Lithuanian Out Loud 0053 - Vilniaus Universitetas Vilnius University

LITHUANIAN OUT LOUD

Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language. Here we are still in the month of February which in Lithuanian is…vasaris.

According to the Wikipedia pages entitled, Vilnius TV Tower, and the page, January Events, the tallest building in Lithuania is the Lithuanian Radio and Television Center or Lietuvos radijo ir televizijos centras. Sadly, it was also the location of the Vilnius Massacre during the events of January 1991. Lithuania was the first nation to declare independence from the Soviet Union. The Russians had occupied Lithuania since 1945, so even though World War II had ended for most of the world, the war didn’t end for Lithuania until 1991. Soviet troops, tanks, planes and ships still controlled Lithuania.

On 11 March 1990 Lithuania declared independence but going from a declaration to full independence wasn’t going to be easy. Russia had other ideas. By January 1991 the Speaker of the Lithuanian Supreme Council Vytautas Landsbergis called for independence supporters to form crowds and protect government buildings and other important locations. On January 8th and 9th more Soviet troops poured into Lithuania to head off any attempts of revolution.

On January 10th, Michailas Gorbačiovas announced a military intervention was possible within days. On January 11th, Soviet troops attacked and took control of many government buildings, TV stations, radio stations, airports and railway stations. On the 13th of January Soviet tanks attacked the Vilnius TV Tower but the civilian crowds refused to give way. The Russian tanks drove through the crowd crushing unarmed Lithuanian civilians. 14 people were killed that day at the tower by machine guns and after being run over by tanks.

Today you can visit the site of the massacre and at the base of the tower there’s a small museum dedicated to the patriots who lost their lives. At the top of the tower you can have a meal in the rotating restaurant which has a spectacular view of Vilnius.

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In lessons 0050 and 0051 we worked on galininkas or the accusative case. Today we’ll practice some more with this declension.

Let’s get back in the taxi and see some of Vilnius, but first we need to learn the names of some Vilnius landmarks. Today’s lesson focuses on how to name things in Lithuanian. To do this we need to use kilmininkas or the genitive case. If you need a review just listen to episodes 0022, 0030, 0031, 0033, 0037, and 0039.

When we name something, such as Castle Street or Cathedral Square, we give the street a name and we give the square a name. Castle Street – Cathedral Square. When you name something you use kilmininkas or the genitive case. The first word, castle, in Castle Street is declined. The second word, gatvė, is not affected. The first word, cathedral, in Cathedral Square is declined. The second word, aikštė, is not affected.

Here are some new words. Kaip pasakyti lietuviškai? How do you say it in Lithuanian?

center centras

center centras

city center miesto centras

downtown miesto centras

In this example the word for city is miestas. The first word, miestas, is declined using kilmininkas. Miestas changes to miesto. The second word, center – centras is unchanged.

bend vingis

curve vingis

Bend Park (as in river’s bend) Vingio parkas

Curve Park Vingio parkas

the television televizija

a television televizija

television tower televizijos bokštas

the television tower televizijos bokštas

genocide genocidas

genocide genocidas

genocide museum genocido muziejus

genocide museum genocido muziejus

air or weather oras

the air or the weather oras

a port or a harbor uostas

the port or the harbor uostas

an airport oro uostas

the airport oro uostas

Okay, now let’s name things using Vilnius landmarks. Remember, the first word is declined using kilmininkas, the second word is unchanged.

please repeat prašom pakartoti…

Vilnius University Vilniaus universitetas

Vilnius University Vilniaus universitetas

Castle Street Pilies gatvė

Castle Street Pilies gatvė

Cathedral Square Katedros aikštė

Cathedral Square Katedros aikštė

Gediminas Castle Gedimino pilis

Gediminas Castle Gedimino pilis

Okay! Now we’ll add the phrase, “I’m going to…" Notice that in the following examples the first word of whatever is named stays in kilmininkas. When we say, “I’m going to…" we have to use the accusative case or galininkas because the destination is the direct object of the verb. We’ll go over direct objects and verbs more in the future. Again, when something is named, for example, Vilniaus Universitetas the first word of the named thing is declined, Vilnius changes to Vilniaus.

I’m going to Vilnius University.

When we decline Vilniaus Universitetas using galininkas or the accusative case, the first word, Vilniaus stays in kilmininkas and the second word Universitetas is declined and changes to Universitetą. So, keep in mind the first word stays in kilmininkas, the second word is declined in the new declension.

Vilnius University Vilniaus universitetas

to Vilnius University į Vilniaus universitetą

the television tower televizijos bokštas

to the television tower į televizijos bokštą

Now we’ll show you how to use the verb, važiuoti in the present tense. This is the verb we use when we’re talking about going somewhere using some kind of means of transportation. When you use važiuoti, you’re saying, to go, to drive, or to ride, using a car, a bus, a train, a bicycle, whatever. You’re not talking about walking somewhere.

Please repeat prašom pakartoti

I’m going aš važiuoju

I’m going aš važiuoju

He’s going jis važiuoja

He’s going jis važiuoja

She’s going ji važiuoja

She’s going ji važiuoja

I’m going to Vilnius University aš važiuoju į Vilniaus universitetą

I’m going to Vilnius University aš važiuoju į Vilniaus universitetą

I’m going to Castle Street aš važiuoju į Pilies gatvę

I’m going to Castle Street aš važiuoju į Pilies gatvę

I’m going to Cathedral Square aš važiuoju į Katedros aikštę

I’m going to Cathedral Square aš važiuoju į Katedros aikštę

He’s going to downtown jis važiuoja į miesto centrą

He’s going to downtown jis važiuoja į miesto centrą

He’s going to the television tower jis važiuoja į televizijos bokštą

He’s going to the television tower jis važiuoja į televizijos bokštą

She’s going to The Genocide Museum ji važiuoja į Genocido muziejų

She’s going to The Genocide Museum ji važiuoja į Genocido muziejų

She’s going to Bend Park ji važiuoja į Vingio parką

She’s going to Bend Park ji važiuoja į Vingio parką

She’s going to the airport ji važiuoja į oro uostą

She’s going to the airport ji važiuoja į oro uostą

I’m going to Gediminas Castle aš važiuoju į Gedimino pilį

I’m going to Gediminas Castle aš važiuoju į Gedimino pilį

Now, that was a challenging lesson! In the next lesson we‘ll work some more on the names of places in the capital, Vilnius, Lithuania and we‘ll give you much more practice with the concepts here.

Sveikinu! Congratulations for making it through another episode! Sveikinu!

Alright, that’s it for today, we’d like to thank you very much for listening, we appreciate it.

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Thanks to CCMixter.org, Ditto Ditto and Vieux Farka Toure for the podcast music.

Thanks for tuning in, tell your friends about us, we’ll see you on the next episode of Lithuanian Out Loud.

I’m Jack and I’ve never met a Lithuanian I didn’t like. Viso gero! Sudie!

http://www.Lithuanian.Libsyn.com Skype voicemail: Lithuanianoutloud email Raminta and Jack at: [e-mail] Thanks to: CCMixter.org, ditto ditto, and Vieux Farka Touré for allowing us to use the music for this podcast. http://www.vieuxfarkatoure.com/ http://www.ccmixter.org/