Demonstratives and Determiners

Šis and Tas

132.Šis points at what is near — this; tas at what is further off or already spoken of — that. Both decline and agree with their noun in gender, number and case, exactly as an adjective does (¶17). Their endings are largely the adjective endings; what has to be learnt is the short stem and the handful of forms that do not follow it.

Šis butas didesnis negu tas.

This flat is bigger than that one.

Neskaityk šios knygos.

Don't read this book. — genitive of negation, the demonstrative agreeing

Tame name gyvena mano brolis.

My brother lives in that house.

Anas: the Further Demonstrative

133.Lithuanian has a third degree of pointing that English lacks. Anas is that one over there — further off than tas, or the second of two already contrasted. It declines like geras, with no irregularity at all, and it is much the rarest of the three.

Šis namas naujas, o anas senas.

This house is new, and that one over there is old.

Ne šitą, aną!

Not this one — that one!

• [1] In speech šitas is often heard for šis; it is the colloquial form of the same word and declines like geras.

Toks: Such

134.Toks, tokia is such or of that kind, and it is the answer to koks? (¶51) as tas is the answer to kuris?. Note the idiom Koks tu geras! — how kind of you — where Lithuanian uses the question word for an exclamation, and toks answers it.

Noriu tokios pat knygos.

I want the same sort of book.

Toks oras man nepatinka.

I do not like weather like this.

Koks gražus miestas!

What a beautiful city!

Kuris: Which of Several

135.Kuris, kuri asks which one out of a known set, where koks asks what kind. The distinction is real and English blurs it: which book? is kuri knyga? if the books are before you and kokia knyga? if you are asking what sort of book it was. Kelintas asks the position in an order — the how-manieth (¶82).

Kuris autobusas važiuoja į centrą?

Which bus goes to the centre?

Kuriame aukšte gyveni?

Which floor do you live on?

Visas and Kiekvienas

136.Visas in the singular is the whole; in the plural, visi, visos, it is all. Kiekvienas is each, every, and being a distributive it is always singular, however many people are meant — in this it agrees with English every and not with all.

Vakar lijo visą dieną.

Yesterday it rained all day. — accusative of duration (¶83)

Visi jau grįžo.

They have all come back already.

Kiekvieną savaitę einu į kursus.

Every week I go to the classes.

Niekas and the Doubled Negative

137.Niekas is nobody and nothing together; its genitive nieko is met oftener than its nominative, because a negated verb governs the genitive (¶26). The rule that governs it is the one already given for niekada (¶41): a negative word requires the verb to be negated as well. Lithuanian doubles its negatives where English forbids it, and a single negative in such a sentence is simply wrong.

Buvau parduotuvėje, bet nieko nepirkau.

I was at the shop but bought nothing.

Mums nereikia nieko.

We need nothing.

Tas Pats: the Same

138.The same is tas pats, ta pati — literally that itself — and both words decline, each agreeing with the noun. English has one invariable word here and Lithuanian has two variable ones, so the phrase repays a moment's attention. Beside it stands kitas, other or another (¶103), which is its opposite.

Mes gyvename tame pačiame name.

We live in the same house.

Tai ta pati knyga.

That is the same book.

Kitą savaitę važiuosime.

Next week we shall go.