Editing Lithuanian grammar (section)

==Properties and morphological categories==

===Grammatical terminology===
:{| class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan="2" scope="col" | Category 
!colspan="2" scope="col" | Language 
|-
! Lithuanian 
! English
|-
!rowspan="11" scope="row" | [[Lexical category|Parts of speech]]
| daiktavardis || [[noun]]
|-
| būdvardis || [[adjective]]
|-
| veiksmažodis || [[verb]]
|-
| skaitvardis || [[Numeral (linguistics)|numeral]]
|-
| įvardis || [[pronoun]]
|-
| prieveiksmis || [[adverb]]
|-
| dalelytė || [[Grammatical particle|particle]]
|-
| prielinksnis || [[preposition]]
|-
| jungtukas || [[Grammatical conjunction|conjunction]]
|-
| jaustukas || [[interjection]]
|-
| ištiktukas || [[verbal interjection]]
|-
!rowspan="7" scope="row" | Main [[Grammatical case|cases]] (liñksniai)
| vardininkas || [[Nominative case|nominative]]
|-
| kilmininkas || [[Genitive case|genitive]]
|-
| naudininkas || [[Dative case|dative]]
|-
| galininkas || [[Accusative case|accusative]]
|-
| įnagininkas || [[Instrumental case|instrumental]]
|-
| vietininkas || [[Inessive case|inessive]]
|-
| šauksmininkas || [[Vocative case|vocative]]
|-
!rowspan="3" scope="row" | Locative cases
| iliatyvas, kryptininkas || [[Illative case|illative]]
|-
| aliatyvas || [[Allative case|allative]]
|-
| adesyvas || [[Adessive case|adessive]]
|-
!rowspan="3" scope="row" | [[Grammatical number|Number]] (skaĩčiai)
| vienaskaita || singular
|-
| dviskaita || dual
|-
| daugiskaita || plural
|-
!rowspan="3" scope="row" | [[Degrees of comparison]] (láipsniai)
| nelyginamasis || positive
|-
| aukštesnysis || comparative
|-
| aukščiausiasis || superlative
|-
!rowspan="2" scope="row" | [[Grammatical gender|Genders]] (gìminės)
| vyriškoji || masculine
|-
| moteriškoji || feminine
|-
!rowspan="4" scope="row" | [[Grammatical tense|Tenses]] (laikaĩ)
| esamasis || present
|-
| būtasis kartinis || past
|-
| būtasis dažninis || past iterative
|-
| būsimasis || future
|-
!rowspan="4" scope="row" | [[Grammatical moods|Moods]] (núosakos)
| tiesioginė || indicative
|-
| netiesioginė || indirect
|-
| tariamoji || conditional (subjunctive)
|-
| liepiamoji || imperative
|-
!rowspan="2" scope="row" | [[Grammatical voice|Voices]] (rū́šys)
| veikiamoji || active
|-
| neveikiamoji || passive
|-
!rowspan="2" scope="row" | [[Grammatical aspect|Aspects]] (veikslaĩ)
| įvykio || perfective
|-
| eigos || continuous, progressive
|}

===Gender===

Lithuanian nouns are classified into one of two [[gender (linguistics)|gender]]s:
*[[masculine gender|masculine]]
*[[feminine gender|feminine]]

Lithuanian adjectives, numerals, pronouns and participles are classified into one of three [[gender (linguistics)|gender]]s:

*[[masculine gender|masculine]]
*[[feminine gender|feminine]]
*[[neutral gender|neuter]]

Since no noun can have a neutral gender, it is used with [[Subject (grammar)|subjects]] of neutral or undefined gender:

*Ji ({{abbr|fem.|feminine}}) yra graži ({{abbr|fem.|feminine}}) – She is beautiful.
*Mokytojas ({{abbr|masc.|masculine}}) bus pasirengęs ({{abbr|masc.|masculine}}) – The teacher will be ready.
*Skaityti buvo įdomu (''neuter'') – Reading was interesting.

The gender of a pronoun '''kas''' – 'who? what?', personal pronouns '''aš''' / '''mes''' – 'I' / 'we', '''tu''' / '''jūs''' – 'you (singular) / you (plural)' and a [[reflexive pronoun]] '''savęs''' is indefinite, it means any of the genders. The word ''kas'' uses masculine inflections, the other pronouns have their own specific paradigm. The nouns of the indefinite gender have feminine form inflections.

The masculine gender is also the [[gender (linguistics)#Contextual determination of gender|indeterminate gender]] as in many other Indo-European languages. This means that for an entire mixed group of objects belonging to masculine and feminine genders, the masculine gender is used.<ref>In some languages like [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] neuter is used in such cases.</ref> The masculine as the indeterminate gender differs from the indefinite gender, which allows treatment of the word in two ways.

Note that there are many nouns that use masculine or feminine genders without any reason of [[gender|biological gender]], for instance, words that denote inanimate objects. The masculine or feminine usage of these words is stable (with few exceptions) and doesn't depend on the will of a speaker.

Lithuanian grammatical genders are similar to, for instance, Latin:
:{| class="wikitable" style="line-height: 1.4em;"
|- valign=top
| ''nominative&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br />genitive'' || vilkas<br /><small>wolf</small><br />vilko || kalba<br /><small>language</small><br />kalbos || prekė<br /><small>commodity</small><br />prekės<br /> || pilis<br /><small>castle</small><br />pilies || viršus<br /><small>top</small><br />viršaus<br /> || akmuo<br /><small>stone</small><br />akmens || girdė́tas, girdė́ta, girdė́ta<br /><small>heard; gender sequence: {{abbr|m.|masculine}}, {{abbr|f.|feminine}}, {{abbr|n.|neuter}}</small><br />girdė́to, girdė́tos<br /><small>from girdė́ti – to hear (continuing, imperfective action)</small> || ìšgirstas, išgirstà, ìšgirsta<br /><small>heard</small><br />ìšgirsto, išgirstõs<br /><small>from išgir̃sti – to hear (one-time, perfective action)</small>
|- valign=top
| ''nominative&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br />genitive'' || lupus<br /><small>wolf</small><br />lupī || lingua<br /><small>language</small><br />linguae || rēs<br /><small>thing</small><br />reī || turris<br /><small>tower</small><br />turris|| frūctus<br /><small>fruit</small><br />frūctūs || acūmen&nbsp;{{abbr|n.|neuter}}<br /><small>sharp point</small><br />acūminis<br /> || audītus, audīta, audītum<br /><small>heard, listened; from audīre [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/audio#Latin] – to hear, listen</small><br />audītī, audītae, audītī
|}

===Grammatical number===

The Lithuanian language has two main [[grammatical number|numbers]], [[singular number|singular]] and [[plural number|plural]]. It has also a [[dual (grammatical number)|dual number]], which is used in certain dialects, such as [[Samogitian dialect|Samogitian]]. Some words in the standard language retain their dual forms (for example ''du'' ("two") and ''abu'' ("both"), an indefinite number and super-plural words (''dauginiai žodžiai'' in Lithuanian). Dual forms of pronouns used in the standard language are also optional.

The singular number indicates that the denoted thing is one or indivisible (as in méilė – love, smė̃lis – sand, píenas – milk). The plural number, when it can be in contrast with the singular, indicates that there are many of the things denoted by the word. But sometimes, when a word doesn't have the singular number, being a [[plurale tantum]] noun, the plural form doesn't indicate real singularity or plurality of the denoted object(s).

Adjectives and numerals also have the singular-plural distinction. Their number depends on that of the noun they are attributed to.

The dual number indicates a pair of things. Historically, the dual number has been a full grammatical number, participating as the third element in singular-dual – plural distinction. During the last century,{{Clarify|date=March 2018}} the dual was used more or less sporadically in Lithuanian, sometimes reaching the status of a full number for agreement purposes, meaning the dual of noun required dual agreement in its adjectives or the dual of the subject required the dual of the verb. But in many more cases the dual was reduced to a nominal category explicitly indicating a pair of things, but not requiring dual agreement of adjectives or verbs. Presently, the dual is mostly used as a declension paradigm for numbers du – two, abu – both (and a variant abudu – idem) and with personal pronouns aš – I, mùdu {{abbr|du.|dual}} – we two (mẽs {{abbr|pl.|plural}} – we) and tu {{abbr|sg.|singular}} – you, jùdu {{abbr|du.|dual}} – you two (jū̃s {{abbr|pl.|plural}} – you).

:{|
|-
| colspan=4| dual || || colspan=4| plural
|-
| ''present'' || ''past'' || ''future'' || ''imperative'' || || ''present'' || ''past'' || ''future'' || ''imperative''
|-
| eĩnava – we two are going; we two go || ė̃jova || eĩsiva || eĩkiva – let us two go || || eĩname || ė̃jome || eĩsime || eĩkime – let us go
|-
| eĩnata – you two are going; you two go || ė̃jota || eĩsita || eĩkita – you two go || || eĩnate || ė̃jote || eĩsite || eĩkite
|-
| colspan=4| || || colspan=4| singular
|-
| colspan=4 rowspan=2| || || einù || ėjaũ || eĩsiu ||
|-
| || einì || ėjaĩ || eĩsi || eĩk – go
|}

The indefinite number indicates that the same form of the word can be understood singular or plural, depending both on situation and on other words in the sentence. There are only few words that demonstrate indefinite number, and the indefinite number doesn't have its own forms in Lithuanian. These words are pronouns ''kas'' – 'who? what?', ''kažkas'' – 'something, somebody' and [[reflexive pronoun]] ''savęs''. All of them use inflections of the singular.

The super-plural words are a few numbers and pronouns that indicate a counting not of separate things, but of groups of things.

:keleri – 'several (groups of)'
:abeji – 'both (groups of)'
:(vieneri – 'one (group of)')
:dveji – 'two (groups of)'
:treji – 'three (groups of)'
:ketveri – 'four (groups of)'
:penkeri – 'five (groups of)'
:šešeri – 'six (groups of)'
:septyneri – 'seven (groups of)'
:aštuoneri – 'eight (groups of)'
:devyneri – 'nine (groups of)'

These words are also used with plurale tantum nouns instead of plural words (''keli'', ''abu'', ''du'', ''trys'' and so on), in which case they indicate not the plural of groups, but just the semantic plural or singular (a word ''vieneri'' – 'one' only) of the noun.

===Cases of declined words===
{{main|Lithuanian declension}}

* [[Nominative]] – vardininkas
* [[Genitive]] – kilmininkas; it also functions similarly to the [[ablative]] case in other languages.
* [[Dative case|Dative]] – naudininkas
* [[Accusative case|Accusative]] – galininkas
* [[Instrumental case|Instrumental]] – įnagininkas
* [[Locative case|Locative cases:]]
:* [[Locative]] (inessive) – vietininkas
:* [[Illative]] – (iliatyvas, sometimes referred as kryptininkas); dialectal, without clear status in the standard Lithuanian
:* [[Allative]]; obsolete, the singular is reduced to adverbs
:* [[Adessive]]; extinct
* [[Vocative]] – šauksmininkas

Examples of the locative cases:
*[[inessive]] is fully used locative case (and the only one of Indo-European origin, the following three being borrowed to Uralic). An example: nãmas – a house, namè – in a house, vyruose – in men. It is also used for a temporal meaning in some words: vakarè {{IPA|[vɐkɐrʲˈɛ]}} – in the evening (vãkaras {{IPA|[ˈväːkɐrɐs̪]}} {{abbr|nom.|nominative}} 'an evening'). But more nouns are used in accusative for the latter meaning: vãsarą – in summer, rùdenį – in autumn, trẽčią vãlandą – in three o'clock. This accusative form also means duration: trečią dieną kepina {{IPA|[ˈtʲrʲæːt͡ʃʲæː ˈdʲiən̪äː ˈkʲæːpʲɪn̪ɐ]}} (kepina is idiomatic or slang in such meaning) – it is the third day when it (sun) sizzles (its heat). Plural forms for temporal "locatives" are expressed by instrumental: vakaraĩs – in / by evenings, vãsaromis – in / by summers.
*[[illative]] is used sparingly. Some terms are normal, for example, in law: patráukti baudžiamõjon atsakomýbėn – to prosecute; literally: to draw, pull, move to penal amenability (not į (''to'')  baudžiamają atsakomybę {{abbr|acc.|accusative}}, not (''for'') baudžiamajai atsakomybei ''dative''). Other examples: singular káiman – to(wards) the village, miškañ – to(wards) a forest, and forms of the common language į káimą, į mìšką; plural káimuos-na, miškúos-na and common forms į káimus, į miškùs;
*[[allative]]. Examples: namop – up to the home. Today it is used only in a few idiomic expressions like vakaróp – about nightfall, velnióp – to hell with smth.; šuniop – down the drain (about dog, to a dog); galóp – ultimately; nuteisti myriop – to send to the scaffold;
*[[adessive]]. Examples: laukíe-p {{abbr|sg.|singular}} – beside the field, at the field, namíe-p {{abbr|sg.|singular}}. It is a historical or dialectal case, extinct in modern standard Lithuanian, but it is preserved in the adverbs: namie – at home, netoli(e) – not far, toli(e) – far, arti(e) – nearby, vienaip ar kitaip – anyway, savaip – in one's own fashion/way, tavaip – in your ({{abbr|sg.|singular}}) fashion/way, visaip – diversely. etc.

The later three locatives are adverb-forming cases.