to Bend Park į Vingio park ą The Castle Museum Pilies muziejus to The Castle Museum į Pilies muziej ų

Now let’s do this exercise using the examples from previous lessons. from University Street to Tower Street iš Universiteto gatv ės į Bokšto gatv ę from Tower Street to University Street iš Bokšto gatvės į Universiteto gatv ę from Castle Street to Bridge Street iš Pilies gatv ės į Tilto gatv ę from Bridge Street to Castle Street iš Tilto gatvės į Pilies gatv ę from Vilnius Street to Townhall Square iš Vilniaus gatv ės į Rotuš ės aikšt ę from Townhall Square to Vilnius Street iš Rotuš ės aikšt ės į Vilniaus gatv ę from Cathedral Square to Vilnius Square iš Katedros aikšt ės į Vilniaus aikšt ę from Vilnius Square to Cathedral Square iš Vilniaus aikšt ės į Katedros aikšt ę from Europe Square to Gediminas Avenue iš Europos aikšt ės į Gedimino prospekt ą from Gediminas Avenue to Europe Square iš Gedimino prospekto į Europos aikšt ę from Constitution Avenue to Vytautas Avenue iš Konstitucijos prospekto į Vytauto prospekt ą from Vytautas Avenue to Constitution Avenue iš Vytauto prospekto į Konstitucijos prospekt ą from Freedom Avenue to Bend Park iš Laisv ės prospekto į Vingio park ą from Bend Park to Freedom Avenue iš Vingio parko į Laisv ės prospekt ą from Europe Park to The Amber Museum iš Europos parko į Gintaro muziej ų from The Amber Museum to Europe Park iš Gintaro muziejaus į Europos park ą from The Castle Museum to The Art Museum iš Pilies muziejaus į Dail ės muziej ų from The Art Museum to The Castle Museum iš Dail ės muziejaus į Pilies muziej ų

Did that give you a headache? Just go over it a few times and your headache will get worse. Šaunu! Great! You made it to the end of another episode! Šaunu!

Notes for episode number 60 – Kas Tai Yra What Is That

Today we‘ve got a mini-lesson on a simple subject. First, however, I have a question for you. Last year we stopped producing the Exam Episodes. We were afraid we might be boring people with them. Steve in the United States wrote in saying he really liked them because they got straight to business. He‘s got a point, the exam episodes had no history or culture lessons and banter going on.

We‘d like to know, what do you think? Did you like the exams or not? Should we bring them back? Please post something on the blogpage and tell us yay or nay, yes or no. Should we bring back the exam episodes?

Well, we hope you enjoy today‘s episode. This is the first time Raminta and I had a few moments to spare and we whipped out an episode without a script of any kind. This one is just off the top of Raminta‘s head.

Kas is a question word that means who or what. Kas yra? What is? Kas yra? Who is?

In episode 0052 we introduced the word, tai. The word “tai” translates as, this, that, these, or those.

What is this? Kas tai yra? What is that? Kas tai yra? Who‘s here? Kas čia yra? Who‘s here? Kas čia? Who is he? Kas yra jis?

Aha, so it would be normal to say, kas yra jis instead of kas jis yra, what would be more common? Kas jis yra? Kas yra jis? It‘s – both ways are common, kas jis yra, kas yra jis...kas jis yra, kas jis yra would be more common.

Aha, and of course you can say, kas jis. Kas jis, yeah, sure. Okay.

Who is he? Kas jis?

And then kas tai, you can say this right? Kas tai? Kas tai, yeah. But, kas tai, would you say this about a person or a thing? About a thing. Aha, kas tai - about a thing.

What is that? Kas tai? Who is she? Kas ji yra? Who are they? Kas jie yra? Who are they? Kas jie? Who are they? Kas jos yra? Who are they? Kas jos? Who am I? Kas aš esu?

A good question. To be or not to be. Kaip pasakyti lietuviškai? (how do you say it in Lithuanian?)

Būti ar neb ūti – štai klausimas kamuoja (To be or not to be – “this question torments”)

Who am I? Kas esu aš?

And you could also say just, kas esu. O kas esu, o kas esu aš – o kas aš esu, kas aš esu, yeah.

Who am I? Kas esu? Who are you? (formal) Kas j ūs esate?

Is this a little rude maybe? No, if you don’t know people, like at the party or somewhere meeting your parent’s friends, you can ask to find out who are they, kas j ūs esate? Ah, gerai, gerai, a čiū. (okay, okay, thanks)

Who are you? Kas tu esi?

Aha, so, maybe, you tell me, kas j ūs esate, kas j ūs, which would be more polite? Kas j ūs esate o kas j ūs? Kas j ūs esate would be more polite. Aha, I see, okay. there ten there ten What is over there? Kas yra ten? What is over there? Kas ten yra? What is over there? Kas ten?

So, what would be more common – that you would hear on the street? Kas ten. Kas ten, I like it.

What’s up, what’s wrong, like, kas yra? Kas yra? What’s wrong with you?

What’s wrong? Kas yra? What’s up? Kas yra?

So, when would you say, kas yra? O, when the girl’s sitting next to the man and she’s – she has unhappy face – the man can ask, “Kas yra?” “Brangioji, kas yra?”

What’s new? Kas naujo? What’s new? Kas naujo?

So, it’s naujo not naujo? Naujo, kas naujo?

What’s new? Kas naujo?

(note: Some regions of Lithuania have different accents. In Vilnius “naujo” would end in an “o” sound similar to the English “go.” In other regions the “o” would sound more like the English letter “a” as in “ya” – “good to know ya”)

Who is Raminta? Kas yra Raminta? Who is Romas? Kas yra Romas? Who is Mantas? (inside joke) Kas yra Mantas? Who are J ūrat ė and Perk ūnas? Kas yra J ūrat ė ir Perk ūnas? Who are Rimantas and Dovil ė? Kas yra Rimantas ir Dovil ė? Who? Kas?

Would you ever use this word, kas, like this, just kas? Yeah, you would use – if you, if people would talk about something – you want to understand what about is – what about they are talking you saying, “Kas?” Aha, aha. When they are talking, for example, about a person. So, we’re talking about Rimantas and Dovil ė and somebody doesn’t hear what we’re saying and they will say,

What? Kas?

Now an important point. When you use the question word kas, you’re using the vardininkas version of this word. So the answer must also be in vardininkas.

Short lesson, nicely done, good job. Šaunu, great, sveikinu! Oh! A čiū, I forgot about that part.

Lithuanian Out Loud webpage http://www.lithuanian.libsyn.com/ email Raminta and Jack: [email protected]