Accentuation of Prefixed Verbs

Kalbynas Author

,2025-06-29

Everything started upon me stressing the word nekenčiu (I hate)"incorrectly" - I was teaching foreigners and told the guys that the word was sressed as nèkenčiu, however, just to be sure I checked it with anaccentuation tooland found out that the word is stressed nekenčiù. So I used some search engines to find out that such accentuation is found incommon accentuation mistakes in the popular youth songs. Thus I started some investigation.

Prefixes

One shall note that almost all prefixes in my dialect work the same as they do in the Standard Lithuanian and the behave the same when it comes to stress replacement. Only the prefix per- does not care about the stress movement as it's always stressed for being acute. In this article as the generic prefix the negation prefixne- will be used.

Present tense verbs

At first I thought it had something to do with the acute, however, it turns out it has to do with the (historically) short vowels as well.Click on the arrow for detailed information.

-(i)a conjugation verbs
I	CV́Cu CṼCu CV̆Cu	neCV́Cu neCṼCuneCV̆Cu
II	CV́Ci CṼCi CV̆Ci	neCV́Ci neCṼCineCV̆Ci
III	CV́Ca CṼCa CV̆Ca	neCV́Ca neCṼCa neCV̆Ca

(Historically) short -(i)a conjugation verbs
I	geliù barù giriù	nègeliu nèbaru nègiriu
II	gelì barì girì	nègeli nèbari nègiri
III	gẽlia bãra gìria	nègelia nèbara nègiria

Circumflex -(i)a conjugation verbs
I	piešiù dylù kenčiù	nepiešiù nedylù nekenčiù
II	piešì dylì kentì	nepiešì nedylì nekentì
III	piẽšia dỹla keñčia	nepiẽšia nedỹla nekeñčia

Acute -(i)a conjugation verbs
I	kéikiu léidžiu tvóju	nekéikiu neléidžiu netvóju
II	kéiki léidi tvóji	nekéiki neléidi netvóji
III	kéikia léidžia tvója	nekéikia neléidžia netvója

-i conjugation verbs
I	CV́Cu CṼCu CV̆Cu	neCV́Cu neCṼCuneCV̆Cu
II	CV́Ci CṼCi CV̆Ci	neCV́Ci neCṼCineCV̆Ci
III	CV́Ci CṼCi CV̆Ci	neCV́Ci neCṼCi neCV̆Ci

(Historically) short -i conjugation verbs
I	tikiù raviù miniù	nètikiu nèraviu nèminiu
II	tikì ravì minì	nètiki nèravi nèmini
III	tìki rãvi mìni	nètiki nèravi nèmini

Circumflex -i conjugation verbs
I	gailiù vilkiù tyliù	negailiù nevilkiù netyliù
II	gailì vilkì tylì	negailì nevilkì netylì
III	gaìli vil̃ki tỹli	negaìli nevil̃ki netỹli

Acute -i conjugation verbs
I	stóviu nóriu séikiu	nestóviu nenóriu neséikiu
II	stóvi nóri séiki	nestóvi nenóri neséiki
III	stóvi nóri séiki	nestóvi nenóri neséiki

-o conjugation verbs
I	CV́Cau CṼCau CV̆Cau	neCV́Cau neCṼCau neCV̆Cau
II	CV́Cai CṼCai CV̆Cai	neCV́Cai neCṼCai neCV̆Cai
III	CV́Co CṼCo CV̆Co	neCV́Co neCṼCo neCV̆Co

(Historically) short -o conjugation verbs
I	žinaũ sakaũ mataũ	nežinaũ nesakaũ nemataũ
II	žinaĩ sakaĩ mataĩ	nežinaĩ nesakaĩ nemataĩ
III	žìno sãko mãto	nežìno nesãko nemãto

Circumflex -o conjugation verbs
I	rūkaũ laikaũ vaikaũ	nerūkaũ nelaikaũ nevaikaũ
II	rūkaĩ laikaĩ vaikaĩ	nerūkaĩ nelaikaĩ nevaikaĩ
III	rū̃ko laĩko vaĩko	nerū̃ko nelaĩko nevaĩko

Acute -o conjugation verbs
I	mókau táikau gliáudau	nemókau netáikau negliáudau
II	mókai táikai gliáudai	nemókai netáikai negliáudai
III	móko táiko gliáudo	nemóko netáiko negliáudo

Based on the tables we can summarise:

Acute stems always keep the stress on the root.
-o conjugation verbs don't move the stress on prefixes and the stress is moving onto flectional endings in non-acute stems for the 1st and 2nd singular.
-(i)a ir -i conjugation non-acute verbs have the same stress movement as the -o conjugation verbs, however, stems with the (historically) short vowels get the stress moved onto the prefix ne- for all the persons.

Exceptions

After testing various verbs there were 3 kind of exceptions found:

Verbs galėti (be able to/can) and turėti (to have) do not follow the short vowel -(i) paradigm and are accentuated as:
1. galiù, negaliù, turiù, neturiù
2. galì, negalì, turì, neturì
3. gãli, negãli tùri, netùri
Verbs that in different forms have circumflex il~el, im~em, in~en, ir~er andi~en pairs put the stress on the prefix:
- brendù, breñda (bristi) - nèbrendu, nèbrenda
- renkù, reñka (rinkti) - nèrenku, nèrenka
-(i) conjugation conjugations carrying circumflexal̃, am̃, ar̃ syllables and having the -ė-suffix in other tenses also move the stress to the prefix:
1. kalbù, skambù, varvù - nèkalbu, nèskambu, nèvarvu
2. kalbì, skambì, varvì - nèkalbi, nèskambi, nèvarvi
3. kal̃ba, skam̃ba, var̃va - nèkalba, nèskamba, nèvarva

Nèkenčiu?

In the begining of the article it was mentioned that the verbnekeñčia is pronounced as nèkenčia. However, knowing only the present tense is not enough - the question persists why in my dialect the verbs dỹla and keñčia behave differently and become nedỹla and nèkenčia. Therefore other tense - the past simple had to be looked at as well.

Simple past tense verbs

The pretty much the same analysis was done for the simple past verbs as it was done for the present tense. Whilst doing it, it was noticed that seemingly the same conjugation verbs behave differently in both my dialect and the standard language : žaĩdė - nèžaidė, buttaĩsė - netaĩsė. Thus testing with some other verbs the conclusion was made that -ė conjugation verbs that have the suffix -y- in the infinitive (later in text suffixed) keep the stress in the root in all the cases.Click on the arrow for detailed information.

Pure -ė conjugation verbs
I	CV́Ciau CVCiaũ CV̆Ciaũ	neCV́Ciau neCṼCiau neCV̆Ciau
II	CV́Cei CṼCeĩCV̆Ceĩ	neCV́Cei neCṼCeĩ neCV̆Ceĩ
III	CV́Cė CṼCė CV̆Cė	neCV́Cė neCṼCė neCV̆Cė

(Historically) short Pure -ė conjugation verbs
I	lakiaũ mečiaũ gimiaũ	nèlakiau nèmečiau nègimiau
II	lakeĩ meteĩ gimeĩ	nèlakei nèmetei nègimei
III	lãkė mẽtė gìmė	nèlakė nèmetė nègimė

Circumflex Pure -ė conjugation verbs
I	rėkiaũ kenkiaũ vogiaũ	nèrėkiau nèkenkiau nèvogiau
II	rėkeĩ kenkeĩ vogeĩ	nèrėkei nèkenkei nèvogei
III	rė̃kė keñkė võgė	nèrėkė nèkenkė nèvogė

Acute Pure -ė conjugation verbs
I	gė́liau kéikiau mýniau	negė́liau nekéikiau nemýniau
II	gė́lei kéikei mýnei	negė́lei nekéikei nemýnei
III	gė́lė kéikė mýnė	negė́lė nekéikė nemýnė

Suffixed -ė conjugation verbs
I	CV́Ciau CṼCiaũ CV̆Ciaũ	neCV́Ciau neCṼCiaũ neCV̆Ciaũ
II	CV́Cei CṼCeĩCV̆Ceĩ	neCV́Cei neCṼCeĩneCV̆Ceĩ
III	CV́Cė CṼCė CV̆Cė	neCV́Cė neCṼCė neCV̆Cė

(Historically) short Suffixed -ė conjugation verbs
I	sakiaũ žudžiaũ lipdžiaũ	nesakiaũ nežudžiaũ nelipdžiaũ
II	sakeĩ žudeĩ lipdeĩ	nesakeĩ nežudeĩ nelipdeĩ
III	sãkė žùdė lìpdė	nesãkė nežùdė nelìpdė

Circumflex Suffixed -ė conjugation verbs
I	kinkiaũ tąsiaũ lipdžiaũ	nekinkiaũ netąsiaũ nelipdžiaũ
II	kinkeĩ tąseĩ lipdeĩ	nekinkeĩ netąseĩ nelipdeĩ
III	kiñkė tą̃sė kam̃šė	nekiñkė netą̃sė nekam̃šė

Acute Suffixed -ė conjugation verbs
I	ródžiau skáidžiau mė́čiau	neródžiau neskáidžiau nemė́čiau
II	ródei skáidei mė́tei	neródei neskáidei nemė́tei
III	ródė skáidė mė́tė	neródė neskáidė nemė́tė

-o conjugation verbs
I	CV́Cau CṼCau CV̆Cau	neCV́Cau neCṼCau neCV̆Cau
II	CV́Cai CṼCai CV̆Cai	neCV́Cai neCṼCai neCV̆Cai
III	CV́Co CṼCo CV̆Co	neCV́Co neCṼCo neCV̆Co

(Historically) short -o conjugation verbs
I	sukaũ likaũ tapaũ	nesukaũ nelikaũ netapaũ
II	sukaĩ likaĩ tapaĩ	nesukaĩ nelikaĩ netapaĩ
III	sùko lìko tãpo	nesùko nelìko netãpo

Circumflex -o conjugation verbs
I	vilkaũ rinkaũ grįžaũ	nevilkaũ nerinkaũ negrįžaũ
II	vilkaĩ rinkaĩ grįžaĩ	nevilkaĩ nerinkaĩ negrįžaĩ
III	vil̃ko riñko grį̃žo	nevil̃ko neriñko negrį̃žo

Acute -o conjugation verbs
I	áugau šókau dė́jau	neáugau nešókau nedė́jau
II	áugai šókai dė́jai	neáugai nešókai nedė́jai
III	áugo šóko dė́jo	neáugo nešóko nedė́jo

So once again, based on the tables we can summarise:

Acute stems always keep the stress on the root.
-o conjugation works just like in the present tense.
Suffixed -ė conjugation verbs are stressed as if they belonged to the -o conjugation.
Non-acute pure -ė conjugation verbs put the stress on the prefix for all the persons.

Nèkenčiu!

The accentuation of nèkenčiu is made via analogy tonèkentė. While nedyla is accentuation like in the standard- nedỹla, as its past form is nedìlo - different cojungation and the stress is remaining within the root.