Verbs: Past Tense

01

Two Past Patterns

The third-person past ends either in -o or in -ė, and that ending decides the whole set of personal endings.

The -o past, model dirbti (to work)

Endings: -au, -ai, -o, -ome, -ote, -o.

• dirbau, dirbai, dirbo, dirbome, dirbote, dirbo

• Vakar dirbau namie.

  Yesterday I worked at home.

• Jie ilgai kalbėjo.

  They talked for a long time.

The -ė past, model skaityti (to read)

Endings: -iau, -ei, -ė, -ėme, -ėte, -ė.

• skaičiau, skaitei, skaitė, skaitėme, skaitėte, skaitė

• Ką tu darei?

  What were you doing?

• Ji matė tą filmą.

  She saw that film.

02

Consonant Changes Before -iau

In the -ė pattern, the first-person ending -iau often softens the last consonant of the stem. The t turns into č, and d into dž:

• matyti → mačiau

  to see → I saw.

• skaityti → skaičiau

  to read → I read.

The other persons keep the plain consonant (matei, matė; skaitei, skaitė), so the change shows up only in the "I" form.

03

Telling a Story

Because the past is the storytelling tense, you will string it together to report a sequence of events:

• Atėjau, pavalgiau ir išėjau.

  I came, ate and left.

• Ji pabudo anksti.

  She woke up early.

04

The Verb "to be" in the Past

būti is irregular: the stem is buv-.

• buvau, buvai, buvo, buvome, buvote, buvo

• Aš buvau namie.

  I was at home.

• Kur jūs buvote?

  Where were you?

Unlike the present, the past form of "to be" is never dropped:

• Kava buvo karšta.

  The coffee was hot.

• Tai buvo seniai.

  That was long ago.

05

Negatives and Questions

The past works just like the present here: attach ne- for the negative, and put ar in front for a yes/no question:

• Nedirbau.

  I didn't work.

• Ar tu matei?

  Did you see?

• Jie neatėjo.

  They didn't come.

06

Learn the Past Stem Too

The past stem can differ from both the infinitive and the present, so - as with the present "he/she" form - it is worth fixing the third-person past in memory for each verb. Once you have dirbo or skaitė, the six personal forms follow automatically from the patterns above.

07

A Note on "Used To"

Lithuanian also has a separate past-repeated tense (the "frequentative", stem + -dav-) for things that happened habitually over time, e.g. dirbdavau "I used to work", eidavome "we used to go". It is uncommon at this level - the plain past above covers almost everything you need - but it is worth recognising the -dav- piece when you meet it.