Accent Paradigms

Level 6

Lithuanian dictionaries use 1, 2, 3 and 4 to identify accent paradigms. The number helps you predict where stress goes as a noun changes case.

How It Works

Read the pair. In plural dative and accusative respectively: 1 has stem/stem; 2 stem/ending; 3 ending/stem; 4 ending/ending.

  • 1: šáukštams, šáukštus.
  • 2: bãtams, batùs.
  • 3: darbáms, dárbus.
  • 4: daržáms, daržùs.

Use a dictionary. The number names a full pattern; it does not replace learning the endings. Some pattern 3 words have subtypes such as 3a and 3b. The stress mark also contains information about the syllable, so the marks are not interchangeable.

Reading aid. Ordinary Lithuanian text usually omits these stress marks. Here they are shown to make the pattern visible. This entry is for recognizing dictionary information, not guessing a word’s accent class from its spelling.

Examples (4)

  1. šáukštams – šáukštus

    to spoons – spoons as an object; pattern 1

  2. bãtams – batùs

    to shoes – shoes as an object; pattern 2

  3. darbáms – dárbus

    to tasks – tasks as an object; pattern 3

  4. daržáms – daržùs

    to vegetable gardens – gardens as an object; pattern 4

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping stem stress in the accusative plural of pattern 2 batas.

    bãtus
    batùs

    In this paradigm the plural accusative has ending stress, although the plural dative bãtams has stem stress.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Accent ParadigmsLevel 6

Learn This First

Accent paradigms connect stress position with changing case forms.