Supine -tų
The Supine in -tų (Recognition)
Eisime gultų = Eisime gulti (We will go to bed). The old supine in -tų shows why someone goes somewhere.
How It Works
1. Form. Replace the infinitive's -ti with -tų: gulti → gultų, nešti → neštų, žiūrėti → žiūrėtų, rakinti → rakintų.
2. Use. It comes after verbs of going, running or gathering, and says what for:
- Eisime gultų. (We will go to bed.)
- Samdiniai susirinko vakarotų. (The farmhands gathered to spend the evening together.)
The object of a supine is in the genitive: Visi šoko durų rakintų (Everyone rushed to lock the door). This matches the genitive of purpose after verbs of motion: Eisime grybų (We will go mushroom picking).
3. Status today. The supine was common in the 16th and 17th centuries. Now it is heard only in some eastern dialects, and the standard language uses the infinitive: eiti gulti, šoko rakinti durų.
4. Do not confuse it with the conditional. The supine looks the same as the third-person form of the conditional: jis gultų means he would lie down. In these older examples, -tų directly complements the motion verb and expresses purpose. A separate conditional clause still has its ordinary meaning.
Examples (5)
- Eisime gultų.
We will go to bed.
Modern standard: Eisime gulti.
- Samdiniai susirinko vakarotų.
The farmhands gathered to spend the evening together.
- Visi šoko durų rakintų.
Everyone rushed to lock the door.
Durų is genitive, the usual case for a supine's object.
- Mergaitės išėjo uogų rinktų.
The girls went out to pick berries.
Modern standard: Mergaitės išėjo rinkti uogų.
- Eik žuvų gaudytų.
Go and catch some fish.
Common Mistakes
Putting the supine's object in the accusative.
Visi šoko duris rakintų.Visi šoko durų rakintų.The object of a supine is in the genitive. In modern Lithuanian say Visi šoko rakinti durų, which also uses the genitive after a verb of motion.
How It Connects
Learn This First
The old supine names a motion goal and is recognized through the modern purpose-infinitive construction.
Related Patterns
- Genitive of Purpose
The genitive of purpose after verbs of motion goes back to the same pattern as the supine's genitive object.
Level 5 - Conditional: -čiau, -tum, -tųThe Conditional Mood
The third-person conditional also ends in -tų, so context tells them apart.
Level 4 - Infinitive -tiThe Infinitive in -ti
The supine is made from the infinitive stem.
Level 1 - esmi / eimiOld Verb Forms in -mi (Recognition)
Both are old verb forms you will meet mainly in folk songs and older texts.
Level 6
Practice Supine -tų in Bubblegum
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