grammar chart · Lithuanian

The Lithuanian past tense

The simple past is built from a verb's third principal part, whose 3rd person ends in -o or -ė: dirbo, skaitė. That ending sets the class for every other person. For what you used to do again and again, Lithuanian has a separate past in -davo.

The simple past: -o and -ė verbs

Past tense endings by person: -o and -ė verbs
Person	-o verbs (dirbo) dirbti	-ė verbs (skaitė) skaityti
aš	dirbau -au	skaičiau -iau
tu	dirbai -ai	skaitei -ei
jis, ji, jie, jos	dirbo -o	skaitė -ė
mes	dirbome -ome	skaitėme -ėme
jūs	dirbote -ote	skaitėte -ėte

Lithuanian past tense endings by person: -o and -ė verbs — dirbau, skaičiau, dirbai, skaitei, dirbo, skaitė, dirbome, … — Past tense endings by person: -o and -ė verbs

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The past stem is the third principal part

The simple past 3rd person ends in -o or -ė: dirbo, skaitė. The past stem is the third principal part.

Vakar jis dirbo ir skaitė. — Yesterday he worked and read.

quick hint

Guess the past tense from the present

Look at the present third person: -o usually becomes -ė (rašo → rašė; žino → žinojo does not), -a usually becomes -o (gyvena → gyveno), -uoja and -auja become -avo (važiuoja → važiavo, keliauja → keliavo), -ia usually -ė (baigia → baigė), -i becomes -ėjo (turi → turėjo). Some verbs go their own way — neša → nešė, kalba → kalbėjo — so check a new verb's past in the dictionary.

Guess the past tense from the present
present	past	pattern
rašo	rašė	-o → -ė
daro	darė	-o → -ė
gyvena	gyveno	-a → -o
važiuoja	važiavo	-uoja → -avo
baigia	baigė	-ia → -ė
turi	turėjo	-i → -ėjo

The past of habits: -davo

Past frequentative endings: -davau, -davo
Person	Ending	dirbti	mylėti	skaityti
aš	-davau	dirbdavau	mylėdavau	skaitydavau
tu	-davai	dirbdavai	mylėdavai	skaitydavai
jis, ji, jie, jos	-davo	dirbdavo	mylėdavo	skaitydavo
mes	-davome	dirbdavome	mylėdavome	skaitydavome
jūs	-davote	dirbdavote	mylėdavote	skaitydavote

Lithuanian past frequentative endings: -davau, -davo — dirbdavau, mylėdavau, skaitydavau, dirbdavai, mylėdavai, … — Past frequentative endings: -davau, -davo

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Skaitydavau: I used to read

-davo expresses repeated/habitual past actions: skaitydavau (I used to read). Built from the infinitive stem + -dav- + person endings.

Vaikystėje daug skaitydavau. — In childhood I used to read a lot.

quick hint

-davo: what you used to do

Drop -ti from the infinitive and add -davau, -davai, -davo, -davome, -davote: žaisti → žaisdavau. It is the past of habits — 'I used to', 'back then I would' — not a single event.

-davo: what you used to do
infinitive	aš — I used to
žaisti	žaisdavau
gyventi	gyvendavau
eiti	eidavau

Vaikystėje žaisdavau lauke. — As a child I used to play outside.
Vasarą važiuodavome prie jūros. — In summer we would go to the seaside.

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questions

How do you form the past tense in Lithuanian?

Take the past 3rd person — the third principal part, ending in -o or -ė — and change the ending for each person: dirbau, dirbai, dirbo, dirbome, dirbote; skaičiau, skaitei, skaitė, skaitėme, skaitėte.

Why is it skaičiau but skaitei?

The 1st-person ending -iau softens a stem-final t to č and d to dž: skaityti → skaičiau, matyti → mačiau, vesti → vedžiau. No other person changes.

How do you say 'used to' in Lithuanian?

Use the frequentative past: drop -ti and add -davau, -davai, -davo, -davome, -davote. Vaikystėje daug skaitydavau — in childhood I used to read a lot.