Lowercase Days, Months and Nationalities

Level 4

Unlike English, Lithuanian writes days, months, nationalities and languages with a small letter: pirmadienis (Monday), sausis (January), lietuvis (a Lithuanian), lietuvių kalba (Lithuanian).

How It Works

Small letter

  • Days: pirmadienis, antradienis, sekmadienis
  • Months: sausis, vasaris, rugsėjis
  • Seasons: pavasaris, vasara, ruduo, žiema
  • Nationalities: lietuvis, lietuvė, latvis, amerikietė
  • Languages: lietuvių kalba, anglų kalba, and the adverb lietuviškai
  • Adjectives from names: lietuviškas, vilnietiškas

See Naming and Speaking Languages and People From Places.

Capital letter

  • People and places: Jonas, Lietuva, Kaunas
  • Holidays: Kalėdos, Velykos, Joninės

Months in dates and holidays
A month used as a date stays small: vasario 16 d. (February 16). When the date is itself the name of a holiday, it is capitalized: Vasario 16-oji. See Dates.

Polite Jūs in letters
When writing to one person, people usually capitalize Jūs, Jūsų and Jums as a sign of respect: Dėkoju Jums už laišką. (Thank you for your letter.) In ordinary text and dialogue, jūs stays small. See Informal Tu and Polite Jūs.

Examples (6)

  1. Pirmadienį einu į darbą.

    On Monday I go to work.

    Word by Word: On-Monday I-go to work.

  2. Gimiau sausio mėnesį.

    I was born in January.

    Word by Word: I-was-born of-January in-month.

  3. Jis lietuvis, o ji latvė.

    He is Lithuanian, and she is Latvian.

    Word by Word: He Lithuanian, and she Latvian.

  4. Mokausi lietuvių kalbos.

    I am learning Lithuanian.

    Word by Word: I-learn of-Lithuanians of-language.

  5. Per Kalėdas važiuosime į Kauną.

    At Christmas we will go to Kaunas.

    Word by Word: During Christmas we-will-go to Kaunas.

    Holidays and cities are names, so they are capitalized.

  6. Dėkoju Jums už laišką.

    Thank you for your letter.

    Word by Word: I-thank to-You for letter.

    Jums can be capitalized in a letter as a sign of respect.

Common Mistakes

  • Capitalizing a language name as in English.

    Mokausi Lietuvių kalbos.
    Mokausi lietuvių kalbos.

    Language names are written with a small letter in Lithuanian.

  • Capitalizing a day of the week.

    Susitiksime Pirmadienį.
    Susitiksime pirmadienį.

    Days of the week are not names in Lithuanian spelling, so they stay lowercase.

  • Capitalizing a nationality.

    Jis Lietuvis.
    Jis lietuvis.

    Words for nationalities are written with a small letter.

Words in This Pattern

Jūs