ką man daryti
What Should I Do: Dative Plus Infinitive
To ask what should I do?, Lithuanian uses a question word, the person in the dative and an infinitive: Ką man daryti? Kur mums eiti?
How It Works
1. The pattern. Question word + dative + infinitive:
- Ką man daryti? (What should I do?)
- Kur mums eiti? (Where should we go?)
- Kada mums išvažiuoti? (When should we leave?)
2. Yes or no. Use ar: Ar man ateiti rytoj? (Should I come tomorrow?)
3. Without a person. Drop the dative when the person is understood, or when asking generally: Ką daryti, jei pamečiau pasą? (What should I do if I have lost my passport?)
4. Inside a sentence. The same pattern works after nežinau (I don’t know): Nežinau, ką man daryti.
5. Other ways to ask. Reikia asks about a need: Ką man reikia daryti? (What do I need to do?). Reikėtų sounds softer: Ką man reikėtų daryti? The bare dative-and-infinitive question is the shortest and often shows doubt or worry.
Examples (6)
- Ką man daryti?
What should I do?
Word by Word: what to-me to-do
- Kur mums eiti?
Where should we go?
- Kada mums išvažiuoti?
When should we leave?
- Ar man ateiti rytoj?
Should I come tomorrow?
Ar makes it a yes-or-no question.
- Nežinau, ką man daryti.
I don’t know what to do.
The pattern also works inside a longer sentence.
- Ką daryti, jei pamečiau pasą?
What should I do if I have lost my passport?
The omitted person is understood as the speaker from pamečiau (I lost).
Common Mistakes
Using a nominative pronoun with the infinitive.
Ką aš daryti?Ką man daryti?In this question pattern, the person goes in the dative: man.
Mixing the dative with a conjugated verb.
Ką man darau?Ką man daryti?In this pattern, the action stays in the infinitive. With a conjugated verb you would say Ką aš darau? (What am I doing?), which asks something else.
How It Connects
Learn This First
A dative person with an infinitive asks what someone should do without a conjugated verb.
- man reikiaNeeding with Reikia
Know the dative-person-plus-infinitive arrangement.
Level 2 - kur / kada / kaip / kodėlWhere, When, How and Why
Know the unchanging question words that can introduce such questions.
Level 1 - kas / kąQuestion Word Kas
Recognize ką when the infinitive takes an accusative object.
Level 1
Related Patterns
- Infinitive -tiThe Infinitive in -ti
The action in this question is always an infinitive.
Level 1 - reikėtų + infinitiveShould with Reikėtų
Reikėtų gives a softer way to ask what someone should do.
Level 4 - Formal Orders With the Infinitive
The same dative-and-infinitive combination gives formal orders.
Level 6
Words in This Pattern
Practice ką man daryti in Bubblegum
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