Plural Case Endings

Level 2

Plural nouns change for case; the vocative normally matches the nominative. The genitive always ends in -ų: namų, knygų, brolių. Locative endings include -uose, -ose, -ėse and -yse: Gyvenu Trakuose.

How It Works

Four model nouns (houses, brothers, books, streets)

  • Nominative: namai, broliai, knygos, gatvės
  • Genitive: namų, brolių, knygų, gatvių
  • Dative: namams, broliams, knygoms, gatvėms
  • Accusative: namus, brolius, knygas, gatves
  • Instrumental: namais, broliais, knygomis, gatvėmis
  • Locative: namuose, broliuose, knygose, gatvėse

Patterns to notice

  • The genitive always ends in -ų. After a soft stem it is -ių: brolių, gatvių.
  • The hard-stem masculine model namas takes -ams, -us, -ais, -uose. Feminine -a nouns take -oms, -as, -omis, -ose, and -ė nouns take -ėms, -es, -ėmis, -ėse.
  • The vocative plural is the same as the nominative: Vaikai, eikime! (Children, let's go!)

Where you meet them
Plural place names use these endings all the time: Trakai → Gyvenu Trakuose, Važiuoju į Trakus. With plural count nouns, quantity words take the genitive plural: daug knygų. Su takes the instrumental: su draugais. For the other declensions, see The Third Declension and The Fourth Declension.

Examples (6)

  1. Turiu du brolius.

    I have two brothers.

    Word by Word: I-have two brothers.

    Brolius is the accusative plural, the direct object of turiu.

  2. Gyvenu Trakuose.

    I live in Trakai.

    Word by Word: I-live in-Trakai.

    Trakai is a plural place name, so its locative is Trakuose.

  3. Parke daug medžių.

    There are a lot of trees in the park.

    Word by Word: In-park many trees.

    Daug takes the genitive plural medžių.

  4. Rašau laiškus draugams.

    I am writing letters to my friends.

    Word by Word: I-write letters to-friends.

    Laiškus is accusative plural and draugams is dative plural.

  5. Vakar kalbėjau su kaimynais.

    Yesterday I talked with the neighbours.

    Word by Word: Yesterday I-talked with neighbours.

  6. Šiose knygose daug paveikslėlių.

    There are a lot of pictures in these books.

    Word by Word: In-these books many pictures.

Common Mistakes

  • Using knygos when you mean many books after daug.

    Turiu daug knygos.
    Turiu daug knygų.

    For many books, daug takes the genitive plural knygų.

  • Forgetting the instrumental plural after su.

    Einu su draugai.
    Einu su draugais.

    Su takes the instrumental, and draugas has instrumental plural draugais.

  • Leaving a plural place name in the nominative.

    Gyvenu Trakai.
    Gyvenu Trakuose.

    To say where you live, use the locative. Trakai belongs to the pattern with locative plural -uose: Trakuose.

How It Connects

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

Plural Case EndingsLevel 2

Learn This First

Plural case endings extend the first two noun declensions.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

namai