The Genitive

The Genitive Singular

28.The genitive answers kieno? (whose?) and ko? (of what?). Its singular endings are given below. Note that masculine -is and -ys fall together in -io, exactly as they fell together in the accusative (¶20), and that the genitive is the case in which a noun is cited second in every dictionary — it is what tells you which declension the word belongs to.

brolio knyga

the brother's book

namo langas

the window of the house

The Genitive of Possession

29.The possessor stands in the genitive and precedes the thing possessed, as in English "the brother's book" and never as in "the book of the brother". Lithuanian has no word answering to of: the ending does the whole work.

mokytojo namas

the teacher's house

Rūtos katė

Rūta's cat — proper names decline like any other noun

mergaitės knyga

the girl's book

• [1] Reversing the order reverses the sense: mokytojo namas is the teacher's house, namo mokytojas the house's teacher.

The Genitive of Origin

30.Iš (from, out of) governs the genitive, and with it a speaker says where they come from — one of the first things asked of a foreigner in Lithuania. The question is Iš kur tu esi?

Aš esu iš Lietuvos.

I am from Lithuania. — Lietuva → Lietuvos

Ji yra iš Vilniaus.

She is from Vilnius. — Vilnius → Vilniaus, a -us noun

Iš kur tu esi?

Where are you from?

The Genitive after a Negated Verb

31.The rule stated for recognition in ¶26 may now be given its reason. A negated verb asserts that no part of the thing was affected, and the genitive is the case of the part rather than of the whole; so the direct object of a negated transitive verb leaves the accusative and takes the genitive. This is not optional and admits no exception.

Aš matau namą. → Aš nematau namo.

I see a house. → I do not see a house.

Ji turi knygą. → Ji neturi knygos.

She has a book. → She has no book.

Mes valgome duoną. → Mes nevalgome duonos.

We eat bread. → We do not eat bread.

The Genitive of Quantity

32.A word of measure or quantity is followed by the genitive of the thing measured — the partitive genitive, so called because it names the whole out of which a part is taken. This is how prices are asked and shopping done, and it governs kiek? (how much, how many) as well.

kilogramas obuolių

a kilogram of apples — obuoliai → obuolių, genitive plural

puodelis kavos

a cup of coffee

daug vandens

much water

Kiek duonos?

How much bread?

• [1] The genitive plural ends in -ų for every declension: namų, brolių, knygų, kačių. It is taken up in full with the plural.

Prepositions Governing the Genitive

33.Most Lithuanian prepositions govern one case and one only, and the commonest govern the genitive: iš (from), nuo (from, off), iki (until, as far as), prie (near, at), ant (on), be (without), po (after, of time). Learning a preposition means learning its case with it; a preposition with the wrong case is as wrong as a wrong preposition.

Knyga guli ant stalo.

The book is lying on the table.

Kava be pieno.

Coffee without milk.

Asking with the Genitive

34.The interrogative kas has its own genitive ko (of what), and for persons kieno (whose). A question is answered in the case the question word stands in — which is why knowing the case of a question word is knowing the shape of its answer.

Kieno tai knyga? — Brolio.

Whose book is this? — The brother's.

Ko tu neturi? — Pinigų.

What do you not have? — Money.