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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)
Apr 8, 2010
Daug Laiko A Lot Of Time
Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Romas and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.
According to the article named, “Take a trolleybus around Kaunas,” there was once a beautiful young woman named Milda who lived there. She wasn’t interested in any men who were interested in her. Finally, a young man named Daugerutis who had the voice of a nightingale won her heart. But, her stepmother told the gods and Daugerutis was ordered to be burned alive. The priest Auskaras hid them but unfortunately while they were hiding the Holy Eternal Fire went out and now both the lovers were ordered to die by flames. The priest Auskaras hid them below the fire in a cave for years where they bore and raised a son named Kaunas who would later found a city.
Here are some nouns such as salt, amber, steel or water. You don’t count water, you might count bottles of water or liters of water but you don’t count water itself. Same goes for courage, concrete or gold. You don’t have three courages, four concretes or five golds. Nouns like these have only a singular form. These nouns don’t have a plural form. Here’s a short list of a few of these nouns…
iron
geležis
tea
arbata
gold
auksas
cement
betonas
concrete
cementas
sugar
cukrus
vodka
degtinė
salt
druska
amber
gintaras
time
laikas
sour cream
grietinė
clay
molis
honey
medus
milk
pienas
steel
plienas
butter
sviestas
water
vanduo
cottage cheese
varškė
fear
baimė
evil
blogis
morality
dora
courage
drąsa
discipline
drausmė
behavior
elgesys
essence
esmė
honor
garbė
beauty
grožis
faithfulness
ištikimybė
patience
kantrybė
creativity
kūryba
time
laikas
equality
lygybė
bravery
narsa
premonition
nuojauta
envy, jealousy
pavydas
conscience
sąžinė
peace (after war)
taika
Attention! Dėmėsio! If a noun does not have a plural form it doesn’t use the plural genitive. If a noun has no plural it has no plural genitive.
No plural form – no plural genitive.
Expressions like daug, ne daug or per daug describe an unspecific amount. If we’re talking about an unspecific amount of a noun that is uncountable, we use the genitive singular. Remember – no plural form – no plural genitive – use the singular.
Just as a reminder, let’s combine daug with some countable nouns first.
many books
daug knygų
many people
daug žmonių
many cities
daug miestų
many bicycles
daug dviračių
Now let’s combine daug with uncountable nouns
a lot, many
daug
a lot of tea
daug arbatos
a lot of gold
daug aukso
a lot of cement
daug betono
a lot of concrete
daug cemento
a lot of sugar
daug cukraus
a lot of whiskey
daug viskio
a lot of salt
daug druskos
a lot of amber
daug gintaro
a lot of sour cream
daug grietinės
a lot of clay
daug molio
a lot of honey
daug medaus
a lot of milk
daug pieno
too much steel
per daug plieno
too much butter
per daug sviesto
too much water
per daug vandens
not a lot of cottage cheese
nedaug varškės
not much courage
nedaug drąsos
a lot of patience
daug kantrybės
a lot of bravery
daug narsos
a lot of time
daug laiko
plenty of time
daug laiko
Šiek tiek translates as “a little.“ Again, this is an unspecified amount.
information
informacija
time
laikas
history
istorija
hope
viltis
humor
humoras
alcohol
alkoholis
news
žinios
milk
pienas
a little
šiek tiek
a little information
šiek tiek informacijos
a little time
šiek tiek laiko
a little history
šiek tiek istorijos
a little hope
šiek tiek vilties
a little humor
šiek tiek humoro
a little milk
šiek tiek pieno
Another way to express an unknown amount of something is to simply use the genitive, like we just did.
In this case the genitive would basically translate as, “some.”
some tea
arbatos
some gold
aukso
some cement
betono
some concrete
cemento
some sugar
cukraus
some whiskey
viskio
some salt
druskos
some amber
gintaro
some sour cream
grietinės
some clay
molio
some honey
medaus
some milk
pieno
some steel
plieno
some butter
sviesto
some water
vandens
some cottage cheese
varškės
some courage
drąsos
some patience
kantrybės
some bravery
narsos
now some sentences
do you want some tea?
ar nori arbatos?
I’d like some tea
norėčiau arbatos
do you want some sugar?
ar nori cukraus?
I’d like some sugar
norėčiau cukraus
want some whiskey?
nori viskio?
yes, some whiskey, please
taip, viskio, prašau
do you want some butter?
ar nori sviesto?
yes, some butter, please
taip, sviesto, prašau
do you want some cream?
ar nori grietinės?
no, some milk, please
ne, pieno, prašau
So, to recap this episode, if we’re talking about an unspecified number of a COUNTABLE object we use the genitive plural. If we’re talking about an unspecified amount of an UNCOUNTABLE object we use the genitive singular.
Šaunuoliai! Great! You made it to the end of another episode! Šaunuoliai!
Take a trolleybus around Kaunas