May 4, 2008
Hi there, I’m Raminta – Oh, you’re not Raminta. Hi there, I’m Raminta and I’m Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.
Hey! We’re in a new month. In English this month is called May, after the Greek goddess Maia. The Romans associated Maia with their own goddess Bona Dea, the “good goddess." She’s the goddess of fertility, virginity, and women. Bona Dea had festivals in this month. In Lithuanian this month is called Gegužė. Gegužė is derived from gegutė, the cuckoo bird. The call of the cuckoo tells everyone spring has arrived. Woohoo! Good news. I’m ready for spring.
France and Lithuania are the two most nuclear power dependant nations in the world. In 2004, 80% of Lithuania’s electrical power came from nuclear power according to the Wikipedia page entitled, Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.
As a condition of joining the European Union, Lithuania agreed to close Ignalinos atominė elektrinė. Why is Lithuania required to close it down? Safety. Unfortunately, the nuclear power plant at Ignalina is of the same design as the Chernobyl reactor which exploded in 1986, spraying Europe with airborne radioactive waste. Not only that, but the reactor is built on a tectonic fault and the United States Department of Energy has named Ignalina one of the most dangerous nuclear installations in the world. There’s a lively debate today in Lithuania as to when a new nuclear power plant should be built to replace the plant at Ignalina.
pradėkime, let’s get started. labai gerai.
Previously we studied the verb kalbėti, to speak. Today we’ll learn to conjugate suprasti - to understand. Kaip pasakyti lietuviškai? How do you say it in Lithuanian?
I understand
aš suprantu
you understand
(familiar)
tu supranti
he understands
jis supranta
she understands
ji supranta
we understand
mes suprantame
you understand
(formal)
jūs suprantate
you all understand
jūs suprantate
they understand (male / female
group)
jie supranta
they understand (females
only)
jos supranta
Now, we’ll go over some sentences but first we’ll introduce the word, tik – only.
only
tik
merely
tik
I understand English
aš suprantu angliškai
I don’t understand English
aš nesuprantu angliškai
I understand Lithuanian
aš suprantu lietuviškai
I don’t understand Lithuanian
aš nesuprantu lietuviškai
I understand Lithuanian well
aš labai gerai suprantu lietuviškai
I don’t understand Lithuanian well
aš nelabai gerai suprantu lietuviškai
I understand
Chinese
aš suprantu kiniškai
I understand
Indonesian
aš suprantu indoneziškai
I don‘t understand
Indonesian
aš nesuprantu indoneziškai
I don‘t
understand
aš nesuprantu
I understand only English
aš suprantu tik angliškai
I only understand Lithuanian
aš suprantu tik lietuviškai
he understands only Spanish and French
jis supranta tik ispaniškai ir prancūziškai
he understands only Italian and German
jis supranta tik itališkai ir vokiškai
he understands
Chinese
jis supranta kiniškai
he doesn‘t understand Chinese
jis nesupranta kiniškai
he understands Chinese
well
jis labai gerai supranta kiniškai
he doesn‘t understand Chinese
well
jis nelabai gerai supranta kiniškai
do you understand
Dutch?
ar tu supranti olandiškai?
do you understand
Indonesian?
ar tu supranti indoneziškai?
no, I understand only Russian and German
ne, aš suprantu tik rusiškai ir vokiškai
do you understand
Latvian?
ar tu supranti latviškai?
yes, I understand Latvian and
Japanese
taip, aš suprantu latviškai ir japoniškai
does she understand
Lithuanian?
ar ji supranta lietuviškai?
no, she understands only
Spanish
ne, ji supranta tik ispaniškai
do you all understand
Polish?
ar jūs suprantate lenkiškai?
yes, we understand Polish
taip, mes suprantame lenkiškai
no, we don’t understand
Polish
ne, mes nesuprantame lenkiškai
do you understand
Chinese?
ar jūs suprantate kiniškai?
do you understand
Spanish?
ar jūs suprantate ispaniškai?
no, we understand only Lithuanian
ne, mes suprantame tik lietuviškai
you understand German, right?
(formal)
jūs suprantate vokiškai, ar ne?
yes, I understand German well
taip, aš gerai suprantu vokiškai
do they understand
French?
ar jie supranta prancūziškai?
yes, they understand French well
taip, jie gerai supranta prancūziškai
do they understand
Italian?
ar jie supranta itališkai?
yes, they well understand Italian
taip, jie gerai supranta itališkai
no, they don’t understand Italian well
ne, jie nelabai gerai supranta itališkai
do they understand Chinese? (females only)
ar jos supranta kiniškai?
do they understand
Indonesian?
ar jos supranta indoneziškai?
do they understand
Swahili?
ar jos supranta svahiliškai?
no, they understand only Arabic & Turkish
ne, jos supranta tik arabiškai ir turkiškai
do they understand
Portuguese?
ar jos supranta portugališkai?
yes, they well understand only Portuguese
taip, jos gerai supranta tik portugališkai
do you all understand
Lithuanian?
ar jūs suprantat lietuviškai?
no, we understand only Croatian & Russian
ne, mes suprantam tik kroatiškai ir rusiškai
she’s from Brazil & she speaks Portuguese
ji yra iš Brazilijos ir ji kalba portugališkai
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I’m Jack and I’ve never met a Lithuanian I didn’t like. Viso
gero! Sudie!
Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignalina_Nuclear_Power_Plant
http://www.Lithuanian.Libsyn.com
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email Raminta and Jack at: lithuanianoutloud@earthlink.net
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