I’ve spent my summer in Lithuania, learnt a bit of the language, and there’s 10 fun Lithuanian words that will make travel to Lithuania easy.

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Fun Lithuanian Words To Make Travel To Lithuania Easy

Labas

Hello. Also laba diena, labas vakaras, aciu labia

You always need a greeting when you travel.

Sure, you can learn how to say ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’, ‘good evening’ etc, but it’s easy to get confused when you get started.

And for some languages, you might even have to think about who you’re speaking to, and adjust your greeting for formality, age, gender, or something else.

So my recommendation is always to keep things as simple as possible. If there’s one greeting that will serve you well, learn that and stick with it to begin with.

And in Lithuanian, your go-to greeting is ‘labas’.

That’s a word that’ll become familiar when you do go on to learn other greetings too:

Good morning = Labas rytas

Good afternoon = Laba diena

Good evening = Labas vakaras

Good night = Labos nakties (much like English, mostly said when you leave, not as an arrival greeting!)

Gerai

Much like a multipurpose, any-time-of-day greeting, when there’s any all round useful response words, they’re typically worth learning.

‘Gerai’ is that in Lithuanian.

‘Gerai’ means ‘well’, and can be used in all sorts of moments where in English responses might be ‘good’, ‘great’, ‘ok’, ‘fine’, ‘alright’, ‘got it’, ‘understood’.

So not only is it a good response to ‘how are you?’ (which is ‘kaip sekasi?’), it works in multiple other scenarios.

Imagine the waiter has just asked how your food is in a restaurant. Gerai.

Let’s say someone is checking that you’ve understood something. Gerai.

You confirm the departure time of the bus. Gerai.

You get it. It’s going to be one you use a lot.

Gėrimai

Not a word you’ll use yourself often but one you’ll see and one that’s a little similar to ‘gerai’.

Gėrimai means ‘drinks’, and you’ll likely see this on menus or signs in supermarkets. Nothing to do with ‘gerai’!

And while we’re here, have a verb.

‘Gerti’ means ‘to drink’ and ‘I drink’ is ‘aš geriu’.

Ačiū

Ačiū means ‘thank you’.

It sounds like a sneeze, which makes it easy to remember.

But it’s highly likely that people who know a little English have heard “it sounds like a sneeze!” before, so you don’t need to tell anyone that when you’re there!

To expand from this, you can say ‘ačiū labai’.

Here, ‘labai’ means ‘very’.

So although it’s not directly related to ‘labas’, it is another similar one that might confuse you in the very beginning.

Interestingly, the dative feminine singuar of ‘labas’ is also ‘labai’!

Ar

‘Ar’ makes a question.

It’s the handy little word you can use at the start of a phrase to make a statement into a question.

For example, ‘tai katė’ means ‘this is a cat’, but ‘ar tai katė?’ means ‘is this a cat?’.

Other question words you might want to use include…

what = ką

where = kur

when = kas

who = kuris

which = kodėl

how = kaip

how much/many = kiek

Ir

‘Ir’ means ‘and’.

I’m telling you this one for two reasons. Firstly, because it’s a useful word. And secondly, because it’s so similar to ‘ar’, so it’s worth remembering them both early to avoid getting confused.

Other useful connecting words you might want to advance your Lithuanian more with are…

but = bèt

because = nès

so/therefore = todė̃l

Yra

You don’t have to learn this one but it’s a useful word once you have a handful of words under your belt.

Yra means ‘is’, and is the third person singular and plural present variety of ‘bū́ti’, which is the verb ‘to be’.

You can use the next word in the list (‘tai’ – ‘this’) and build short sentences such as ‘this is a cat’ or even questions like ‘is this a cat?’.

The word ‘yra’ doesn’t always have to be there, but you’re unlikely to be misunderstood if you include it.

Incidentally, here’s the example sentences in Lithuanian…

This is a cat = tai yra katė (but ‘tai katė’ would also be fine)

Is this a cat? = ar tai yra katė? (Again, you’ll be understood without ‘yra’)

Tai

You know this means ‘this’ because of the examples for the previous word ‘yra’!

So let’s move on…

Taip

Much like ‘ar’ and ‘ir’, I’m going to introduce this similar word next to ‘tai’!

‘Taip’, with the ‘p’ on the end means ‘yes’ in Lithuanian.

Like I mentioned above, ‘gerai’ will get you a long way, but it’s of course also handy to learn ‘yes’ and…

Ne

…no!

A super easy word for ‘no’.

Now you can combine this to say things like…

No, thank you = ne, ačiū

And you can make some rudimentary sort-of-understood-but-not-fully-grammatically-correct verb phrases as you learn verbs.

For example…

We know already that ‘aš geriu’ means ‘I drink’.

If I tell you to put the ‘ne’ in the same place that you would in English, then it’ll look a little like this…

Aš ne geriu* = literally, ‘I no drink’ (*not fully correct!)

But the good news is that’s basically how you make verbs negative! The fully correct version would be…

Aš negeriu = I don’t drink

Slidu!

And now onto some fun words!

One of my favourite Lithuanian words is ‘slidu’.

You’ll see this on little stickers with a red outlined warning circle on the doors of supermarkets, and on yellow foldable ‘wet floor’ signs.

You’ll see this fun word in Lithuania where you’d probably see things in English like ‘don’t slip’ or ‘warning: risk of falling’.

Pienas

Another word you’ll see in supermarkets, and one you’ll get very familiar with if you’re vegan or lactose intolerant.

‘Pienas’ means ‘milk’.

Say it aloud…yes, it sounds like penis.

You’ll see it spelt differently from time to time too because of cases. We don’t need to worry about that for now, but just remember you may see some variations on ingredients lists, like ‘pieno’ or ‘pienai’.

Krapas

Another funny Lithuanian food word is ‘krapas’.

This means ‘dill’, which may seem an odd word to learn but it’s a very common ingredient in the region.

So common in fact, that you may even spot ‘krapas’ flavoured crisps! Although, it may be written in the English sometimes.

Cepelinai (or didžkukuliai)

The Lithuanian national dish would have to be ‘cepelinai’.

Sometimes called ‘didžkukuliai’, the name ‘cepelinai’ translates as ‘zeppelins’.

Why? Because these potato dumplings look like zeppelins!

The potato dumplings are typically filled with meat and often served in pairs for a meal.

I was very excited to find a vegan version to try in Vilnius at Bernelių Užeiga.

Banga

When I tell you the meaning of this one, you’ll be really confused as to why it’s included!

‘Banga’ means ‘wave’…odd choice to include on this list, right?

Well, consider it a warning…

There’s a bottle of water you can buy in Lithuania with the words ‘ant bangas’ on the label.

That means ‘on the waves’.

The water is salty!

So if you don’t want salty water, avoid the ‘ant bangas’ bottles!

Vanduo

While we’re here, it’s probably useful to become familiar with the word for ‘water’ – ‘vanduo’.

Again, you’ll sometimes see variations of the ending of this word too.

Plan Your Language Learning Before a Trip

If you want to learn some language for an upcoming trip, it’s really helpful to have a plan.

There’s nothing worse than saying “Yeah, I’m gonna learn it” and then running out of time because you’re too busy booking accommodation and planning day trips and packing.

The Solo Language Learner Planner helps you organise your language learning for both short and long term goals.

The collection of over 40 planning and study pages is fully re-useable, suitable for any language, and can either be used digitally or printed.

With the planner on your side, you’ll be able to find time to fit in your language learning prior to an upcoming trip.