Are you ready for your trip and to speak the language of Lithuania? But before you go, you have to know the basics of Lithuanian numbers and counting first. Everything evolves around numbers so it definitely would be handly, trust me. Let me give you a little refresher about Lithuania. Previously, we have learned that Lithuania is a country with many ethnicities and they these ethnicities speak their own languages as their mother tongue. And if you want to communicate better, knowing these basic numbers can seriously help you out!
Lithuanian Numbers
Number in Lithuanian is called skaičius, while ‘numbers’ is called skaičių. In this lesson, I would introduce the basics of cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers and the rules to help you along your journey.
Cardinal Numbers
In the Lithuanian language, the concept of cardinal numbers (Skaitvardžiai) is almost similar to English. You just have to memorize the basic numbers from 1-10 and later on, you can add the proper suffixes (or declensions) for numbers more than 10 accordingly.
However, just like how I mentioned in my previous posts, there is a gender rule. Digits from zero to 9 have to follow the gender rule; if the number is followed by a masculine noun, the numbers should be masculine and vice versa. Despite that, this rule does not apply to 10 and above as there is only one gender after 10. The table below shows the differentiation between the feminine and masculine numbers. As you can observe, the numbers below three all use the declension ‘ios’ for the female counterpart.
| Number | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | vienas (vienn – as) | viena |
| 2 | du (doh) | dvi |
| 3 | trys (trees) | trys |
| 4 | keturi (ket-u-reh) | keturios |
| 5 | penki (penkay) | penkios |
| 6 | šeši (shey-shey) | šešios |
| 7 | septyni (sept-teen-knee) | septynios |
| 8 | aštuoni (ash-tony) | aštuonios |
| 9 | devyni (dev-E-neh) | devynios |
| 0 | nulis | nulis |
Example Of How It Works
Two books = dvi knygos
Two Cars = Du automobiliai
Four Cats = keturios katės
Four pens = keturi rašikliai
The numbers from 11 to 19 use the same basic numbers but change the ending to ‘lika‘. For example, the number one is vienas, hence the number 11 would be vienuolika; and 12 would be dvylika, 15 would be penkiolika, and so on. For all the other numbers, simply multiply by ten, like 20, 30, 40, and 50, it should end with ‘–dešimt‘ (except for 10).
| Number | Lithuanian Numbers |
|---|---|
| 20 | dvidešimt |
| 30 | trisdešimt |
| 40 | keturiasdešimt |
| 50 | penkiasdešimt |
| 60 | šešiasdešimt |
| 70 | septyniasdešimt |
| 80 | aštuoniasdešimt |
| 90 | devyniasdešimt |
In the Lithuanian language for “hundreds”, you can simply add the word ‘šimtas‘ (oršimtai, in plural form)that translates directly into ‘hundred’ after the number. So, when using the word ‘hundred’, all of them should use the plural form, except for the number ‘100’. For example, šimtasfor 100; du šimtaifor 200; trys šimtaifor 300, devyni šimtaifor 900and so on.
The same concept should be applied to thousands. The word that should be added to thousands is ‘tūkstantis’ or tūkstančiai, in plural form. Again the singular form is only for 1000, and the rest should use the plural form. Some examples are ‘du tūkstančiai’ for 2,000; ‘trys tūkstančiai‘ for 3,000; ‘keturi tūkstančiai’ 4,000, and etc.
To read or spell out compound numbers, you can just use direct translation from English (just omit the word ‘and’ out). Just like other languages, you have to put the ten before the unit, hundred before the ten, thousand before the hundred, and so on. For example,
forty-five = keturiasdešimt penki
Three hundred and seventy six = trys šimtai septyniasdešimt šeši
One thousand five hundred = tūkstantis penki šimtai
Two thousand one hundred and ten = du tūkstančiai šimtas dešimt
More Lithuanian Numbers
| Number | Lithuanian Number |
|---|---|
| 0 | nulis |
| 1 | vienas |
| 2 | du |
| 3 | trys |
| 4 | keturi |
| 5 | penki |
| 6 | šeši |
| 7 | septyni |
| 8 | aštuoni |
| 9 | devyni |
| 10 | dešimt |
| 11 | vienuolika |
| 12 | dvylika |
| 13 | trylika |
| 14 | keturiolika |
| 15 | penkiolika |
| 16 | šešiolika |
| 17 | septyniolika |
| 18 | aštuoniolika |
| 19 | devyniolika |
| 20 | dvidešimt |
| 30 | trisdešimt |
| 40 | keturiasdešimt |
| 50 | penkiasdešimt |
| 60 | šešiasdešimt |
| 70 | septyniasdešimt |
| 80 | aštuoniasdešimt |
| 90 | devyniasdešimt |
| 100 | šimtas |
| 1 000 | tūkstantis |
| one million | milijonas |
| one billion | milijardas |
| one trillion | trilijonas |
Ordinal Numbers
Just as in other languages, Ordinal numbers (Kelintiniai skaitvardžiai) in the Lithuanian language is to tell the order of things, rank, or position. Here are some Ordinal numbers that can be useful for you and your grammar training. As you can observe, adding ‘-as’ at the end of the basic words can change it to ordinal numbers.
| English | Lithuanian |
|---|---|
| first | pirmas |
| second | antras |
| third | trečias |
| fourth | ketvirtas |
| fifth | penktas |
| sixth | šeštas |
| seventh | septintas |
| eighth | aštuntas |
| ninth | devintas |
| tenth | dešimtas |
| eleventh | vienuoliktas |
| twelfth | dvyliktas |
| thirteenth | tryliktas |
| fourteenth | keturioliktas |
| fifteenth | penkioliktas |
| sixteenth | šešioliktas |
| seventeenth | septynioliktas |
| eighteenth | aštuonioliktas |
| nineteenth | devynioliktas |
| twentieth | dvidešimtas |
Once you understand Lithuanian numbers, especially ordinal numbers, you can also easily learn the seven days of the week. It is quite easy as you can just add the word ‘day’ after the number.
| Lithuanian | English | Literal translation |
| pirmadienis | Monday | first day |
| antradienis | Tuesday | second day |
| trečiadienis | Wednesday | third day |
| ketvirtadienis | Thursday | fourth day |
| penktadienis | Friday | fifth day |
| šeštadienis | Saturday | sixth day |
| sekmadienis | Sunday | seventh day |
Other Number-Related Words
Now that you already have an idea about the basics, let us now expand your vocabulary further with these other words which can help you out express better when speaking or dealing with the locals.
| English | Lithuanian |
|---|---|
| once | kartą |
| twice | dvigubai |
| each | kiekvienas |
| all | visi |
| everything | viskas |
| none (not one) | nė vienas |
| nothing | niekas |
| nobody | niekas |
| quarter | ketvirtis |
| half | pusė |
| meter | metras |
| kilometer | kilometras |
| millimeter | milimetras |
| gram | gramas |
| kilogram | kilogramas |
| block | kvartalas |
| euro | euras |
| dollar | doleris |
| litas (Lithuanian currency) | litas |
What Happens After You Can Count?
Memorizing what I have shared with you can help you add useful and important words to your Lithuanian vocabulary, thus making your Lithuanian very colorful. After mastering the numbers and counting, you can easily grasp time reading, price-reading, and also map-reading. As we reach this part of the post, we hope that you are able to find the confidence in using all the above words so that you can get around the country easily.
If you need more information regarding the Lithuanian language or Lithuania as a country, please check out our previous posts like the common languages existing in the country, words related to family, and a painless guide on how to introduce yourself like a Lithuanian.
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