mokėti
Lithuanian
Etymology
Cognate with Latvian mācēt (“to be able to, know”), from Proto-Baltic *maˀk-, with further etymology unclear. Potential affinities to Ancient Greek μῆχος (mêkhos, “means, expedient”) and Proto-Indo-European *megʰ- (“to be able”) are semantically appealing, but unconvincing on formal grounds.[1][2]
The "to pay" sense is a secondary development from the "to know" sense. Compare German Vermögen (“fortune, ability”).[3]
Verb
mokė́ti (third-person present tense móka, third-person past tense mokė́jo)
- (intransitive) to be able to; to know how [with infinitive]
- (ambitransitive) to pay [with dative ‘whom’, along with už (+ accusative) ‘for what’ or accusative ‘what’]
- mokėti mokestį ― to pay a fee
Conjugation
| singular vienaskaita | plural daugiskaita | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | |||
| aš | tu | jis/ji | mes | jūs | jie/jos | |||
| indicative | present | móku | móki | móka | mókame, mókam |
mókate, mókat |
móka | |
| past | mokė́jau | mokė́jai | mokė́jo | mokė́jome, mokė́jom |
mokė́jote, mokė́jot |
mokė́jo | ||
| past frequentative | mokė́davau | mokė́davai | mokė́davo | mokė́davome, mokė́davom |
mokė́davote, mokė́davot |
mokė́davo | ||
| future | mokė́siu | mokė́si | mokė́s | mokė́sime, mokė́sim |
mokė́site, mokė́sit |
mokė́s | ||
| subjunctive | mokė́čiau | mokė́tum, mokė́tumei |
mokė́tų | mokė́tumėme, mokė́tumėm, mokė́tume |
mokė́tumėte, mokė́tumėt |
mokė́tų | ||
| imperative | — | mokė́k, mokė́ki |
temóka, temókie |
mokė́kime, mokė́kim |
mokė́kite, mokė́kit |
temóka, temókie | ||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
- ^ Derksen, Rick (2015) “mokėti”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Baltic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 13), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 322
- ^ “mokė́ti I” in Hock et al., Altlitauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch 2.0 (online, 2020–); p. 765 in ALEW 1.1 (online, 2019).
- ^ “mokė́ti II” in Hock et al., Altlitauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch 2.0 (online, 2020–); p. 767 in ALEW 1.1 (online, 2019).
Further reading
- “mokėti”, in Lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of the Lithuanian language], lkz.lt, 1941–2025
- “mokėti”, in Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of contemporary Lithuanian], ekalba.lt, 1954–2025