localize-lt

Localize: Lithuanian (lt → Lietuvių)

You are translating source text into Lithuanian for Lithuania. This skill captures grammar, register, UI conventions, formatting, and Lithuanian-specific failure modes derived from a production translation prompt.

Scope & Variants

One standard:

• lt-LT — Lithuanian as used in Lithuania. Official state language.

No widely-distinguished variants in software localization.

Native name: Lietuvių kalba (the language); lietuviškai (the adverb "in Lithuanian"). Use "lietuvių" for the language.

Identity guardrail:

• Lithuanian is Baltic, NOT Slavic. It is in the same family as Latvian (Baltic) — not Russian, Polish, or any Slavic language, despite geographic proximity and centuries of contact.
• Lithuanian is NOT Latvian. Sister languages, but distinct: Lithuanian has 7 cases (including active vocative), Latvian has 6. Lithuanian uses ogoneks (ą ę į ų) for long vowels and the unique letter ė; Latvian uses macrons (ā ē ī ū) and cedillas (ģ ķ ļ ņ). Different prepositional government, different ICU plural rules.
• Lithuanian is one of the most archaic Indo-European languages still spoken — its grammar preserves features lost in most other IE languages. Do NOT modernize/simplify by analogy to Slavic or Germanic.
• Never translate Lithuanian content via Russian, Polish, or Latvian intermediaries.

Register

Default level: FORMAL (Jūs-form) for software UI, errors, documentation, marketing. This differs from Latvian's neutral default.

Source signals	Target register
Product UI, error messages, documentation, customer support, marketing	Jūs-form (default)
Personal blog, casual narrative, dialog, kids' content	tu-form
Short rhetorical fragments, exclamations	Preserve the rhetorical device — do NOT expand to formal full sentence

	Jūs (formal)	tu (informal)
Subject pronoun	Jūs	tu
Possessive	jūsų	tavo
Verb ending (2pl)	-ate / -ite (galite)	-i (gali)
Imperative ending	-kite (Išsaugokite, Spustelėkite)	-k (Išsaugok, Spustelėk)

Within a file, ONE register only. Mixing Jūs gali (formal pronoun + informal verb) or Jūsų failas + Išsaugok (formal possessive + informal imperative) is always wrong.

Examples:

• ❌ Jūs gali pakeisti nustatymus → ✅ Jūs galite pakeisti nustatymus
• ❌ Įkelkite jūsų failus + Naršyk → ✅ Įkelkite jūsų failus + Naršykite

Critical Hard Rules

Special Characters: ą č ę ė į š ų ū ž (severity 3.0)

These are essential letters, not optional diacritics. Stripping makes Lithuanian unreadable.

• ė is UNIQUE to Lithuanian (no other language uses it as a base letter) — represents a long mid-front vowel.
• Ogonek letters (ą, ę, į, ų) historically marked nasal vowels; modern pronunciation = long vowels. Stripping confuses cases (genitive plural nustatymų vs nominative nustatymu — different word).
• ū is a long u.
• Háčeks (č, š, ž) = post-alveolar fricatives/affricates.

Wrong (stripped)	Correct	Word
ieskoti	ieškoti	to search (š essential)
zodynas	žodynas	dictionary (ž essential)
nustatymu	nustatymų	settings (ų essential — genitive plural)
ikelti	įkelti	upload (į essential)
cia	čia	here (č essential)
buti	būti	to be (ū essential)
del	dėl	because of (ė essential)

The ė vs e distinction is meaning-critical (mane "me" vs manė "thought"). Never replace ė with e.

Two-Gender Agreement (severity 2.0)

Lithuanian has 2 grammatical genders determined by noun ending:

Ending	Gender	Examples
-as, -is, -us, -ys	masculine	vartotojas, failas, brolis, sūnus, mėnesis
-a, -ė	feminine	sistema, platforma, mergaitė, paskyra

(A few -is nouns are feminine — e.g., naktis "night", širdis "heart" — but rare in tech UI.)

Adjectives agree in gender + number + case (3-way agreement):

Wrong	Correct	Why
naujas sistema	nauja sistema	sistema is fem
nauja failas	naujas failas	failas is masc
geras platforma	gera platforma	platforma is fem
nauja vartotojas	naujas vartotojas	vartotojas is masc

Seven-Case System (severity 2.0)

Lithuanian has 7 cases (vocative is active — used in direct address, unlike Latvian):

Case	Function	Example (failas — file, masc)
Nominative (vardininkas)	subject	failas yra atidarytas
Genitive (kilmininkas)	possession, after iš/nuo/dėl/be/iki	failo turinys
Dative (naudininkas)	indirect obj, "for whom"	failui
Accusative (galininkas)	direct obj, duration, after į/per/pro/apie/už	matau failą
Instrumental (įnagininkas)	means, after su	su failu
Locative (vietininkas)	location ("in"), no preposition needed	faile
Vocative (šauksmininkas)	direct address	(faile! — though rare in UI; common for names: Jonai!)

Key gotchas:

• ❌ su failas → ✅ su fail**u** (su + instrumental)
• ❌ į sistema → ✅ į sistem**ą** (į + accusative for motion)
• ❌ į sistemoje → ✅ į sistem**ą** (motion) / sistemoje (location, no prep)
• ❌ iš sistema → ✅ iš sistem**os** (iš + genitive)
• ❌ apie failas → ✅ apie fail**ą** (apie + accusative)

Accusative of Duration (severity 2.5)

Time durations require ACCUSATIVE (galininkas), NOT genitive. This is a Lithuanian-specific rule that frequently fails.

Wrong (genitive)	Correct (accusative)	English
Praleidau 6 metų	Praleidau 6 metus	I spent 6 years
Dirbau 3 valandų	Dirbau 3 valandas	I worked 3 hours
Mokiausi 5 mėnesių	Mokiausi 5 mėnesius	I studied 5 months

Exception — verbs that govern genitive specifically (e.g., laukti "wait for") keep their genitive:

• ✅ Laukiau 20 minučių (laukti governs genitive — minučių is correct here)
• ✅ Bet: Mokiausi 20 minučių? Verify each verb's government.

Rule of thumb: if English uses "for X time/duration", the default Lithuanian case is accusative — unless the governing verb specifically demands a different case.

Verb Construction Integrity (severity 2.0–2.5)

"Before doing X": use prieš + padalyvis (half-participle/gerund) — NEVER prieš + finite verb.

Wrong	Correct
prieš jūs sumokėjote (prieš + finite past)	prieš sumokant (padalyvis) / prieš tai sumokėjus (pusdalyvis)

Passive voice: requires correct participle + case agreement.

Person consistency in narrative: if the narrator is the subject, use 1st person throughout. Do not drift to 3rd person.

• ❌ Padėjo valdyti (3rd person where narrator is subject) → ✅ Padėjau valdyti (1st person)

Relative Pronoun Agreement: kuris/kuri (severity 2.5)

Relative pronouns must agree with antecedent in gender + number. Case is determined by the relative clause role.

Wrong	Correct	Why
sistema, kuris veikia	sistema, kuri veikia	sistema is feminine → kuri
DI, kuri niekada nepamiršta	DI, kuris niekada nepamiršta	DI (dirbtinis intelektas) is masculine → kuris
platforma, kuris palaiko	platforma, kuri palaiko	platforma is feminine → kuri

Number+Case in Counted Nouns (severity 2.0)

Lithuanian has a sophisticated number-noun case pattern:

Number	Case	Example (failas)
1, 21, 31, 41... (ends in 1 except 11)	nominative singular	1 failas, 21 failas
2-9, 22-29...	nominative plural	3 failai, 5 failai
0, 10-20, multiples of 10	genitive plural	10 failų, 0 failų, 15 failų

Adjectives match:

• ❌ trys naujas failai → ✅ trys nauji failai (nom.pl)
• ❌ dešimt nauji failų → ✅ dešimt naujų failų (gen.pl)

ICU Plural Categories (severity 2.5)

Lithuanian has 4 CLDR plural categories: one / few / many / other.

Branch	Rule	Case required	Example
one	n mod 10 = 1 AND n mod 100 ≠ 11-19	nominative singular	one {# failas}
few	n mod 10 = 2-9 AND n mod 100 ≠ 11-19	nominative plural	few {# failai}
many	n is a non-integer (fraction/decimal)	genitive singular	many {# failo}
other	n = 0, 10-20, 30, 40... (also general fallback)	genitive plural	other {# failų}

Wait — verify the spec. Lithuanian CLDR is:

• one: n % 10 = 1 and n % 100 ≠ 11 (integers ending in 1 except 11)
• few: n % 10 = 2..9 and n % 100 ≠ 11..19 (integers ending in 2-9 except 11-19)
• many: non-integer (decimal/fraction) → genitive singular
• other: everything else (including 0, 10-20) → genitive plural

{count, plural,
  one {# failas}
  few {# failai}
  many {# failo}
  other {# failų}
}

❌ many {# failai} → ✅ many {# failo} (gen.sg for fractions) ❌ one {# failai} (nom.pl in one branch) → ✅ one {# failas} (nom.sg) ❌ other {# failas} → ✅ other {# failų} (gen.pl)

Ellipsis Completion (severity 2.0)

Lithuanian requires an explicit noun after numbers/quantifiers — bare numbers or dangling genitives are ungrammatical:

• ❌ "4 kitų" (bare genitive, no noun) → ✅ "dar 4 modeliai" / "4 kiti modeliai"
• ❌ "ir 3 daugiau" → ✅ "ir dar 3 failai" / "ir 3 papildomi"

Definite vs Indefinite Adjectives

Lithuanian has two adjective forms:

Form	Use	Example
Indefinite	general, non-specific	naujas failas (a new file)
Definite (pronominal)	specific, already-mentioned	naujasis failas (the new file)

UI usually uses indefinite:

• ❌ "naujasis failas" for general reference
• ✅ "naujas failas"

Pronouns and Possessives

English	Formal (Jūs)	Informal (tu)
you (subj)	Jūs	tu
your (poss)	jūsų	tavo
Imperative ending	-kite (Išsaugokite)	-k (Išsaugok)
Verb (2pl/sg)	-ate/-ite (galite)	-i (gali)

jūsų and tavo are invariable possessives (do not decline). Possessive adjectives mano, tavo, savo, jo, jos, mūsų, jūsų, jų all stay in the same form regardless of the noun's case.

UI Conventions

Button Labels — Infinitive Form

Lithuanian buttons use the infinitive, NOT the imperative or nominalization:

Wrong	Correct	English
Išsaugokite (imperative)	Išsaugoti	Save
Išsaugojimas (nominalization)	Išsaugoti	Save
Ištrinkite	Ištrinti	Delete
Atšaukite	Atšaukti	Cancel
Pasirinkite	Pasirinkti	Select
Spustelėkite	Spustelėti	Click

Status Messages — Impersonal / 3rd Person

Use active 3rd person or impersonal passive — NOT "Mes analizuojame...":

Wrong	Correct	English
Mes analizuojame...	Analizuoja... / Analizuojama...	Analyzing...
Sistema krauna	Krauna... / Kraunama...	Loading...
Mes saugome jūsų darbą	Saugoma... / Saugomas darbas...	Saving...

Bulk Action Buttons — Use "viską" (accusative)

✅ Pasirinkti viską          (Select All)
✅ Atšaukti visą pasirinkimą (Deselect All)
✅ Išvalyti viską            (Clear All)
❌ Pasirinkti visus          (implies "all people")

Pattern: [infinitive] + viską OR [infinitive] + visą + [noun.acc]

Drag-and-Drop Vocabulary

• vilkti = drag
• numesti = drop
• ❌ "paleisti" = release/liberate — wrong meaning

✅ Vilkite failus čia                     (drag files here)
✅ Vilkite ir numeskite failus čia        (drag and drop files here)
❌ Numeskite failus čia                    (drop-only — feels incomplete)
❌ Paleiskite failą čia                    (paleisti = release, not drop)

File Picker / Placeholder Handling

Avoid putting placeholders in a case-marked position — restructure:

• ❌ "{name} failui" (case on placeholder) → ✅ "Failui {name}" / "Failas pavadinimu {name}"
• ❌ "Palaikymas {formatList} failams" → ✅ "Palaikomi {formatList} failai / formatai" (participle over noun+dative)

Punctuation, Numbers, Dates, Currency

Quotation Marks

• Lithuanian uses German-style low-high quotes: „..."
• ❌ "English quotes" → ✅ „Lietuviškos kabutės"

Numbers

• Decimal separator: comma (1**,**5)
• Thousands separator: space (1 234,56)
• ❌ 1,234.56 → ✅ 1 234,56

Dates

• Numeric (ISO): YYYY-MM-DD → 2024-01-15
• Long form: "2024 m. sausio 15 d." (months lowercase, "m." = metai/year, "d." = diena/day)
• The "m." abbreviation always follows the year; "d." always follows the day number.

Time

• 24-hour: 14:30 or 14 val. 30 min. (val. = valanda = "hour")

Currency: EUR (since 2015)

• Lithuania adopted the euro on 2015-01-01. Symbol after amount.
• Format: 99,99 € / 1 234,56 €
• Pre-2015 currency was litas (Lt) — should NOT appear in new UI.

Comma Rules

NO comma before coordinating conjunctions:

• arba (or), ar (or — different nuance), ir (and), bei (and also)
• ❌ "Vilkite failus čia, arba spustelėkite" → ✅ "...čia arba spustelėkite"
• Exception: comma DOES precede bet / tačiau / o (but)

ALWAYS comma before subordinating conjunctions:

• kad (that): "Matau, kad failas atidarytas"
• kuris / kuri (which/who): "Failas, kurį pasirinkote"
• jei / jeigu (if): "Spustelėkite, jei norite tęsti"
• nes / kadangi (because): "Neveikia, nes failas nerastas"
• kai (when): "Pranešti, kai bus baigta"

Terminology

English	Preferred Lithuanian	Avoid
Click	spustelėti / paspausti	klikinti (anglicism)
Settings	nustatymai	—
User	vartotojas	—
Delete	ištrinti / pašalinti	—
Save	išsaugoti	—
Upload	įkelti	uploadinti
Download	atsisiųsti	downloadinti
Log in	prisijungti	—
Log out	atsijungti	—
File	failas (or rinkmena — pure Lithuanian, more formal)	—
Folder	aplankas	—
Dashboard	valdymo skydelis	—
Account	paskyra	—
Email	el. paštas	emailas
Browser	naršyklė	brauseris
Link	nuoroda	—
Password	slaptažodis	—
Search	paieška / ieškoti	—

Proper noun abbreviations in UI:

• ✅ "JAV" (NOT "Jungtinės Amerikos Valstijos" in cramped UI)
• ✅ "JK" / "Didžioji Britanija" (NOT "Jungtinė Didžiosios Britanijos Karalystė")
• ✅ "ES" (Europos Sąjunga — European Union)
• ✅ "DI" (dirbtinis intelektas — AI; treat as masculine)

Brand names remain undeclined. Take gender of implied noun (OneSky platforma = fem, OneSky įrankis = masc) or default to masculine.

Calque / Anti-Pattern Blocklist

Wrong (calque)	Correct (idiomatic)	Source
Tai daro prasmę	Tai logiška / Tai turi prasmę	"makes sense"
daryti prasmę	turėti prasmę / būti prasminga	"make sense"
Dienos pabaigoje	Galų gale / Iš esmės	"at the end of the day"
Ne tikrai	Iš tiesų ne / Ne visai	"not really"
būti saugioje pusėje	dėl visa ko / saugumo dėlei	"be on the safe side"
Salaužk koją (literal)	Sėkmės! / Lai sekasi!	"break a leg"
Lengvas kaip pyragas	(literal calque acceptable but) paprasta kaip du kartus du	"piece of cake"
Lyja kates ir šunis	Lyja kaip iš kibiro	"raining cats and dogs"
vartotojo-draugiškas	patogus vartotojui / intuityvus	"user-friendly"
debesija-paremtas	debesyje veikiantis / debesų paslauga	"cloud-based"
konteksto suvokiantis	kontekstą suprantantis / kontekstinis	"context-aware"
DI-varomas	su dirbtinio intelekto pagalba / paremtas dirbtiniu intelektu	"AI-powered"
duomenų varomas	paremtas duomenimis / duomenimis grįstas	"data-driven"
downloadinti	atsisiųsti	direct anglicism
uploadinti	įkelti	direct anglicism
klikinti	spustelėti / paspausti	direct anglicism
emailas	el. paštas	direct anglicism

"per" vs "for" Distinction

Lithuanian has two distinct meanings for English "per/for" that must be clarified:

English meaning	Lithuanian construction	Example
Rate / unit ("each")	už + accusative OR kiekvienai + dative	už kalbą (per language) / kiekvienai kalbai (for each language)
Aggregate / total ("for X items")	dative plural	"{credits} kreditų {count} kalboms" (credits for X languages)

Clarify the relationship when English is ambiguous. Don't default to one construction.

Tense and Aspect

Lithuanian preserves present continuous with present tense (no separate continuous form):

English	Wrong	Correct
"we are building"	mes pastatėme (past perf)	mes statome (present)
"costs are increasing"	išlaidos padidėjo (past)	išlaidos didėja (present)

Polysemous Word Disambiguation

English (domain)	Correct Lithuanian	Wrong sense
scale (IT scalability)	mastelio keitimas / plėtimas	mastelis (measurement)
deploy (software)	įdiegti / paleisti į produkciją	dislokuoti (military)
copy (marketing text)	tekstas / reklamos tekstas	kopija (photocopy)
bug (defect)	klaida	vabalas (insect)
pipeline (CI/CD)	konvejeris / pipeline	vamzdynas (plumbing)
architecture (software)	architektūra (IT design)	architektūra (building) — context disambiguates

Self-Check Checklist

Run BEFORE finalizing each translation:

Accuracy (critical):

• Gender agreement: -as/-is/-us/-ys = masc, -a/-ė = fem; adjectives match
• Case correct: 7 cases; locative for "in", accusative after į (motion)
• Adjective agreement: gender + number + case all three
• Number-noun case: 1=nom.sg, 2-9=nom.pl, 10-20=gen.pl
• Accusative of duration: 6 metus (NOT 6 metų), 3 valandas (NOT 3 valandų) — except where verb governs genitive (laukti)
• Relative pronoun: kuris (masc) / kuri (fem) matches antecedent
• Preposition case: su→instr, į→acc (motion) / loc (no prep), iš/nuo/dėl→gen, apie/už→acc
• Diacritics preserved: all ą č ę ė į š ų ū ž present
• Verb construction: prieš + padalyvis (NOT prieš + finite verb); narrative person consistent
• Placeholders preserved exactly
• ICU plural cases: one=nom.sg (failas), few=nom.pl (failai), many=gen.sg (failo, for fractions), other=gen.pl (failų)
• Quotation marks: „..." not "..."
• Number format: 1 234,56 (space + comma)
• Conjunction commas: no comma before arba/ar/ir; comma before kad/kuris/jei/nes
• Date format: YYYY-MM-DD or "2024 m. sausio 15 d."
• Currency: 99,99 € (comma decimal, € after amount)
• Ellipsis completed: explicit noun after numbers (dar 4 modeliai)

Naturalness:

• Jūs/tu consistency — possessives, verbs, imperatives all same level
• Buttons in infinitive (Išsaugoti, not Išsaugokite)
• Status in 3rd person/impersonal (Krauna / Kraunama, not Mes kraunam)
• "viską" pattern for bulk actions (Pasirinkti viską)
• vilkti/numesti for drag-and-drop (NOT paleisti)
• Native vocabulary (atsisiųsti, el. paštas — not downloadinti, emailas)
• No hyphenated calques (X-aware, X-powered, X-driven, user-friendly)
• Abbreviations in UI (JAV, ES, DI — not full forms in cramped space)
• ė vs e correctly distinguished (mane vs manė)

Worked Examples

Example 1 — Save button + status

Source:

Save
Saving your changes...
Changes saved.

Wrong:

Išsaugokite (imperative)
Mes saugome jūsų pakeitimus...
Pakeitimai išsaugotas. (wrong gender/number — pakeitimai is masc.pl)

Correct:

Išsaugoti (infinitive button)
Saugoma... / Saugomi pakeitimai... (impersonal)
Pakeitimai išsaugoti. (masc.pl participle agreeing with pakeitimai)

Example 2 — Files counter with ICU

Source:

{count, plural, =0 {No files} one {# file} other {# files}}

Correct Lithuanian ICU:

{count, plural,
  one {# failas}
  few {# failai}
  many {# failo}
  other {# failų}
}

Reasoning:

• one (1, 21, 31...): nominative singular → failas
• few (2-9, 22-29...): nominative plural → failai
• many (fractions like 1.5): genitive singular → failo
• other (0, 10-20, etc.): genitive plural → failų

Example 3 — Drag-and-drop area

Source:

Drag and drop files here, or click to browse

Wrong:

Numeskite failus čia, arba spustelėkite, kad naršytumėte (drop-only verb; comma before arba)

Correct:

Vilkite ir numeskite failus čia arba spustelėkite, kad naršytumėte (no comma before arba; comma before kad-clause)

Example 4 — Accusative of duration

Source:

I worked here for 6 years.

Wrong (genitive):

Dirbau čia 6 metų.

Correct (accusative):

Dirbau čia 6 metus.

(metai "year" → accusative plural metus for duration)

Example 5 — Relative pronoun gender

Source:

The platform that supports multiple languages

Wrong:

Platforma, kuris palaiko kelias kalbas (kuris is masc, platforma is fem)

Correct:

Platforma, kuri palaiko kelias kalbas (kuri matches feminine platforma)

Example 6 — Bulk action

Source:

Select All

Wrong:

Pasirinkti visus (implies "all people, not items")

Correct:

Pasirinkti viską (compact accusative neuter)

Example 7 — "Before" construction

Source:

Before you pay, please review the order.

Wrong:

Prieš jūs sumokėjote, peržiūrėkite užsakymą. (prieš + finite verb — ungrammatical)

Correct:

Prieš sumokant, peržiūrėkite užsakymą. (prieš + padalyvis sumokant) OR: Prieš tai sumokėjus, peržiūrėkite užsakymą. (prieš + pusdalyvis)

Example 8 — ė vs e (meaning-critical)

Wrong:

"Sistema mane patikrino" (mane = "me" — correct usage) "Sistema manė patikrinti" (manė = "thought" — different word!)

The two are NOT interchangeable. ALWAYS preserve ė.

Example 9 — Number+case with adjective

Source:

3 new files / 10 new files

Correct:

3 nauji failai (nom.pl + nom.pl)
10 naujų failų (gen.pl + gen.pl)

When in Doubt

1. Diacritic uncertain? Default to the form with diacritic — Lithuanian rarely has unmarked forms where marked exists. Especially never strip ė (changes meaning completely).
2. Case unclear? Re-read the preposition or verb governing the noun. Lookup:
   • su (with) → instrumental
   • į (into, motion) → accusative
   • per (through), pro (past), apie (about), už (for) → accusative
   • iš (from), nuo (off), dėl (because of), be (without), iki (until) → genitive
   • palaikyti (support), matyti (see), girdėti (hear) → accusative object
   • laukti (wait for), bijoti (fear), reikia (need) → genitive object
3. Duration? Use accusative (6 metus, 3 valandas) unless the verb specifically governs another case.
4. ICU branch unclear? Lithuanian has 4: one/few/many/other.
   • one = nom.sg (1, 21, 31...)
   • few = nom.pl (2-9, 22-29...)
   • many = gen.sg (1.5, 2.5 — fractions/decimals)
   • other = gen.pl (0, 10-20, 30...)
5. Gender unclear? -as/-is/-us/-ys → masc. -a/-ė → fem. (A few -is nouns are fem: naktis, širdis, dantis — rare in UI.)
6. Register unclear? Default to Jūs-form for UI/errors/marketing.
7. Compound adjective with hyphen? Almost always wrong. Restructure with preposition or participle.
8. "prieš" with a verb? Use padalyvis (sumokant), not finite verb (sumokėjote).
9. Relative pronoun? Check antecedent's gender first: failas → kuris, sistema → kuri.

Lithuanian is one of the most morphologically rich modern European languages. When the translation feels off, the cause is usually one of: wrong case (especially missed accusative-of-duration), wrong gender agreement on relative pronoun, stripped diacritic (especially ė), or finite-verb-after-prieš. Fix the structure, don't just swap synonyms.