Lithuanian declension
Lithuanian declension is similar to declensions in ancient Indo-European languages such as Sanskrit, Latin or Ancient Greek. It is one of the most complicated declension systems among modern Indo-European and modern European languages. Traditionally, scholars count up to ten case forms in Lithuanian. However, at least one case is reduced to adverbs and certain fixed expressions and another is extinct in the modern language. So the official variant of Lithuanian has eight cases; moreover, the illative case can be replaced with the locative case. The main cases are: Lithuanian has two main grammatical numbers: singular and  plural. There is also a dual number, which is used in certain dialects, such as Samogitian. Some words in the standard language retain their dual forms (for example ("two") and ("both"), an indefinite number and super-plural words (). Dual forms of pronouns used in the standard language are also optional. Although grammatically the dual number can be applied to any word, in practice it was used quite sporadically during the last century. The singular and the plural are used similarly to many European languages. Singular, plural and dual inflections of the same case always differ among themselves; no rule dictates  how to form, for example, the plural inflection from the singular of the same case. Nouns. Lithuanian nouns have five declensions which are defined by the inflection in singular nominative and genitive cases. Only a few borrowed words, like taksì – taxi, tabù – taboo, kupė̃ – compartment (in a train), coupé, are not subject to declension. Each Lithuanian consonant (except ) has two forms: palatalized and non-palatalized (-, -, - and so on). The consonants preceding vowels and are always moderately palatalized. Table of noun declension endings. The letter i represents either the sound similar to i in the English lit or is a palatalization  marker – softens the preceding consonant (ia = like e, iu = ü, io = ö; all samples where i is a softening marker are ia (ią), iu (iū, ių), io). But is a diphthong and there are no combinations ię and iė. Other diphthongs are: uo, ai, ei, oi (this one is used only in foreign words; in Lithuanian-derivation it is present when a word kojinė 'sock, stocking' is pronounced shorter as koinė), ui, au (palatalized iuo, iai, iui, iau; there is no iei combination because ei is already soft and same to iai; a combination is only a  diphthong and in use is succeeded by a consonant). Feminine nouns ending in -a, and masculine ending in -us have their palatal forms: -ia, -ius (the latter is declined in the first paradigm in its plural). The nominative singular ending -ias (sg. nom.; the first paradigm) alone is a palatal variant of -as, but -ias pattern, differently from -ia, -ius, are not palatalized counterpart for -as (unpalatalized equivalent in sg. nominative) and there is no palatalized counterpart for -as type. The -ias pattern is a type of -ys pattern, its words are declined like -ys words, except sg. nom. -ias  and, for some of the words, vocative -iau. There are only a few words of -ias type. There are two consonants in Lithuanian, d and t, that become respectively dž and č when they precede a palatalization marker i (so, this does not include the softer sounds: i, į, y, , ė, e, ę) and they still have to be pronounced softer, like all other consonants preceding the palatalization marker. Examples: masc. sg. nom. svẽčias 'guest', fem. sg. nom. valdžià 'power (on somebody); government', m. sg. nom. skaĩčius 'number'; pavyzdỹs 'example', pãvyzdžio, pãvyzdžiui, pãvyzdį; kėdė̃ 'chair', kėdžių̃ etc. (Compare how T  in English is pronounced like "sh" when followed by -ion in words like "station", "revolution", or how "due"/ "dew" and "Jew" are pronounced identically by many English speakers). First declension. -as, -is, -ys (masculine) Note that the -e ending for the vocative singular applies only to common nouns; proper nouns take the ending -ai. So, for example "Jonas" = 'John' [nominative] and "Jonai!" = 'John!' [vocative] Second declension. -a, -ė, -ti (feminine) Only two nouns end in -i: "pati" 'wife' and "marti" 'daughter-in-law'. Their declension is same to the second adjective feminine declension. The noun "pati" has the  same form as the pronoun "pati" 'herself; myself (feminine); itself (for feminine nouns)'. Third declension. -is (masculine and feminine) The only difference in masculine and feminine nouns of this declension is between the dative singular forms. Fourth declension. -us, -ius (masculine) The palatalized variant of this declension has the forms of the first declension. Fifth declension. -uo (masculine) There are also two feminine nouns of the fifth declension: sesuo (sister) and duktė (daughter). Adjectives. In Lithuanian language adjectives have three declensions determined by the singular and plural nominative case inflections. Adjectives are matched with nouns in terms of number, gender , and case. Unlike nouns, which have two genders – masculine and feminine – adjectives have three (except -is, -ė adjectives), but the neuter adjectives (the third example in the table) have only one uninflected form. Table of adjective declension endings. Masculine adjectives of the III-rd paradigm are of two types, they differ in plural nominative and dative: varinis – copper, brazen, laukinis – wild have pl. nom. variniai, laukiniai and pl. dat. variniams, laukiniams; an example of the second type: didelis (big), dideli in pl. nom. and dideliems in pl. dat. Pronominal forms Pronominal, or definite, form of an adjective is formed by  merging adjectives with third person personal pronouns: mažas 'small' + jis (is) 'he' = mažasis, maža + ji 'she' = mažoji. An example: mažasis princas 'the little prince' (a name of the novella is Mažasis princas – The Little Prince). And a normal form: mažas princas 'a little prince'. Several forms have not only a pronoun added, but have different respective to non-pronominal adjectives ending syllable – longer sound retained: feminine singular nominative -o-ji, masculine singular instrumental and plural accusative, respectively -uo-ju, -uos-ius (the respective forms of a pronoun jis are juo, juos) and one with ogonek, feminine  singular instrumental: -ą-ja, -ią-ja; or has a sound -m- not doubled: masculine singular dative and locative, masculine plural dative, feminine plural dative and instrumental, for example -a-jam, -a-jame, -ies-iems, not non-existing -am-jam, -ame-jame, -iems-iems. Pronouns. The personal pronouns "aš" (I), "tu" (you) "jis" (he, it), "ji" (she, it) and the reflexive pronoun "savęs" are declined as follows: Note that the table contains only the objective genitive of pronouns "aš", "tu", "savęs". The possessive genitives of these words are "mano", "tavo" and "savo" respectively. Compare "jis manęs laukia" – 'he waits for me ' and "mano draugas" – 'my friend' ('friend' is in masculine), but in "jis mūsų laukia" – 'he waits for us' and "mūsų draugas" – 'our friend', the two genitives coincide as in almost any word. Irregular declension. Duktė – daughter, and sesuo – sister, are the only two feminine words of the fifth declension, they have the suffix -er- in the other cases. One word, moteris – woman, female, is both of the fifth and the third declensions, because it has variant genitive singular, both variants of which (-s and -ies) are equally apt, and it has a gen. pl. -ų. Two more words, dieveris "m  (older) – brother-in-law, and obelis f" – apple tree, are the same case as moteris. The word dieveris, -ies (-ers) "m", having more close meaning to a proper one, possibly has the fifth-type-like masculine singular instrumental (dieveriu), which is taken from the first declension, while the words of the third declension have -imi (dantimi, vagimi), without a gender distinction. But -imi is normal as well for the masculine nouns of the fifth declension, for example – akmenimi / akmeniu. A word šuo – dog, differs from the other -uo words in that, that its stem is mixed with the suffix -uo  and it consequently does not have the suffix -en- in the other cases (š-uo, akm-uo; šu-n-į, akm-en-į), its singular instrumental normal ending is of the third type (šunimi; that can be understood as a part of a meaning: more like an indefinite gender) and its accentuation paradigm is fourth, the sole case for the -uo words. Mėnuo – month, moon, is of the first declension -is type, the only fifth type form is one of the two equal variants of singular nominative: mėnuo (other is mėnesis); genitive is mėnesio etc. The word žmogus – man, human , historically had the nominative singular žmuo (compare Latin homō). Today žmogus is declined in the fourth paradigm in singular (žmogus, žmogaus etc.) and in the third -ė paradigm in plural (žmonės, žmonių etc.). The words pats "m", pati "f" – one/my/him/her/itself (also noun meanings: husband and wife) have also peculiarities. The ending -i (f., sg. nom.) is present only in two words: pati and marti – daughter-in-law. Pats (< patis) is of the third adjectival declensional type, but the singular nominative is different (-s < -is), plural nominative is -ys and the singular genitive -ies, like  in nouns of the third declension. Its sg. gen. is also often said pačio. The words of the third declension (-is, -ies) have either -ių or -ų in the genitive plural. The dative singular, similarly to the fifth declensional type, differs depending on the gender (-iai "f", -iui "m"), the instrumental singular, differently from the fifth type, is the same for both genders. One noun of the third type, petys, peties, has the sg. nom. ending with a long i: -ys. Some of the words having the suffix -uonis (there are few of such words) have parallel forms in the  other declensions: palikuonis, -ies ("common gender") and palikuonis, -io "m", palikuonė, -ės "f". Such change can happen after the change of an accent place: if the word is accented on the ending -is, then the change of declension (-is, -ies > -is, -io) does not occur in speech, and if the accent moves from the ending to the stem in singular nominative, then the change of declension sometimes occurs. For most of -uonis words, declining in the first declension is considered to be a mistake. Shifts in declension. There are few words which are sometimes declined mistakenly in other declensions . But some of the shifts are not rare: a word pats besides sg. gen. paties is often said pačio and these two forms of sg. gen. are equal. Some words have parallel forms from other declensions with a little change in a meaning: dukra, dukros; sesė, sesės; palikuonis, -io, palikuonė, -ės. The forms sesė and dukra are more like unformal, than duktė, -ers and sesuo, -ers. For the word moteris the form motera were existent in dialects, but it is, differently from dukra, sesė cases, only a formal shift of declension without a meaning variation and such word would be  perceived as a vernacularism and obsolete. The forms from the two more declensions sometimes occur in a speech for the masculine words of the fifth declension: of the third and of the first declensions. Similar case is with the masculine words of the third declension – they are sometimes declined in the first declension (because singular nominative is the same). Such a shift is a mistake of declension. For example, a word akmuo, akmens can have the forms (third d.) (sg. nom., sg. gen.) akmenis, akmenies – more like older dialectal not used widely and a little likely to be heard in  a speech – and (first d.) akmenis, akmenio; akmenys, akmenio; akmenas, akmeno – sometimes said by the speakers, who don't know the fifth declension well, for example, children. But these variants are possibly also present as dialectal forms. The other examples which are sometimes used by some, but not fit are: rudenio (rudens), šunio (šuns, šunies) etc. Examples of migrants from the third declension (-is, -ies) are, for example, dantis, dančio instead of dantis, danties. Such use like akmenas, akmeno; dančio; šunio; rudenio; is a clear mistake and is not accepted. A case of petys, pečio instead of petys, peties is  also a mistake, but petys is the only one -ys (instead of -is) form declined in the third declension and consequentely tends to be declined like all other -ys words (of the first declension). For the word mėnuo / mėnesis the proper form is sg. gen. mėnesio etc. (sg. gen. mėnesies is known in dialects). The genitive of the word pats is paties, but it is also frequently said pačio. Some of the cases of the word pats are of the third adjectival declension, some – sg. nom. -s (< -is), sg. gen. -ies (also -io, like in respective adjectives) and pl . nom. -ys – of the third noun declension. Some of the nouns occur in another declensional type only in one case. All these cases are more like dialectal and older. For example, seseris can be said seseria in dialects, but the genitive remains sesers; (older) motė, moters, but also a migrant form: (older) motė, motės. The dialectal and older form sesuva (a type of sesuo), for example, can remain in the original paradigm with sg. gen. sesers or shift to the -a declension: sesuva, sesuvos. Tables. In the tables below the words from the fifth and the third declensions are compared  with the words from the other declensions. Table cells with the correct forms written are coloured (not white). In the right outside column the variant forms within the fifth and third declensions are given. They are older, dialectal and not used or used only in small areas. For example, among the variant forms of singular nominative sesuo within the fifth declension are archaic sesuoj, sesuon, sesuva. The first column is for the words of the fifth (-uo, -ens / -ers) declension and the second for the third (-is, -ies). These declensions are very similar. The words are given in the same  column, when the forms are same. The column to the right from these, are for the forms of the first (-as, -is, -ys, -ias) and second (-a (-ia), -ė) declensions; one word, žmogus, is of the fourth in singular. The proper forms of the word mėnuo / mėnesis is not of the fifth-third declension and the same is with the word žmogus, which historically had the form žmuo. A word judesys – move, is included for comparison with mėnesis (they have the same suffix -es- and are declined in the same declension, except sg. nom. of mėnuo / mėnesis). Dukra and sesė  are variants of duktė, sesuo of a different declension and meaning – dukra and sesė are more like informal. A word palikuonis has two forms of different declensions: one of the third (original) – palikuonis, and other shifted to the first declension – palikuonis, -io palikuonė, -ės. There are few of -uonis words and only several of them have forms other than the original declension, but in a speech some of them are also sometimes declined in the first declension, for example, geluonis, -ies "c" – sting, can be understood as geluonis, -io "m". For the -uo words (except mėnuo) and the -is words  (like dantis) the shift to the other declensions would be a mistake. When the shift is from the fifth to the third declension it can be understood as minor variation, but the shift to the first declension would be a clear mistake (however, some of the cases are the same, and that is one of the reasons why the shift can occur). But in speech some of the speakers say, for example, rudenio instead of rudens (this can come on dialectal base), dantis, dančio instead of dantis, danties. Besides these cases, there are shifts, which occur commonly in a speech : pačio instead of paties, pečio instead of peties (the original variants are not used less). A word šuo can also be said šuva (one of dialectal variants). The words rūgštìs f 3 (1) – acid, and rū̃gštis 2 – sourness; acidity, are two words of different declensions, their meanings are different, but related. Declension by the paradigms. a-paradigm. The a-paradigm is used to decline: The a-paradigm is the most complex declension paradigm in Lithuanian. It has two different sub-paradigms, one of which is the main paradigm. The second sub-paradigm is called "palatalized", which means that the last  consonant of the stem before the inflection is always palatalized. Note that in this case the palatalization mark (the letter "i") is marked as a part of the inflection. The a-paradigm is masculine. Also note that inflection in the a-paradigm is different for nouns, adjectives, and pronouns in some cases. However, not every pronoun's declension uses the inflections from the "pronoun" column in the table below. Some pronouns, as well as every numeral of the a-paradigm, use the inflections from the "adjective" column. The main sub-paradigm. Other features: The palatalized sub-paradigm. Other features: List  of numbers, that don't use the a-paradigm. Here is a list of numerals that don't use the a-paradigm in the masculine. See the o-paradigm for feminine numbers. Nominatives of the active participles. Notes: u-paradigm. The u-paradigm is used to decline: The u-paradigm has two different sub-paradigms, the main and the palatalized. Note, that in this case the palatalization mark (the letter "i") is marked as a part of the inflection. The u-paradigm is masculine. Inflections of the u-paradigm differ between nouns and adjectives in some cases. The palatalized sub -paradigm. Note that: o-paradigm. The o-paradigm is used to decline: The palatalized sub-paradigm. Other features: ė-paradigm. The ė-paradigm is used to decline: The words in the table: Note, that the inflection of the plural genitive is palatalized (-ių). i-paradigm. The i-paradigm is used to decline: All these words use the unsuffixed sub-paradigm, except the nouns of the first declension, which apply the suffixed sub-paradigm Unsuffixed sub-paradigm. The words in the table: Other features: Irregularities: Note, that the word pats is declined only in masculine in this table. Its feminine form  pati is declined with the o-paradigm regularly. Suffixed sub-paradigm. The words in the table: Other features: Irregularities: Other: Dual number. The dual number has its specific inflections, that are similar with plural inflections with some specific differences: Other features: Irregularities: Shortened inflections. Inflections, that have two or more syllables, are often shortened in Lithuanian, eliding the final short vowel. Shortened inflections are especially used in the spoken language, while in the written language full inflections are preferred. The elision occur in: Also there's just one occasion, when the whole one-syllable inflection may be skipped. This may  be done with feminine active participles of the past tense (or of the past iterative tense) in the singular nominative. So a word "dariusi" - 'who was making, who has made' can be said as "darius". Note, that this shortened form coincides with the sub-participle of the past tense. History. Noun declension inter-linguistic comparison. The declension of Lithuanian nouns of the different declensional patterns are given compared with Latin, Sanskrit, Latvian (in a separate section), Old Prussian, Gothic, Ancient Greek and Russian. Because Old Prussian has left a limited literature with not all the cases of all the stems  employed, the Prussian samples are not full in the tables (the cases which existed are most probably already reconstructed from various data by linguists). At the same time there were fewer cases in Prussian than in modern common Lithuanian and mixing the declension patterns was more common, what could develop in a context of a slow decline in the use of Old Prussian, as the Prussians adopted the languages of the others, particularly German. Lithuanian declension varied in dialects. The first declension. Sg. nom. ends in -as, sg. acc. – in -ą. Latin words of this stem ends in -us in  sg. nom., and -um in sg. acc. When these Latin endings succeeded a labial sound, their vowel was originally ŏ: equos – horse, equom; servos – slave, serf, servom. Sg. nom. in Prussian and Gothic is shortened: tavs, dags. Such shortening is present in western and northern Lithuanian dialects: tėvas, -o – father, and tėvs, -o; dagas, -o – heat of the sun (from degti – to burn), and dags, -o. In Prussian there existed only a shortened form, and it developed one step further in a part of the nouns: kaimis / kaimⁱs – village < kaims < kaimas (Lith. kaimas – village, kiemas – yard). There are  no neuter nouns in Lithuanian and Latvian, differently from the other given here: Lith. butas – flat, living place, Prus. butan – the same meaning, Lat. aedificium – building. Lithuanian instrumental -u derives from an older -uo, what is seen, for example, in pronominal (definite) adjective forms, pronouns: gerù (nom. sg. gẽras – good) and gerúo-ju (nom. sg. geràsis – that good one), juõ (nom. sg. jis / is – he). Lithuanian diphthong uo corresponds to Latin ō. For dat. sg., an ending -uo is also known in dialects. Lithuanian acc. sg. and gen. pl. are written in the letters with an ogonek: ą and ų . An ogonek indicates that the sound is long. Historically these sounds were nasal: vilką < vilkan, vilkų < vilkun. The form with a sound -n is used in some places in north-west Samogitia today. Latin pl. dat.-abl. -īs corresponds to Ancient Greek pl. dat. -ois and Lithuanian pl. instr. -ais. Lithuanian sg. gen. corresponds to Slavic, for example, Russian: vilko (also dial. vilkā) and Russian во́лка. Prussian sg. loc. was probably -ai, -ei: bītai (adverb) – in the evening, kvei – where; compare Lith. namiẽ – at home (namè – in the house). The second declension. Lithuanian and Prussian o denotes a long  ō. Narrowed more, it becomes ū. When more open, it is ā; ā was used in Catechisms in Prussian, o – in Elbing vocabulary. The "ą, ę" correspond to "ų, į" in dialects of eastern Lithuania and acc. sg. is kalbų (kalbą), gėlį (gėlę) in these dialects. The case of -ų corresponds to Latvian and Slavic languages: nom. sg. liepa (Lith.) – linden, liepa (Latv.), ли́па / lipa (Rus.) and acc. sg. liepą and liepų (Lith.), liepu (Latv.), ли́пу / lipu (Rus.). Fifth declension. Among variant declensional forms are known: sg. dat. -i, -: akmeni, akmenie, seseri, seserie. Sg. gen. akmenes, pl. nom. akmenes, akmens . In a case of Old Prussian emen – name, e is dropped in other than sg. nom. cases (sg. acc. emnin instead of emenin). A drop can similarly occur in other languages, for example: Lith. vanduo – water, sg. gen. variants: vandens, vandenies, vandinies, vandenio, vandinio, vandnio. Gothic wato "n" – water: pl. forms, for example, nom.-acc. watna. The third declension. The fourth declension. Prussian sg. nom. -us is known from Elbing vocabulary, it was shortened to -s in Catechisms. Sg. gen. -us is an innovative form, known from Catechisms, the older form was -aus. A word сынъ is given in Old Slavonic  cases. The second declension, -ė type. Prussian -ē stems became -i in an unaccented position. Lithuanian and Latvian. Lithuanian declensional endings are given compared with Latvian declensional endings in the table below.