Verbs: Imperative Mood — Lithuanian Grammar

The imperative mood gives commands, instructions, requests and invitations: "work!", "come here!", "let's go!". It is built from the infinitive stem with the marker -k-, and it has three forms according to whom you are speaking to.

The Three Imperative Forms

To one person (informal): stem + -k → (work!)
To several people, or politely to one: stem + -kite → (work!)
"Let's …" (including yourself): stem + -kime → (let's work)

Palauk!
Wait! (to one person)
Ateikite, prašau.
Come in, please. (polite / plural)
Eikime namo.
Let's go home.

Softening a Command

A bare imperative can sound blunt, so it is very often paired with (please). To be especially polite you can drop the command altogether and ask a question instead, using the "would" form of the verb:

Duok, prašau.
Give (it to me), please.
Atsisėskite, prašau.
Please sit down.
Ar galėtumėte man padėti?
Could you help me? (asked, instead of "help me!")

Politeness

Because the -kite form is also the polite singular, use it with anyone you address as . The plain -k form is only for people you are on familiar terms with - friends, family, children:

Sėskitės.
Sit down. (polite)
Atsineškite knygą.
Bring a book. (polite / plural)

Negative Commands

To tell someone not to do something, add the prefix ne- to the imperative:

Nedaryk to.
Don't do that.
Nesijaudinkite.
Don't worry. (polite)
Nepamiršk!
Don't forget!

Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive verbs (those whose infinitive ends in -tis) move their reflexive piece to the very end: -kis for one person, -kitės for several or polite:

Mokykis!
Study! (to one person)
Klausykitės.
Listen. (plural / polite)

"Let Him / Let Them" with "tegul"

Lithuanian has no direct imperative for the third person, so to say "let him / let them …" you put (or shorter te-) in front of an ordinary present-tense verb:

Tegul jis ateina.
Let him come.
Tegul būna taip.
Let it be so.

Softening Particles

A bare command can be made friendlier with a small particle such as or , or simply by adding :

Nagi, eime!
Come on, let's go!
Sakyk gi!
Go on, tell me!

The Verb "to be"

gives (sg) and (pl/polite):

Būk atsargus.
Be careful.
Būkite sveiki.
Be well. (a common greeting and farewell)

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Lithuanian course

52 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 23. A few of them, with the words “Verbs: Imperative Mood” is about in bold:

Taip. Pavalgykime kinų maisto.
Yes. Let's eat Chinese food.
Lesson 127
Eikite ir apžiūrėkite virtuvę. Ji tokia maža.
Go and check out (pl.) the kitchen. It is so small.
Lesson 322
Nevalgyk to! Tai kiauliena!
Don't eat that! That's pork!
Lesson 366

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