nivi

Hi,

I am writing a seminar paper on Lithuanian reflexive verbs, and since my knowledge of the language is less than poor, I hope I can get your help.

To start with, reflexive verbs are verbs whose object and subject are the same. meaning:

(eng.) John washed = John washed himself
(heb.) John hitrakhez = john rakhaz et azmo
(lit.) Jonas prausiasi = Jonas prausia save


What I need to know is whether it is possible to create a nominalization of the reflexive verb. In English, for example, this is not possible, and the only way to describe the reflexive action is as "self-washing". In Hebrew, the same action is described as "hitrakhazut" which is derived from the reflexive verb, and now, finally, my question - how does it work in Lithuanian?

I thank you in advance for any answer, but beware - if you are too kind to me I may bug you with more questions further on

Andrius

Hi,
I'm not an expert in linguistics, but as long as I'm native lithuanian, I can tell what words we use
So, to describe the action "Jonas prausiasi" we can use a noun "prausimasis" - that is, self-washing.
If I understood the meaning of "reflexive" correctly, then in Lithuanian we can easily create a nominalization of the reflexive verb

Maybe challma will tell something more, she is a better expert in these things.

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alma

Sveiki nivi and Andrius

now i have to tell something, but i'm not an expert either...Anyway i think Andrius was very correct and in Lithuanian it is possible to make nominization (is it a noun made from verb?)

Jonas prausiasi - prausimasis
Jonas mokosi - mokymasis
klausosi - klausymas(is)


mmm we need real experts

nivi

Thanks challma and Andrius, this is exactly what I needed, and fits perfectly to my thesis.

Andrius

I'm glad we were able to help

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nivi

Hi all,

As I warned you before - being so helpful made me come back with another question, this time about a specific type of reflexive verbs.

In French, the sentence:
Jean se considere intelligent
means:
John cosniders himself intelligent

In Hebrew and English, the same format is impossible:
* John mitkhashev inteligent
* John considers intelligent

How about lithuanian?

Andrius

Labas

In Lithuanian we can do it like in French, but with a little difference in meaning:
LT: Jonas jaučiasi protingu
The word "jauciasi" means "feels", but the meaning is the same, because John feels himself as being intelligent and it is the same as considers himself being intelligent

Firstly I thought that French "se" means the same as English "himself" - just these are different parts of speech. If consider so, then in Lithuanian we can say the same sentence in different way. But if comparing to French, words only come in different order:
LT: 1.Jonas 2. mano 3. esąs 4.protingas
FR: 1.Jean 3. se 2.considere 4.intelligent

I studied French at school for several years, but it was quite long ago, so I am not sure if I am correct

Geros dienos!

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