man trūksta

Lacking with Trūkti

Level 4

Dative person + trūksta + genitive thing: Man trūksta laiko (I don't have enough time), Ko tau trūksta? (What are you missing?).

How It Works

1. The pattern. Dative person + trūksta + genitive thing:

  • Man trūksta laiko. (I don't have enough time.)
  • Jam trūksta pinigų. (He is short of money.)

2. Other tenses. The principal parts are trūkti, trūksta, trūko, and the future is trūks: Vakar mums trūko dviejų žaidėjų (Yesterday we were two players short).

3. Without a person. You can also say what a place or thing lacks, with the locative or the dative: Mieste trūksta gydytojų (The town is short of doctors), Šiai sriubai trūksta druskos (This soup needs more salt).

4. Missing a person. With a person in the genitive, trūksta can mean to miss someone: Man labai tavęs trūksta (I really miss you). The verb pasiilgti says the same thing with a nominative subject: Pasiilgau tavęs (I have missed you / I miss you).

5. Running out. The prefixed verb pritrūkti can mean to run short or run out: Mums pritrūko vandens (We ran out of water).

Examples (6)

  1. Man trūksta laiko.

    I don't have enough time.

    Word by Word: To-me lacks time.

    Man is dative; laiko is genitive.

  2. Ko tau trūksta?

    What are you missing?

    Ko is the genitive of kas.

  3. Šiai sriubai trūksta druskos.

    This soup needs more salt.

    Word by Word: To-this soup lacks salt.

  4. Mieste trūksta gydytojų.

    The town is short of doctors.

    Gydytojų is genitive plural.

  5. Man labai tavęs trūksta.

    I really miss you.

    Here the person is emotionally missed. With other contexts, trūksta can mean that someone is needed or absent.

  6. Vakar mums trūko dviejų žaidėjų.

    Yesterday we were two players short.

    Trūko is the past tense. Dviejų žaidėjų is genitive.

Common Mistakes

  • Making the person the nominative subject, as in English.

    Aš trūkstu laiko.
    Man trūksta laiko.

    The person who lacks something goes in the dative: man, tau, jam. Aš trūkstu is not how Lithuanian says this.

  • Putting the missing thing in the nominative.

    Man trūksta laikas.
    Man trūksta laiko.

    The thing that is missing always goes in the genitive, like after nėra.

How It Connects

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

man trūkstaLevel 4Lacking with Trūkti

Learn This First

Trūksta combines a dative person with a genitive missing thing.

Words in This Pattern

trūkti