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

http://kaunas.karalyte.com/where.html