A1 · Section 17

The Past Simple

The *būtasis kartinis laikas*: one past tense doing the work of the English simple past, perfect and continuous together. It has two sets of endings, and which of them a verb takes is settled by the third form given in the dictionary.

The Third Principal Part

93.Every Lithuanian verb is cited with three forms — dirbti, dirba, dirbo — and the third of them is the past. It is not derivable from the other two, which is exactly why the dictionary gives it: the past stem must be learnt with the verb, as the present stem was (¶35). Once it is known, the whole tense follows, because the past has only two patterns of ending against the present's three.

Vakar dirbau.: Yesterday I worked.
Vakar skaičiau knygą.: Yesterday I read a book.

The three principal parts
	infinitive	3rd present	3rd past	past type
to work	dirbti	dirba	dirbo	-o
to go	eiti	eina	ėjo	-o
to speak	kalbėti	kalba	kalbėjo	-o
to eat	valgyti	valgo	valgė	-ė
to read	skaityti	skaito	skaitė	-ė
to write	rašyti	rašo	rašė	-ė

The present type and the past type are independent: valgyti is a third-conjugation present and an -ė past, kalbėti a second-conjugation present and an -o past. Knowing one tells you nothing about the other.

The Past of the -o Type

94.Where the third principal part ends in -o, the personal endings are those below. Cut the -o from the cited form and add them; the third person is the cited form itself, and serves both numbers as it does in the present (¶57).

Pernai gyvenome Kaune.: Last year we lived in Kaunas.
Ar tu kalbėjai su mokytoju?: Did you speak to the teacher?

dirbti, dirba, dirbo — past
person	singular	plural
1	dirbau	dirbome
2	dirbai	dirbote
3	dirbo	dirbo

So too ėjau, ėjai, ėjo, ėjome, ėjote, ėjo and kalbėjau, kalbėjai, kalbėjo, kalbėjome, kalbėjote, kalbėjo.

The Past of the -ė Type

95.Where the third principal part ends in -ė, the endings differ in the first and second person singular: -iau and -ei. The -iau is a back vowel, and it therefore softens a preceding t to č and d to dž, exactly as the genitive does (¶28) — skaitė gives skaičiau, not skaitiau.

Mačiau tave vakar.: I saw you yesterday.
Ji rašė laišką.: She was writing a letter.
Mes valgėme namie.: We ate at home.

skaityti, skaito, skaitė — past
person	singular	plural
1	skaičiau	skaitėme
2	skaitei	skaitėte
3	skaitė	skaitė

Likewise matė → mačiau, valgė → valgiau, rašė → rašiau. The softening happens only before -iau; the other five forms keep the consonant unaltered.

The Past of Būti

96.Būti is regular in the past, whatever it does in the present: its third principal part is buvo, and the -o endings of ¶94 apply without exception. Note that where the present tense may drop yra altogether (¶16), the past may not — buvo has to be said.

Vakar buvau namie.: Yesterday I was at home.
Tai buvo geras filmas.: That was a good film.
Jis buvo mokytojas.: He was a teacher. — the predicate noun stands in the nominative, as in the present (¶16)

būti, yra, buvo — past
person	singular	plural
1	buvau	buvome
2	buvai	buvote
3	buvo	buvo

Negation in the Past

97.Negation works in the past exactly as in the present: ne- is written onto the front of the verb as one word (¶25), and the object of the negated verb goes into the genitive (¶26). Nothing about the past tense alters either rule — which is worth stating plainly, because learners commonly keep the accusative once the sentence moves out of the present.

Vakar nedirbau.: Yesterday I did not work.
Ji neskaitė knygos.: She did not read the book. — *knygos*, genitive; *knygą* would be wrong
Mes nebuvome namie.: We were not at home.

Telling What Happened

98.The one past tense covers what English divides among three: dirbau is I worked, I was working and I have worked alike, and the context or an adverb supplies the difference. The adverbs that most often supply it are vakar (yesterday), pernai (last year) and prieš with the accusative (¶87). This is also the tense of a biography — where one was born, where one studied, where one worked.

Gimiau Vilniuje.: I was born in Vilnius.
Studijavau universitete, o paskui dirbau mokykloje.: I studied at the university, and afterwards worked at a school.
Prieš metus atvažiavau į Lietuvą.: A year ago I came to Lithuania.

One tense, three English renderings
	Lithuanian	English
simple	Vakar dirbau.	Yesterday I worked.
continuous	Kai skambinai, dirbau.	When you rang, I was working.
perfect	Aš jau dirbau Lietuvoje.	I have already worked in Lithuania.

Vocabulary

vakar: yesterday · adverb
paskui: afterwards, then · adverb
jau: already · particle
pirkti: to buy · verb; perka, pirko, I
sakyti: to say · verb; sako, sakė, III
atvažiuoti: to arrive, to come (by vehicle) · verb; atvažiuoja, atvažiavo, I
filmas: film · noun; filmo, filmą, m.

Drill this section Next: The Future