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Lithuanian Out Loud is a podcast series designed for fans of the Lithuanian language. Come along with native Lithuanian author/lawyer Raminta and her North-American husband, Jack. They'll teach you Lithuanian along with tidbits about the history and culture of Raminta's homeland - Lietuva!

Music: Vieux Farka Toure - Ana {Pocket Remix} by pocketproductions (c) copyright 2007 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/pocketproductions/8916 Ft: Pocket (Richard Jankovich)

 

Feb 25, 2008

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.

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 Gorbačiovas 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, gatvė, is not affected.  The first word, cathedral, in Cathedral Square is declined.  The second word, aikštė, 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 gatvė

Castle Street                         
Pilies gatvė

Cathedral Square                  
Katedros aikštė

Cathedral Square                  
Katedros aikštė

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 Universitetą.  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 universitetą

the television tower                     
televizijos bokštas

to the television tower                 
į televizijos bokštą

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 universitetą

I’m going to Vilnius University              
aš važiuoju į Vilniaus universitetą

I’m going to Castle Street                     
aš važiuoju į Pilies gatvę

I’m going to Castle Street                     
aš važiuoju į Pilies gatvę

I’m going to Cathedral Square              
aš važiuoju į Katedros aikštę

I’m going to Cathedral Square               
aš važiuoju į Katedros aikštę

He’s going to downtown                       
jis važiuoja į miesto centrą

He’s going to downtown                       
jis važiuoja į miesto centrą

He’s going to the television tower          
jis važiuoja į televizijos bokštą

He’s going to the television tower          
jis važiuoja į televizijos bokštą

She’s going to The Genocide Museum   
ji važiuoja į Genocido muziejų

She’s going to The Genocide Museum   
ji važiuoja į Genocido muziejų

She’s going to Bend Park                     
ji važiuoja į Vingio parką

She’s going to Bend Park                     
ji važiuoja į Vingio parką

She’s going to the airport                     
ji važiuoja į oro uostą

She’s going to the airport                     
ji važiuoja į oro uostą

I’m going to Gediminas Castle             
aš važiuoju į Gedimino pilį

I’m going to Gediminas Castle              
aš važiuoju į Gedimino pilį

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!

Alright, that’s it for today, we’d like to thank you very much for listening, we appreciate it.

To leave us comments call our voicemail number that’s in the title of every show or call our Skype voicemail at Lithuanianoutloud – that’s one word, and leave us a message there.

If you’d like to see the Lithuanian spelling of any word in this series just go to WWW dot Lithuanian dot L I B S Y N dot com.

If you’d like to get these lessons every time a new one is available just go to iTunes and do a search for Lithuanian Out Loud and click subscribe.  It’s completely free.  But, if you don’t want to subscribe on iTunes, just send us an email asking us to alert you every time a new episode hits the internet.  And feel free to make copies of our lessons, put them on cds and pass them out to your friends.

Thanks to CCMixter.org, Ditto Ditto and Vieux Farka Toure for the podcast music.

Thanks for tuning in, tell your friends about us, we’ll see you on the next episode of Lithuanian Out Loud.

I’m Jack and I’ve never met a Lithuanian I didn’t like.  Viso gero!  Sudie!

http://www.Lithuanian.Libsyn.com
Skype voicemail:  Lithuanianoutloud
email Raminta and Jack at: lithuanianoutloud@earthlink.net
Thanks to:  CCMixter.org, ditto ditto, and Vieux Farka Touré for allowing us to use the music for this podcast.
http://www.vieuxfarkatoure.com/
http://www.ccmixter.org/