Falling and Rising Tones

Level 5

A stressed long syllable has one of two accents, traditionally called falling (výras, man) and rising (nãmas, house). Dictionary marks show the difference; ordinary writing usually leaves them out.

How It Works

1. Two tones. Lithuanian dictionaries mark the stressed syllable, and on long syllables they also show the tone:

  • Falling tone (tvirtapradė priegaidė), marked with an acute ´: strong at the start, then falling. výras (man), brólis (brother), láukia (waits).
  • Rising tone (tvirtagalė priegaidė), marked with a tilde ˜: rising or level, strong toward the end. nãmas (house), sõdas (garden), laũkas (field).

2. Which syllables have a tone. Only stressed long ones: long vowels, diphthongs such as au, ai, ie, uo, and a vowel followed by l, m, n, r. Stressed a and e often lengthen, but not in every word or form: nãmas, mẽdis. A short stressed vowel has no tone and gets a grave `: rankà (hand). See long vowels and diphthongs.

3. Where the mark goes. For au, ai, ei, the acute is on the first letter and the tilde on the second: láukia (waits) but laũkas (field). With l, m, n, r, the tilde goes on the consonant: rañką. A falling tone on a or e + l, m, n, r takes the acute on the vowel, as in kálnas (mountain), but on i or u + l, m, n, r it is shown with a grave: tìltas (bridge).

4. Word pairs. A few words differ only in tone: áukštas (tall, high) and aũkštas (floor, storey); sū́ris (cheese) and sū̃ris (saltiness). Context almost always makes the meaning clear.

5. Why learn them. Tones explain the marks in dictionary stress marks, and they help predict how stress moves between forms: rankà but rañką. The full system is covered in accent paradigms.

6. In real speech. The contrast can involve duration, pitch and emphasis, and its strength varies by speaker and sound. Listen to native examples rather than treating falling and rising as exact pitch instructions. Ordinary writing normally leaves the marks out.

Examples (6)

  1. výras

    man, husband

    Falling tone on the long y, marked with an acute.

  2. nãmas

    house

    Rising tone. The stressed a is lengthened in this word.

  3. áukštas – aũkštas

    tall, high – floor, storey

    The same letters, told apart only by tone.

  4. sū́ris – sū̃ris

    cheese – saltiness

    Dictionary accent marks distinguish these words. How clearly the contrast is heard varies by speaker.

  5. rankà – rañką

    hand (subject) – hand (object)

    In rankà the stressed a is short and has no tone. In rañką the stress moves to a rising an.

  6. laũkas – láukia

    field – waits

    This pair illustrates different accents on au: rising in laũkas, falling in láukia.

Common Mistakes

  • Writing stress and tone marks in ordinary text.

    Mano výras dirba ligoninėje.
    Mano vyras dirba ligoninėje.

    Ordinary writing normally leaves these marks out; they are mainly used to explain pronunciation.

  • Mixing up a word pair that differs only in tone.

    Tai labai aũkštas pastatas.
    Tai labai áukštas pastatas.

    The speaker means a tall building, which is áukštas with a falling tone. Aũkštas is a floor of a building.

How It Connects

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

Falling and Rising TonesLevel 5

Learn This First

Syllable accent refines the dictionary information about long stressed syllables.