Lithuanian Out Loud 0077 Beg - Suprasti To Understand

Published: May 4, 2008, 10:01 p.m.

Hi there, I’m Raminta – Oh, you’re not Raminta.  Hi there, I’m Raminta and I’m Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.

Hey!  We’re in a new month.  In English this month is called May, after the Greek goddess Maia.  The Romans associated Maia with their own goddess Bona Dea, the “good goddess."  She’s the goddess of fertility, virginity, and women. Bona Dea had festivals in this month.  In Lithuanian this month is called Gegužė.  Gegužė is derived from gegutė, the cuckoo bird. The call of the cuckoo tells everyone spring has arrived.  Woohoo!  Good news.  I’m ready for spring.

France and Lithuania are the two most nuclear power dependant nations in the world.  In 2004, 80% of Lithuania’s electrical power came from nuclear power according to the Wikipedia page entitled, Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.

As a condition of joining the European Union, Lithuania agreed to close Ignalinos atominė elektrinė.  Why is Lithuania required to close it down?  Safety.  Unfortunately, the nuclear power plant at Ignalina is of the same design as the Chernobyl reactor which exploded in 1986, spraying Europe with airborne radioactive waste.  Not only that, but the reactor is built on a tectonic fault and the United States Department of Energy has named Ignalina one of the most dangerous nuclear installations in the world.  There’s a lively debate today in Lithuania as to when a new nuclear power plant should be built to replace the plant at Ignalina.

pradėkime, let’s get started.  labai gerai.

Previously we studied the verb kalbėti, to speak.  Today we’ll learn to conjugate suprasti - to understand.  Kaip pasakyti lietuviškai?  How do you say it in Lithuanian?

I understand                                         aš suprantu
you understand (familiar)                       tu supranti
he understands                                      jis supranta
she understands                                     ji supranta
we understand                                       mes suprantame
you understand (formal)                         jūs suprantate
you all understand                                  jūs suprantate
they understand (male / female group)     jie supranta
they understand (females only)               jos supranta

Now, we’ll go over some sentences but first we’ll introduce the word, tik – only.

only                                                          tik
merely                                                       tik

I understand English                                    aš suprantu angliškai
I don’t understand English                            aš nesuprantu angliškai
I understand Lithuanian                                aš suprantu lietuviškai
I don’t understand Lithuanian                        aš nesuprantu lietuviškai
I understand Lithuanian well                         aš labai gerai suprantu lietuviškai
I don’t understand Lithuanian well                 aš nelabai gerai suprantu lietuviškai
I understand Chinese                                    aš suprantu kiniškai
I understand Indonesian                               aš suprantu indoneziškai
I don‘t understand Indonesian                      aš nesuprantu indoneziškai
I don‘t understand                                       aš nesuprantu
I understand only English                             aš suprantu tik angliškai
I only understand Lithuanian                        aš suprantu tik lietuviškai
he understands only Spanish and French       jis supranta tik ispaniškai ir prancūziškai
he understands only Italian and German        jis supranta tik itališkai ir vokiškai
he understands Chinese                               jis supranta kiniškai
he doesn‘t understand Chinese                     jis nesupranta kiniškai
he understands Chinese well                        jis labai gerai supranta kiniškai
he doesn‘t understand Chinese well              jis nelabai gerai supranta kiniškai
do you understand Dutch?                           ar tu supranti olandiškai?
do you understand Indonesian?                    ar tu supranti indoneziškai?
no, I understand only Russian and German   ne, aš suprantu tik rusiškai ir vokiškai
do you understand Latvian?                         ar tu supranti latviškai?
yes, I understand Latvian and Japanese         taip, aš suprantu latviškai ir japoniškai
does she understand Lithuanian?                  ar ji supranta lietuviškai?
no, she understands only Spanish                 ne, ji supranta tik ispaniškai
do you all understand Polish?                      ar jūs suprantate lenkiškai?
yes, we understand Polish                           taip, mes suprantame lenkiškai
no, we don’t understand Polish                   ne, mes nesuprantame lenkiškai
do you understand Chinese?                        ar jūs suprantate kiniškai?
do you understand Spanish?                        ar jūs suprantate ispaniškai?
no, we understand only Lithuanian               ne, mes suprantame tik lietuviškai
you understand German, right? (formal)       jūs suprantate vokiškai, ar ne?
yes, I understand German well                    taip, aš gerai suprantu vokiškai
do they understand French?                        ar jie supranta prancūziškai?
yes, they understand French well                 taip, jie gerai supranta prancūziškai
do they understand Italian?                          ar jie supranta itališkai?
yes, they well understand Italian                   taip, jie gerai supranta itališkai
no, they don’t understand Italian well           ne, jie nelabai gerai supranta itališkai
do they understand Chinese? (females only)  ar jos supranta kiniškai?
do they understand Indonesian?                    ar jos supranta indoneziškai?
do they understand Swahili?                         ar jos supranta svahiliškai?
no, they understand only Arabic & Turkish   ne, jos supranta tik arabiškai ir turkiškai
do they understand Portuguese?                   ar jos supranta portugališkai?
yes, they well understand only Portuguese     taip, jos gerai supranta tik portugališkai
do you all understand Lithuanian?                 ar jūs suprantat lietuviškai?
no, we understand only Croatian & Russian   ne, mes suprantam tik kroatiškai ir rusiškai
she’s from Brazil & she speaks Portuguese    ji yra iš Brazilijos ir ji kalba portugališkai

Šaunu!  Great!  You made it to the end of another episode!  Nuostabu!  Wonderful!

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

Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignalina_Nuclear_Power_Plant

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