Whats up with As and Man???????

[Suniukas]

I was just wondering, is there a specific rule where to use As and where to use Man because it boggles me when i say someting in Lithuanian and get told "Its Man, not As" or "Its As, not Man" .

For example, The Phrase "I need", I know that need (For Me) is "Reika", so i would assume that "I need" would be "As Reika" but its not, its "Man Reika".

Is there actually a rule or do you just have to learn each individually??

[Mantaz]

I was just wondering, is there a specific rule where to use As and where to use Man because it boggles me when i say someting in Lithuanian and get told "Its Man, not As" or "Its As, not Man" .

For example, The Phrase "I need", I know that need (For Me) is "Reika", so i would assume that "I need" would be "As Reika" but its not, its "Man Reika".

Is there actually a rule or do you just have to learn each individually??

Hey there

„Man“ is a dative of „Aš“ and the word „reikėti“ requires a dative for subject and a genitive for object. That means you can't say „namas reikia stogas“, but „namui reikia stogo“ [dat. + reikia + gen.; a house needs a roof], or „stogo reikia namui“ [gen. + reikia + dat.], or „reikia namui stogo“ [reikia + dat. + gen.], or „reikia stogo namui“ [reikia + gen. + dat.] All these four sentences have the same meaning (althaugh all emphasize differently) and cases here have a function of direction „what needs what“

„Patikti“ can be a good example here. If you say „Aš patinku drambliui“ [nom. + 1st person sg + dat.], then you mean „Elephant likes me“, while saying „Man patinka dramblys“ [dat. + 3rd person + nom.] would mean „I like elephant“.

So in both cases dative shows subject or the direction where the feel of need and like goes.

[Suniukas]

„Patikti“ can be a good example here. If you say „Aš patinku drambliui“ [nom. + 1st person sg + dat.], then you mean „Elephant likes me“, while saying „Man patinka dramblys“ [dat. + 3rd person + nom.] would mean „I like elephant“.

But for "Elephant likes Me" could i not right "Drambliui patinka mane"

Would that not be correct??

[エヴァルダス]

But for "Elephant likes Me" could i not right "Drambliui patinka mane"

Would that not be correct??

That would be as correct as in English "To the elephant likes to me".

In this case, the subject and the object in English simply swap places in Lithuanian. The English subject (Elephant) is expressed in Lithuanian Dative case ("Drambliui", not "Dramblys"), and the English object is Nominative subject in Lith. ("Aš"). If you know any other language (French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Latvian, etc.), they use the same pattern as in Lithuanian for this verb:

L'éléphant me plaît.
Me gusta el elefante.

Etc...

[Mantaz]

„Patikti“ can be a good example here. If you say „Aš patinku drambliui“ [nom. + 1st person sg + dat.], then you mean „Elephant likes me“, while saying „Man patinka dramblys“ [dat. + 3rd person + nom.] would mean „I like elephant“.

But for "Elephant likes Me" could i not right "Drambliui patinka mane"

Would that not be correct??

the word „patikti“ is conjugated according to the object and as I told before, it requires nominative for the object, so you can't say „Drambliui patinka mane“ (althaugh if you extend your sentence with a verb: „Drambliui patinka mane mylėti“, the you get a logical sentence that means „Elephant likes to love me“). You must say „Drambliui patinku aš“ for „Elephant likes me“. You might switch the word order, but you cannot change the cases and persons here.

[Rokas]

And you will have to cram which case takes which verbs, there's no other alternative. Nor for you, nor for any other learner of Lithuanian.

Just like there is no rule why

Somebody shouts at someone else

BUT

Somebody knocks on the door...

[ascii]

---OutOfTopicWarning---

Somebody shouts at someone else

There is some kind of rule there, at least implicit. When the verb implies something negative to s/b, like harm or anger, you use at. Throw at, shout at.

At least that's how I see it..

But most of the rest are just colocations, without rules.