LIETUVIŲ KALBOS GRAMATINĖ SANDARA

LIETUVOS TSR MOKSLŲ AKADEMIJA

STRUCTURE OF COMPOUND VERB FORMS IN THE LITHUANIAN LITERARY LANGUAGE

N. ŠLIŽIENĖ

§ 1. Compound tense and mood forms of the Lithuanian verb consist of the nominative of a present or past active or passive participle of a verb with an independent lexical meaning, and the finite forms of the auxiliary verb būti (‘to be’). Active-voice forms are formed with active participles, and passive-voice forms with passive participles.

Compound forms formed with past simple active participles and past passive participles are called perfective, e.g.: esu pasiuntęs, -usi, esu pasiųstas, -a; buvau pasiuntęs, -usi, buvau pasiųstas, -a; būčiau pasiuntęs, -usi, būčiau pasiųstas, -a.

Compound forms formed with present active participles bearing the affix be- are called inceptive, e.g.: buvau besiunčiąs, -ianti, būsiu besiunčiąs, -ianti, būčiau besiunčiąs, -ianti.

Besides passive perfective forms, there are also compound passive forms formed with present passive participles, e.g.: esu siunčiamas, -a, buvau siunčiamas, -a, būdavau siunčiamas, -a.

The components of compound verb forms and their interrelations

§ 2. The principal and most important component of compound verb forms is the present or past participle, since it has an independent lexical meaning and indicates which verb the compound form belongs to. The type of compound form and, in part, the temporal meaning of compound perfective forms depend on the participle; for this reason, that meaning is connected with two temporal planes¹. The temporal meaning of other compound forms depends solely on the auxiliary verb.

¹ Compound perfective forms denote a resultant state continuing at a particular moment, arising from an earlier action. The resultant state belongs to one, primary, temporal plane, which is indicated by the forms of the auxiliary verb, while the action denoted by the participial stem, through which the state was attained, belongs to another, earlier temporal plane, which is secondary. The relationship of the resultant state to the earlier temporal plane is determined by the past participle included in the compound form. For this primary meaning, as well as other meanings of compound perfective forms, see N. Šližienė, “On Compound Perfective Verb Tense and Mood Forms in the Lithuanian Literary Language,” in: The Morphological Structure of the Lithuanian Language and Its Development, Vilnius, 1964, pp. 81—95.

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Present and past participles that form part of compound verb forms generally do not differ in form from present and past participles used in other contexts, which in a sentence express a secondary action and function as an attribute, predicate, or nominal part of a compound predicate. They always have markers of gender, number, and case. It is true that the nominative forms of the longer masculine present active participles are most often used as attributes (e.g., išvykstantis traukinys ‘departing train’), whereas compound forms are generally made with the short forms (e.g., buvo beišvykštęs ‘was just about to depart’); however, this is only a tendency, not an established language norm.

Participles that form part of compound forms differ in meaning from attributive present and past participles. Participles with an attributive function denote a property of an object arising from an ongoing or completed action, whereas those same participles, when combined with the auxiliary verb būti ‘to be’ to form a compound form, do not denote a property of the object; they merely indicate what the object was doing, has done, what is being done to it, and so on. Here the meaning of property has faded, while the meaning of action has come to the fore. As a trace of the meaning of property, alongside the meaning of action, in many cases only the more or less perceptible meaning of a state resulting from that action remains.

§ 3. In a sentence, the participles in compound forms agree with the subject, e.g.: the father has left, the daughter was just about to go out, the guests will be invited, the books would be read, and so on. This agreement, however, does not indicate a qualitative relationship between the subject and the predicate, since compound forms indicate not what an object is like, but what it does or that it is itself acted upon.

If a sentence has no subject in the nominative, the compound form has a neuter participle, e.g.: A lot of people had gathered; It was beginning to get cold; It is being talked about in all sorts of ways; Nothing more will be said, and so on. Compound forms with a neuter active participle are also quite often used alongside feminine plural subjects, e.g.: The hens had scratched up the seedlings; The girls were just beginning to laugh, and so on.²

Compound forms are generally made with the short nominative forms of masculine active participles: has gone, was on the way, and so on. However, dialects also have compound forms with the longer forms of present participles.

Father was just starting to eat when someone suddenly knocked on the window. Skp (DAK). The rye had grown so lushly (since autumn), that it was already heading into sheaves (ears) . Grg (LKŽ VI 824). Put something down, and the children will soon be rummaging through it. Vvr (LKŽ VI 208)³

² From a historical point of view, masculine plural participles are also incongruent with the subject; etymologically, they are neuter singular nominatives. See J. Endzelynas, Baltų kalbų garsai ir formos, Vilnius, 1957, p. 205.

³ J. Balčikonis uses quite a number of such dialectal forms in his translations (e.g.: I was running BalčHP₁ 49, he was climbing BalčHP₁ 330, he was doing BalčHP₁ 15, etc.).

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§ 4. Participles have properties of both verbs and adjectives. When adjectival properties overshadow verbal ones, participles have neither the meaning of an action nor the meanings of verbal categories, and are equivalent to adjectives, e.g.: a useless knife, a botched essay, a satisfied child, a crafty person, suitable clothing, etc.

Quite often, the same participles have pronounced verbal properties in one case and pronounced adjectival properties in another; cf.: ištįžęs (i.e., slovenly, inactive) person and ištįžęs molis (i.e., clay that has stretched), nuleisti (i.e., submissive) shoulders and nuleista lovatiesė (i.e., a bedspread that someone lowered), arable land (i.e., 1. land suitable for ploughing, which can be ploughed; 2. land that is being ploughed now).

Participles with pronounced adjectival properties do not form compound forms with the verb to be. They denote a property of an object and, functioning as the predicate or as its nominal part, express qualitative relations with the subject.

The variability of participial meaning is particularly important in distinguishing compound forms: not all present and past participles form them, but only those with clear verbal properties, which become even more pronounced and overshadow adjectival properties when the participles combine with the auxiliary verb to be.

§ 5. The other component of compound forms consists of the finite forms of the verb to be. This component serves only an auxiliary function: without affecting the lexical meaning of compound forms in any way, it gives them the verbal categories of mood, person, number⁴, and the primary meaning of tense.

The verb to be is the most abstract of all verbs, and therefore undergoes the process of desemanticization more readily than the others. Consequently, in Lithuanian, as in other languages’ equivalents of this verb, it is used not only with its independent meaning but also as a copula in a compound predicate, which, having lost its lexical meaning, helps express the predicative relation between the subject and the predicate⁵. The compound verbal forms of Lithuanian, much like those of Slavic languages, most likely developed over time from compound predicates⁶, which is why the verb to be is also a component of compound forms.

In terms of its function, the auxiliary verb is close to the endings of finite verb forms, but it has the structure of an independent word: it consists of a root and personal endings, which indicate the categories of tense, mood, person, and number, and is therefore also a separate

⁴ Participles also have number, but their number is nominal and associated with case, whereas verbal number is different: it is associated with the meaning of person.

⁵ Plg. А. С. Пешковский, Русский синтаксис в научном освещении, Москва, 1956, p. 220; Из трудов А. А. Шахматова по современному русскому языку, Москва, 1952, p. 77; Грамматика русского языка, т. II, ч. II, Изд-во АН СССР, Москва, 1960, p. 414; K. Brugmann, Die Syntax des einfachen Satzes im Indogermanischen, Berlin und Leipzig, 1925, p. 69—77.

⁶ Plg. А. А. Потебня, Из записок по русской грамматике, т. I—II, Москва, 1958, p. 119; К. А. Тимофеев, К истории форм прошедшего времени русского глагола, «Ученые записки Благовещенского гос. пед. и учит. ин-та им. М. И. Калинина», т. 2, Благовещенск, 1941, p. 73.

5. Lietuvių kalbos gramatinė sandara

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word, like the full-meaning verb būti. Only the forms of the full-meaning verb būti are independent, whereas the forms of the auxiliary verb būti indicate the grammatical categories of the entire compound form. Thus, as O. Achmanova has noted, from a technical point of view the auxiliary verb retains the properties of a word, while semantically it loses them and becomes a “formant” of other words⁷.

The auxiliary verb būti is the principal, but not the only, indicator of the grammatical meaning of compound forms. Compound forms made with the same auxiliary verb but with different participle forms have different grammatical meanings; consequently, the grammatical meaning of a compound form also depends on the participle.

§ 6. Among all the forms of the auxiliary verb būti, the present-tense forms esti, būna, būva and the frequentative past-tense form būdavo stand out somewhat. In addition to their present-tense meaning, the aforementioned present-tense forms often also have the meaning of repeated action, while this meaning is always characteristic of frequentative past-tense forms.

As with all frequentative past-tense forms, the form būdavo receives the meaning of repeated action from the suffix -dav-. This meaning of the suffix -dav- is grammaticalized; it distinguishes frequentative past-tense forms from simple past-tense forms. Būdavo is a form of the verb būti and, like forms of the same verb yra, buvo, bus, can combine with participles to form compound verb forms corresponding to the respective simple forms (pasiųsdavo — būdavo pasiunčiamas, būdavo pasiųstas, būdavo pasiuntęs)⁸.

The meaning of repeated action in the present-tense forms esti, būna, būva depends on context.

Compound forms consisting of the auxiliary verb forms esti, būna, būva, būdavo and participles usually express repeated action. It should be noted that in some cases the forms esti, būna, būva, būdavo serving as the first component are less closely connected with the second component. Past-tense participles, when forming compound perfect forms with these auxiliary verb forms, have a considerably less pronounced [property] than in cases where they form the same compound forms with other present- and past-tense forms of the auxiliary verb.

⁷ O. S. Akhmanova, On the question of word combinations in modern English, “Izvestiya AN SSSR,” No. 6, 1950, p. 470.

⁸ S. Gruzdeva argues that in Lithuanian the form būdavo has lexical meaning and therefore cannot perform the functions of an auxiliary verb; see her Синтаксические функции причастий в современном литовском языке, candidate dissertation, Leningrad, 1949, p. 132 (typescript). The Russian verb form бывал, which is similar in meaning to Lithuanian būdavo, is indeed not considered an auxiliary verb. However, it is a form not of the verb быть, but of the verb бывать. The relationship between Russian быть and бывать is similar to that between the Lithuanian verbs šokti and šokinėti, nešti and nešioti, and so on. Thus Lithuanian būdavo and Russian бывал are different things.

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the meaning of a prior action and a much more pronounced meaning of the resultant state achieved through that action, cf.:

Rapolienė cools down and ends the argument almost with a prayer, if Rapolas has left by that time. VaizgDD 94. One (son) has married into a family in Stakliškės. Nmj (DT).

In the mountainous north of Georgia, where for nine months of the year the ground is covered with snow,... stood an old, wealthy monastery of Saint Nino. VienR I 25. All those strata, evidently, have been laid down by the sea’s waves. D (LKŽ VI 158).

The women, to tell the truth, are very well dressed here: in church they usually come dressed in jackets, with shawls around their shoulders, and in brightly dyed skirts woven by themselves. ValPJ 26. I am thickly built. Šts (LKŽ II 198).

People gladly bought from her because she was always neatly dressed and knew how to arrange and display her goods attractively. BalčHP I 140. The men were dressed in fur coats or gray woolen overcoats, tailored with a waist. ValPJ 26.

Thus, in compound perfect forms with esti, būna, būva, or būdavo, past participles are less removed in meaning from attributive past participles, and such compound forms are less grammaticalized.

§ 7. Compound forms of the conditional mood are formed not only with simple, but also with compound perfect forms of the auxiliary verb, e.g.: would have sent, would have been sent, would have been being sent⁹. These forms are characterized by a clear meaning of an unreal past action or state; in this respect they differ from the corresponding compound conditional forms formed with simple forms of the auxiliary verb, which are either not used with such a meaning at all or can have it only in a particular context¹⁰, cf.:

Had he been better provided for, he would not have run away from there to look for bread. JablRR I 319. There would be many more ducks in our region if they were given protection. IvanLP II 73.

Oh, what luck: the goal he had pursued for many years was so close and so attainable that only one more small, insignificant thing needed to be done, and it would have been achieved. VienR V 403. Had he been one of the great ones, the child would have been helped... ŽemR I 371. If the German proletarians were to take power into their own hands today, the occupation would, as you can see, be abolished. Gud-GuzKIT 158.

⁹ J. Jablonskis’s grammar also contains conditional forms of the following (kind of) formation: would have been going, would have been writing, see J. Jablonskis, Rinktiniai raštai, I, Vilnius, 1957, p. 319.

¹⁰ For a fuller discussion of the meanings of the two types of compound conditional forms, see N. Sližienė, Sudurtinės veiksmažodžių formos lietuvių literatūrinėje kalboje, candidate dissertation, Vilnius, 1964, §§ 91—98, 125, 130 (typescript).

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No one, no one remembers them (the dogs) ever attacking anyone like that, barking and yelping, as if someone had trained them to do so. CiurlRR III 73. There was a certain lightness on everyone’s faces, as if they had gathered for a May festival. CvR VIII 44. — You speak as if you’d read Traušis’s “Letter,” Gervinas teases. SimonVK I 333.

Compound forms of the direct mood formed in this way also occur, but they are very rare.

I had been to visit the girls. Klp (DAK). By that age, all the girls had already been in love, happily or unhappily. SimonVK I 217. I have lived until this year, but I have never been beaten. Plng (LKŽ III 378). Probably since Šalteikiai Vilkienė died, they (the gates) have not been opened. SimonVK II 110.

For forming impersonal compound forms of indirect mood, impersonal passive participles of the auxiliary verb in the present or past tense are sometimes used, for example: there is departure, there was deliverance, and so on.

§ 8. Several compound forms in a sentence that have the same person, mood, and tense most often share a single form of the auxiliary verb.

Like that little leaf from its native tree, I am broken off by the storm and flung into the mud MairRR II 225. The stove had already been heated, but its door had not yet been closed. VienR I 306. A few days later Šatas was dismissed from the institution, and subsequently tried for having attempted against his superior’s life. CvR III 81. Schooling was not especially to the woman’s taste, and she would much rather have spun or threshed all night than stuffed lifeless signs into her head. CvR VIII 60.

In dialogic speech, the auxiliary verb to be may be used elliptically—without a participle, when the speakers already understand what action is meant.

— Have you ever been to Klaipėda? — I have, but that was long ago. Slnt (LKŽ V 40). — Tell me, brother, surely you haven’t done anyone any harm? — How could I not have; perhaps I’ve done many people harm. KrėvRg 259¹¹.

§ 9. Constructions formed from participles and the verbs to have, to become, to remain are sometimes used with a meaning close to that of compound forms.

The Jureliai have ploughed up a field belonging to Subačius. Lp (LKŽ I 256). Jonas had already married a second wife and with her had fathered two sons and a daughter. VienR V 12. And what lovely clothes she has made for herself! SimonVK I 184.

The men danced, having turned the earth, and covered the yellowish grave with rollers—the neighbors honored Usninis. TilvU 133. And of the republic’s great enemies

Cf. the elliptical use of the auxiliary verb in place of the entire compound future-tense form in Russian; see В. В. Виноградов, Русский язык, Москва, 1947, p. 569; likewise in English, in place of the entire perfect form; see А. И. Смирницкий, Морфология английского языка, Москва, 1959, p. 66.¹¹

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heads were cut off... Gud-GuzKIT 284. — Certainly, — the steward agreed, and in a minute the giant’s fate was sealed. VienR I 380. Thus the two of them were being dragged from the stable by force, yet they saw nothing. BsV 327.

Such were the favors granted to Martynienė, who in a single year endured two funerals and received two bodies. ŽemR II 419. Thus, at the young master's suggestion, the lindens were pruned, the pine grove was thinned for the logs, and a deep ditch was dug through the marsh across the meadow... VienR I 351. And those (castles) that still dared to resist Vytautas’s might were razed to the ground. DaukRR 144.

The verb turėti ‘to have’ is the least close to the auxiliary verb būti ‘to be’. It retains its lexical meaning and is therefore used only with active participles of transitive verbs, governing the accusative case of the direct object. Consequently, a construction consisting of the verb turėti and a participle is not equivalent to compound forms¹².

The verbs tapti and likti ‘to become, to turn into’, when used with passive participles, form constructions whose meaning is very close to that of compound passive forms. These constructions, like compound passive forms, denote an action taking place at a particular time and directed toward the entity denoted by the subject of the sentence. They differ, however, in that, when formed with a past passive participle, they never express the resultant state brought about by that action; consequently, the principal meaning of compound perfect passive forms is entirely absent from them. In these cases, the verbs tapti and likti are probably used by analogy with expressions in which they occur alongside adjectives or participles with adjectival meaning (became more humane, became tractable, remained infirm, etc.). The use of these verbs with passive participles in a meaning close to that of compound forms appears to be uncommon in present-day Lithuanian, except in the westernmost Lithuanian regions (Klaipėda, Priekulė, Pagėgiai, etc.), where the verb tapti is fairly frequent in these cases. Such usage of the verbs tapti and likti is unacceptable in the literary language¹³.

§ 10. As regards position, the two constituents of compound forms are fairly free. Although the auxiliary verb usually comes first and the participle after it, the reverse order is also possible; that is, the participle may precede the auxiliary verb.

Would anyone be so kind as to say how that word (alpėti) is pronounced in spoken dialects? BūgKS 119. Not like that, but it was pronounced

¹² J. Jablonskis apparently considered constructions with the verb turėti to correspond to compound forms; compare the examples he cites, in which forms of the verb būti are given in parentheses alongside the verb turėti, e.g.: And I have (am) bought some land. JablRR I 315. He had (had) also bought a horse. JablRR I 316. The fishermen are in the region and have (have) caught many fish. JablRR I 315.

¹³ J. Jablonskis considered the use of the verb tapti with a participle in a meaning close to that of compound forms incorrect; see his Rinktiniai raštai, II, Vilnius, 1959, p. 243, 303, 325, 430.

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quietly, so that no one would overhear. LzPR II 35. Another woman in her place would have rejoiced. Blv (LKŽ II 728).

Very often, the components of compound forms are separated from one another by one, two, or more words.

He had already come close to the lake. Grž (LKŽ II 777). Perhaps it was explained more clearly and in greater detail, but in that sense. ŽemR II 267. But the kissel, delicious with the beloved šiupinys, had already all been eaten at our tables. DonR 60. Vilius would gladly have asked a few more things. SimonVK I 168.

§ 11. Unlike prefixes that modify the lexical meaning of the verb (e.g., at-, nu-, iš-, su-, etc.), which occur only with participles forming compound forms, the negator ne- and the affixes te-, be-, tebe-, nebe- may occur with either component.

The negator ne- most often occurs with the auxiliary verb. With participles, it is used mainly in active pluperfect forms of the subjunctive, denoting an action that was possible or desired in the past. There it occurs with the participle even more often than with the auxiliary verb, and in both cases the meaning is exactly the same; cf.:

I would never have believed that such a little child could beat up such a man. Alvt (LKŽ III 396). There was no man, no child, no young maiden who did not know Kunotas’s name. KrėvP 148.

You didn’t even look askance at me, as if I had not existed, as if you had never known me... SimonVK II 197.

Compound perfect forms with a relative-resultative meaning associated with two time planes acquire a stronger resultative-state meaning when the negator is added to the participle. Cf.:

He, poor fellow, had not deserved such a thing from your grace, master. VaičRn 160. And I had not unharnessed the horses: when I came back from the bride’s with the dowry, I put them in Pesys’s stable, and there they stayed. CvR III 253. I am still not certain that in the Semigallian language the palatalized g and k had not turned into the sounds dz and c. BūgKS 85.

The trees have not been measured for you, not even by a single foot. ŽemR II 82.

The whole Aužbikai area is still asleep or has not yet gone out into the fields. VaižgDD 59. Rapolas had scarcely done any work in his entire life. VaižgDD 83.

In passive perfect forms that have a passive-action meaning (e.g.: Not even during the revolution was as much forest ravaged as he himself ravaged. Lkš (LKŽ II 202)), no instances of the negator with the participle have been found.

Compound passive forms with a present-tense participle, when negation occurs with the participle, do not differ in meaning from forms with negation on the auxiliary verb; only with the former forms is the action usually denied more categorically. Cf.:

That one, a wooden spoon, is not carved, but made in the local manner—shaped from right down at the base. Vrn (LKŽ III 694). And you, old man, if you wish, serve as a hired hand for that new master, because under that lord one was not allowed to leave for anywhere else... ŽemR II 373.

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And in those days, after all, a poor person was not even regarded as a human being. CvR III 277. The cast-iron pot kept inside for drinking or boiling water was not covered. VaižgDD 38.

§ 12. The affixes te-, be-, tebe-, nebe- are attached in almost the same way to either constituent of compound forms. Only the affix be- occurs more often with the participle (in compound initial forms it occurs only with the participle), whereas the affix te- is more often found with the auxiliary verb. Whether attached to one constituent or the other, these affixes modify the meaning of the entire compound form in the same way. Cf.:

With the affix te-: Father Simonis, too, has ridden on trains only once so far. SimonR I 217. They had been poorly cemented, and all the foundations collapsed. Vvr (LKŽ II 7). In the village, only the fisherman was being talked about at that time. CvR III 127.

For this reason, this method was used only very little for a long time in engineering and in laboratories. MatKCh 24.

With the affix be-: Secondly, what, after all, would she have had left among people without a husband, even if he was an old man? VaižgDD 101. The cat, dozing on the wall, understood the appetizing talk and licked its chops: it had not tasted meat in a long time. CvR III 159.

How could I have taken any in autumn, when you, sir, had planted them (the clover) with oats, and when I, short of fodder, asked for some, there was nothing left for me but the stubble. VienR V 38. Thank you, dear mother, I hadn’t slurped such delicious broth in a long time! ValPJ II. You would hardly have seen the promised land of the minister himself either, had I not bent the officials to my will. LzPR II 86.

They have not sown here; the soil is still being loosened—we are still wary of the warmth. Nt (LKŽ I 456). Had he still been alive, he would have introduced me to the wealthiest and best-known households. BalčHP₁ 45.

“What can you do, what can you do, poor man!” Juras muttered almost under his breath, spreading his arms as though he were still talking to the landowner. CvR VIII 150. If she were still hidden away, there would be no trouble at all—she would not have been the first to burst. ŽemR I 144.

I have not heard him speak a word, but I can swear on it that he, too, will have been plunging the young into the abyss of hell. SimonR I 249. It seemed to her that Anskis could never have returned to such a house, and that was why he was no longer there. SimonVK II 169. Songs of olden days are no longer cherished as they once were: the further time goes on, the rarer they become. DaukRR 255.

By the sixth and seventh centuries, the Finnish language will already have lost its sounds, since it had already become a mixture of sounds. BūgKS 208. Were it not for the old lindens and a few surviving birches, I would no longer have recognized my garden. VienR I 227.

The affix tebe- indicates that the action denoted by the verb is still continuing; it therefore occurs with verb forms that express an ongoing action. Since perfective forms generally denote an action that has already been completed and is no longer ongoing, the affix tebe- is not attached to them, except in active conditional forms, which express a possible or

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a desired past action. In other cases, the verb būti with the affix tebė- and a past participle do not form a compound form, but indicate what an object was like and still is.

What kind of washing is this of yours — all the surrounding places are still caked with dirt! Grg (LKŽ III 424). The chick is still not fully feathered — it still needs to be put under the hen. Žgč (LKŽ III 768). The mirror is also still covered; Greitė is afraid to see her face in it. SimonVK II 115. And I immediately remember, while the orchard was still untouched: was that really what our land was like? ŽemR II 78.

The affix nebe- differs from the affix tebe- in that it is added not only to conditional but also to indicative perfect forms when these have a very pronounced meaning of an indefinite past action and a very weak meaning of the generalized resultant state attained through that action (see the examples given above with the affix nebe-).

§ 13. From what has been said above, it can be concluded that compound verb forms are a fixed combination of a lexical word and a formal word, inseparable both lexically and grammatically. They are lexically inseparable because of the desemanticization of the auxiliary verb: lacking lexical meaning, the latter cannot function independently. Compound forms are grammatically indivisible because of their meaning, which is not the sum of the grammatical meanings of the verb būti and the participle, but an entirely new grammatical meaning dependent on the relationship between the two constituents.

Since compound forms include all verbs, or at least a large proportion of them (for example, passive forms include transitive verbs), and their grammatical meaning correlates accordingly with the meaning of simple forms (sends — has sent — is sent, sent — was being sent, and so on), compound forms are part of the verb conjugation system.

The correlation of compound forms with simple conjugated verb forms is the most important feature showing that this is not a free word combination but a grammatical word form¹⁴.

¹⁴ For compound verb forms and their main features in other languages, see M. M. Гухман, Глагольные аналитические конструкции как особый тип сочетаний частичного и полного слова (На материале истории немецкого языка), кн.: Вопросы грамматического строя, Москва, 1955; Л. В. Кузьмичева, К вопросу об «аналитических конструкциях» как лексикограмматическом явлении (На материале глагольных сочетаний немецкого языка), «Иностранные языки в школе», 1962, № 5; А. И. Смирницкий, Аналитические формы, «Вопросы языкознания», 1956, № 2; Л. А. Бармина, К вопросу об аналитических формах глагола в современном английском языке, «Ученые записки» (I-й Моск. гос. пед. ин-т иностр. яз.), 1961, т. 25; В. М. Жирмунский, О границах слова, «Вопросы языкознания», 1961, № 3, р. 15—18; Аналитические конструкции в языках различных типов (Тезисы докладов), Ленинград, 1963; О. И. Москальская, Устойчивые словосочетания с грамматической направленностью, «Вопросы языкознания», 1961, № 5; О. И. Москальская, Грамматический идиоматизм и синтагматика, «Иностранные языки в высшей школе» (I-й Моск. гос. пед. ин-т иностр. яз.), 1962; А. А. Потебня, Из записок по русской грамматике, т. I—II, Москва, 1958, р. 119, 145.

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M. Guchman has proposed the following main criteria for compound verb forms in German (the author calls them analytical constructions): 1) the inseparability of the constituents, 2) idiomaticity as the basis of this inseparability, 3) coverage of the entire lexical system of the verb, and 4) integration into the system of correlating verb forms¹⁵. The author bases her account on German data, but in her view these criteria should apply, to a greater or lesser extent, to other languages as well. At the same time, she notes that, for example, the cohesion of the constituents and idiomaticity may vary in degree across languages: in some languages the constituents may be freer and more independent, in others less so.

M. Guchman’s criteria for compound forms apply, to a greater or lesser extent, to Lithuanian compound verb forms as well. The special cohesion and idiomaticity of their constituents are reflected in the grammatical meaning of the whole combination, which is not the sum of the meanings of the individual constituents but a new meaning dependent on the relationship between the two constituents. In meaning, compound forms correlate with the corresponding simple verb forms. And although some groups of compound forms, such as compound passive forms, do not encompass the entire lexical system of the verb, they are nevertheless characteristic of many verbs with varied lexical meanings¹⁶.

§ 14. Lithuanian compound verb forms have not fully crystallized or become distinct from analogous constructions of the verb būti and a participle functioning as a compound predicate, from which they once developed. In some cases, participles with certain lexical meanings form compound forms with the verb būti, but in others they do not, depending on the context in which such a combination is used. Moreover, in many cases the meaning of compound forms depends, to a greater or lesser extent, on the meaning of the participles; consequently, in addition to the meaning of an action, compound forms often also have a meaning of a state associated with that action¹⁷, which links them to the corresponding constructions functioning as compound predicates. The more pronounced the meaning of a state, the less grammaticalized the compound form; conversely, the more pronounced the meaning of the action described, the greater the degree of grammaticalization of the whole combination and the stronger the basis for treating it as a verb form.

Despite the fact that Lithuanian compound verb forms have not fully crystallized, owing to the features already mentioned above they are part of the verb conjugation system and correlate with the corresponding simple forms.

¹⁵ Žr. М. М. Гухман, min. veik., p. 359.

¹⁶ Elsewhere in the aforementioned article (p. 348), M. Guchman argues that the fact that compound forms encompass large groups of verbs already places them alongside simple verb forms and leads to their integration into conjugation paradigms.

¹⁷ Plg. N. Sližienė, Apie sudurtines atliktines veiksmažodžio laikų ir nuosakų formas lietuvių literatūrinėje kalboje, kn.: Lietuvių kalbos morfologinė sandara ir jos raida, p. 86—87.

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Active and passive voice compound forms

§ 15. The voice meaning of compound verb forms depends on the voice of the participle that forms part of them. If the participle is active, the compound form also has an active meaning, and vice versa.

In Lithuanian, finite forms of the passive voice occur only as compound forms. They form the basis of the voice category among finite verb forms.

All tense and mood forms of the verb, except compound inchoative forms, can be active or passive, e.g.: beats — is being beaten, beat — was being beaten, has beaten — has been beaten, beat up — was beaten up, would beat — would be beaten, would have beaten — would have been beaten, beat! — be beaten, let him beat — let him be beaten, etc. Compound inchoative forms are active only, e.g.: had begun to beat, will have begun to beat, would have begun to beat.

Finite active-voice verb forms denote an action performed by the person or thing expressed by the sentence subject, whereas passive-voice forms denote an action directed at the thing or person expressed by the subject, cf.: I am reading a book and The book is being read by me; I have read a book and The book has been read by me. Since passive forms indicate that the thing or person expressed by the subject does not act of its own accord but is acted upon by someone else, they also convey a certain state experienced by that thing.

Only transitive verbs and some intransitive verbs (chiefly those that govern the genitive case: to wait for, to look for, to fear, to avoid, and the like) have forms of both voices, e.g.: beats — is being beaten, has given — has been given, bought — was bought, waited — was waited for, looks for — is being looked for, lives — is inhabited, and the like. Most intransitive verbs have only active forms. They may have impersonal passive forms, but these do not have a passive-voice meaning, since they do not express a passive relation between the action described and the thing or person expressed by the sentence subject. Their meaning is close to that of active forms.

And as far as I know and remember, there was no drinking in King’s house in Šalteikiai. SimonVK II 271. For everywhere there will be fighting; everywhere Anskis will have to open fire on people who have done him no harm... SimonVK II 41. I lost a little, but back then there had indeed been some of it. Ss (LKŽ III 42). Especially many people had gathered on Zabalkansky Avenue. Gud-Guz KIT 64.

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Distinguishing compound verb forms from constructions of a participle and the verb būti (‘to be’) that do not form compound forms

§ 16. As has already been mentioned, Lithuanian compound verb forms have not yet fully crystallized or separated from constructions functioning as compound predicates, from which they historically developed. The verbal meaning of the participles that make them up is more apparent in some cases and less in others, depending on the context in which the compound forms are used and on their lexical meaning. The state meaning associated with the passive voice also has some influence. The more pronounced the verbal properties of the participle, the more pronounced the action meaning of the whole combination and the more grammaticalized it is; conversely, the weaker the participle’s verbal properties and the more pronounced its adjectival properties, the less tightly its components are bound, and the closer the combination is to constructions functioning as compound predicates. Cf.:

a) He (Mykoliukas) has given you something better than what he took away. VaižgDD 53. And we, men, have already chosen our own fate! KrėvP 229. Those pigs have rooted up the yard here and there. Lž (LKŽ VI 196). The womenfolk offered to see the sons off, since the messenger had invited them to the feast as well. DonR 66.

b) That man is accustomed to working at a trade—he knows how to do and repair all kinds of jobs. Skn (LKŽ I 97). The scythe has become blunt. KlvrŽ (LKŽ II 380). His face was pale from a sleepless night. VenclR III 239. Yes, yes, and I saw that at one point she had grown very pale. SimonVK I 279. He (Vacys) was wounded, his arm was useless—like a wolf caught in a good trap! TilvU 162.

In the sentences of the first group (a), the combinations of the verb būti and a participle have a clear action meaning and constitute unequivocal compound forms. In the sentences of the second group (b), the corresponding combinations have a considerably weaker action meaning and a more pronounced quality meaning, but are nevertheless considered compound forms, albeit less clear-cut ones than those mentioned above. The compound forms of this latter group are very close to constructions functioning as compound predicates, but are not equivalent to them, since they retain an action meaning, though not a very pronounced one; in their place, simple verb forms of similar meaning could be used, e.g.: That man became accustomed to working at a trade...; The scythe became blunt; His face turned pale from a sleepless night, etc. A construction consisting of the verb būti and a participle does not form a compound form when the participle has no action meaning and denotes a permanent property of an object. Such constructions cannot be replaced by simple verb forms.

The roots of the snakeweed are twisted (i.e., they have this shape) like snakes. Skdv (LKŽ III 369). The potatoes are fibrous, with hollow spaces like alder buds. Žal (LKŽ III 356). He had been bedridden for a long time before deciding to travel to Petersburg. Vaižg (LKŽ V 932). In people’s eyes, Rapolas was truly mischievous—he avoided even the smallest chore. VaižgDD 96. Briauzgai

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(bones) stick out prominently when the garment is tight and the person is thin. Plng (LKŽ I 849). A lens is concave on both sides. BaršF 207.

Nevertheless, it should be noted that the compound forms of group (b) mentioned above are quite difficult to distinguish from constructions functioning as compound predicates; there is no strict boundary between them.

§ 17. Past participles made from perfective verbs denoting a change in the state or condition of an object or person (paled, dried up, become ragged, fallen into disrepair, gone wild, concave, flattened, etc.) most often have an adjectival meaning and do not form compound forms; cf. the sentences given above, in which the combinations of the verb to be and a participle do not form compound forms.

Past participles of other verbs generally do not form compound forms only when they occur as part of more or less fixed idiomatic expressions.

It seems you are wise and have seen butter, yet you can accept a contract so foolishly! ŽemR II 59. I am tied up with all sorts of work; I have neither time nor health. Sts (LKŽ II 842). Whoever has a leaning toward something (has an inclination): one toward learning, another toward soldiers. Prk (LKŽ VI 624). I have already gone over the hill (grown old). Sts (LKŽ VI 384). She has already shed a tooth. Bis (LKŽ II 180). That Tamošius has swallowed the devil today; he is thinking up something wicked! LzPR II 49. You cannot get past her—she is secured with four fastenings. Sts (LKŽ II 785). He has been carried off and abandoned by a wolf. JabIRR I 318.

§ 18. Present passive participles formed from intransitive verbs and lacking passive meaning do not form compound forms with the verb to be. They denote a certain property of an object associated with the action expressed by the participial verb stem.

Apparently, the portion was sufficient, and it was enough for Tautrimas that he did not fuss much and agreed to everything. SimonVK I 135. This tree will be suitable for making a hide-stretcher. Ldk (LKŽ V 51). How much milk will there be, when the cows are being starved to death. Slnt (LKŽ II 681). An evil spirit is not to be struck; you cannot knock it down with a stone. Svnč (LKŽ VI 135). Two girls were being raised. Vb (LKŽ I 382). The process described is reversible. MatKCh 61.

The neuter forms of these participles can form compound forms with the verb to be, but the latter do not have passive meaning (see § 15).

Present passive participles of transitive verbs do not form compound forms when they express possibility, necessity, or an object's purpose or suitability. By describing an object's relation to the action denoted by the participial stem, such participles indicate permanent properties of objects, e.g.: illegible handwriting, rye to be reaped, eating spoon, land to be ploughed, and so on.¹⁸

¹⁸ Cf. V. Ambrazas, On the Use of Present Passive Participles, “Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai”, vol. 4, Vilnius, 1961, pp. 93—110.

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Our fences are being raked around (a small meadow). Šts (LKŽ III 554). He was distressed about the worker’s health only because Ona could not be replaced on the farm. CvR III 42. She hoped that Gaidienė would be persuadable. SimonVK II 335. After all, Ona and I flew to the doctor at night... it was being killed... ŽemR II 443. That jacket (švarkas) is also a good piece of work. Vvr (LKŽ II 312). That horse had already been harrowed. Ss (LKŽ I 44).

§ 19. The adjectival meaning of present and past participles usually becomes clear in a particular context. Used in other circumstances, the same participles may have sufficiently prominent verbal characteristics and form compound forms, cf.:

The dahlia leaves in the garden are twisted (not a compound form). Bsg. I hung up the curd cheese, and it got covered in mold: you see, it had been twisted with sour milk (a compound form). Šts (LKŽ V 395).

The prominence of participles’ verbal or adjectival characteristics sometimes also depends on their particular position in the sentence. For example, when a sentence contains adjectives (sometimes nouns or prepositional constructions with them) describing another characteristic of the same object or person and functioning as coordinate sentence elements alongside participles, the participles are used adjectivally and do not form compound forms with the verb būti ‘to be’.

They were all quiet, serious, collected, and in everyone’s eyes glimmered a spark of hidden revenge and indignation. VienR V 320. And later still—their eyes (Ilžė’s eyes) were already pensive, sad, and no longer girlish. SimonVK II 371. When I was young, small, not yet grown up, I led my little horse to the sea to water it. JD 765. The man was a drunkard and dissolute as a bundle of leaves. Brt (LKŽ III 270). They were all downcast, sorrowful, lifeless, and moved about like shadows. VienR I 229. Povilas studied poorly enough, but he was diligent, constantly bent over his book, and learned his lessons by heart. VienR V 15. Only Uncle Dūdžionis’s hair was long, evenly cut, and parted in the middle. SimonOBT 25.

Just as always, but they (the letters) were always dear and welcome to Martunas, except that they were so rare. SimonVK II 286. And after all, he too was young, strong, and cherished by everyone. BilR I 206.

The adjectival meaning of participles is also emphasized by the pronouns that modify them, such as toks ‘such’, koks ‘what kind’, kažkoks ‘some kind of’, toks pat ‘the same kind’, and so on.

Dad had already become so gray-haired, always so stooped, and his knees were always so bent. SimonVK I 14. Why are you so thin—are you perhaps ill? Jrb (LKŽ I 768). You look so exhausted, or laid low by illness... ŽemR II 227. Ha, I saw how radiant your face was. SimonVK II 17.

Present active participles with the affix be- have a very prominent verbal meaning and a very weak adjectival meaning, and always form compound forms with the verb būti ‘to be’.

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Present and past participles used with the meaning of present-tense compound forms

§ 20. Present and past participles are often used without an auxiliary verb with the meaning of present-tense compound forms, especially in the third person.

For the last time, a Šalteikis of Šalteikiai is being buried. SimonVK I 12. The old Varkalis’s sheaves, stacked by the bench, are put to work. Gud-GuzKIT 13. It seemed to me that I was being called... SruogR III 408. It seems that Vilius Karalius has forgotten Gretė—he goes to the cradle to look at the baby. SimonVK I 360. At night a little shower of rain has passed through; the earth is moistened, the grass washed, the air refreshed. ŽemR II 238. Coo-coo, no bride has been lifted into the cart! Coo-coo! Just a little ewe, just a white sheep! SNėrP₁ 439. I have eaten, I have drunk—dear mother, where are the daughters? JD 1470. “Come on, tell me, why are you so very not quite right, like a goat on ice!” Saliamutė turned around. “Wasn’t your Povilukas hired by us, wasn’t he fed on our bread?” BaltPV₁ I 361.

For a long time, in Lithuanian grammars, such participles were regarded as present-tense compound forms in which the auxiliary verb had been omitted¹⁹. In fact, these are not compound forms, and they probably never had an auxiliary verb at all²⁰. Since the meaning of the participles in these cases corresponds to that of present-tense compound forms, they should be considered corresponding present-tense forms (for example, perfect or passive forms), but not compound forms. Lacking an auxiliary verb, these forms also lack a morphologically expressed person category. Person is usually indicated by personal pronouns, or is made clear by the context.

§ 21. Not every present or past participle functioning as a predicate has a meaning equivalent to that of present-tense compound forms. Sometimes it is accompanied by various modal nuances that are not characteristic of compound forms. Such participles also do not correspond in meaning to compound forms.

Past participles functioning as predicates have a meaning that is furthest removed from that of perfect forms when they report the thoughts of others, or state something that is not very well known but has merely been heard from others.

While eating, the poor man confidently told how he had cut a piece of roast from a live cow’s thigh and cooked it. ŽemR II 136.

¹⁹ See J. Jablonskis, Rinktiniai raštai, I, p. 312; J. Žiugžda, Lietuvių kalbos gramatika, I, Fonetika ir morfologija, Kaunas, 1962, p. 191—193; J. Otrębski, Gramatyka języka litewskiego, III, Nauka o formach, Warszawa, 1956, p. 280.

²⁰ These forms are associated by origin with the simple nominal predicate, inherited from ancient times and widely used in contemporary Lithuanian; cf. K. Brugmann, Die Syntax des einfachen Satzes im Indogermanischen, Berlin und Leipzig, 1922, p. 59—77; Из трудов А. Шахматова по современному русскому языку, Москва, 1952, p. 77—78; Т. П. Ломтев, Очерки по историческому синтаксису русского языка, Москва, 1956, p. 37; Ю. Г. Скиба, Предикативная связка «быть — есть» в восточно-славянских языках, «Ученые записки Черновицкого ун-та», т. 47, серия филол. наук, вып. 14, 1961.

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At that time, if we are to believe cultural historians, the Indo-Europeans had not yet learned to bake bread or grow wheat. BūgKS 206.

Neuter-gender present passive participles are sometimes used in a similar way.

And the enemies found out that it was no ordinary soldier sitting in their cellar, but the son of a great and powerful nobleman. KrėvP 52.

Past-tense participles, especially passive ones, can express a past action inferred or surmised from some existing facts.

The hut’s door is wide open; before the door, at the far end of the hut, lies a dead man, his nostrils puffed out. He must have been a young man still. ŽemR II 385. How brave Žičkus must have been, it seems! TilvU 146.

Neuter-gender present passive participles similarly express a present action inferred or surmised from some existing facts.

Thus, the word for ‘chair’ is not only Lithuanian but also Baltic. BūgKS 138. This is where happiness lies... VienR I 243.

Past active or passive participles often express the results of an action that are suddenly seen, heard, discovered, or otherwise experienced, and that evoke astonishment or other emotions.

Look, I see—the knife’s little loop has come off. Jnšk (LKŽ I 410). “Well, would you look at that! What have you come back with—a little dark-skinned, big-nosed, ingratiating, sly thing!” his wife began shouting. ŽemR I 66. From afar, something was glittering and glimmering; I come closer—and the clothes are spread out to dry! Slnt (LKŽ I 763).

Neuter-gender present passive participles can express an action suddenly experienced in some way.

I go inside from the entryway—and there’s a grand gathering seated there. Lkm (LKŽ II 330). And there are guests here too! SruogR III 469.

In all these cases, present- and past-tense participles serve as a means of expressing indirect speech.

Participles functioning as predicates should not be regarded as present-tense forms corresponding in meaning to compound forms, including when they denote a characteristic of an object.

He eats and eats, but it does him no good; he’s all shriveled up. Gs (LKŽ II 793). His nose is curved like a hook. Lš (LKŽ III 702). This garment of mine can be grabbed. Gs (LKŽ III 591).

Some Structural Features of Compound Verb Forms Used in the 16th–17th Centuries

§ 22. The compound verb forms used in the 16th–17th centuries differ essentially little in structure from the forms used today: they likewise consist of present or past participles and inflected forms of the auxiliary verb to be. In the written sources of that period, inceptive forms are exceedingly rare. Compound forms built with the present active participle without the affix be-, however, are quite abundant.

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And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold (=nie sa z tew owczarniew WjP 348; non sunt ex hoc ovili WjB Jn 10 16). DP 206. And thus Herod and Pilate became friends that day: for before that they had been enemies (= byli WjP 281; erant WjB Luk 23 12) among themselves. DP 164. And from then on the Son of Man will be sitting (= będzie siedział WjP 13; erit sedens WjP Luk 22 69) at the right hand of the power of God. DP 163. These things happened at Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing (= krzczil WjP 33; erat baptizans WjB Jn 1 28). DP 21. As if Jesus had said something improper before the Bishop: or as if it were not fitting (= jakoby się nie godziło WjP 274) in the Bishop’s sight, and to speak wisely. DP 160. The Lord of heaven and earth, while still a little child, walked with them and was born as though he were a shepherd’s boy. BrP I 61.

These forms emphasize the duration of the action being described.

Compound forms of this type still occur in the Samogitian dialect today, as well as in the writings of S. Daukantas.

There was always water in that well. Sts (LKŽ I 994). The water seemed to stretch out there like threads, like cobwebs. Sts (LKŽ II 486). A Lithuanian, that is, a Highlander or a Samogitian, is always a cheerful-hearted person: traveling, working, wherever he is not weary, he always hums or sings. DaukRR 204.

Compared with compound inceptive forms, compound forms with the present active participle without the affix be- are less grammaticalized. While emphasizing the duration of the action described, they also indicate a certain state of the agent, and are thus closer to constructions functioning as compound predicates. In addition, these forms are found only with imperfective verbs.

In present-day Lithuanian, the present active participle without the affix be- does not usually form compound forms with the verb būti ‘to be’, since it denotes a characteristic quality of a thing or person.

Old love is still burning. Dr (LKŽ II 251). The child had already learned to speak (already knew how to speak). Sts (LKŽ V 116). The whole day was exceptionally calm. VaižgDD 23. The carts must be greased well... the loads will be heavy, and if you have a long way to haul them, it will be hard on the horses... ŽemR II 165.

Examples of this kind are also found in 16th–17th-century written sources.

There Christ said that John had not been like a reed. DP 21. The Lord’s eyes are more keenly watchful and attentive than the sun’s. SP I 19.

§ 23. In J. Bretkūnas’s writings, in addition to the auxiliary verb būti ‘to be’, the verb tapti ‘to become’ is also used with passive participles of the past tense.

And it b e c a m e s a i d to Abimelech. BrB Teis 9 25. And Jair died, and b e c a m e b u r i e d in Kamon. BrB Teis 10 5. Thus were h e a v e n and e a r t h m a d e, with all their adornment. BrB 1 Moz 2 1.

From time to time, in the writings of M. Mažvydas and J. Bretkūnas, alongside passive participles of the past tense, the verb stotis ‘to become’ is found.

Therefore, in your place you must answer me, so that the required testimony may be given, why he himself h a s b e c o m e b a p t i z e d, or, b a p t i z-

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e d. Mž 107—108. And Abraham held a great feast that day, when Isaac had been weaned. BrB I Moz 18.

The use of this verb may have been influenced by Polish.

The jussive form to standtestov(i)²¹ of the verb was also used to form passive compound forms of the jussive mood.

Cursed be thou, who curse thee; blessed be thou, who bless thee. BrB 1 Moz 27 29.

§ 24. In 16th–17th-century writings, participles without an auxiliary verb were hardly used with the meaning of present-tense compound forms. A few occur in M. Daukša’s Postil, but mostly only in cases where such forms also appear in the Polish original.

For thus it is written (=napisano WjP 11): I saw the dead, small and great. DP 7. They said of that one (=rzeczono WjP 440), you too, when you have finished, shall surely die. DP 264. And how ought he to guard himself: he who has offended his neighbor, or who has been offended (=obrážon WjP 488) by him. DP 293. And whoever has not died now, let him know that he will die. DP 199.

There were two reasons why participles could have been used so sparingly in place of present-tense compound forms in old writings. Compound forms, by including an auxiliary verb, express the thought more precisely. For this reason, even today in scholarly literature participles are used much less often with the meaning of compound forms than in fiction or colloquial speech. The translators of the 16th–17th centuries may likewise have sought such precision of thought, especially since they were afraid of deviating from the original.

On the other hand, Lithuanian ecclesiastical writings of the 16th–17th centuries were strongly influenced by other languages: Latin, Polish, and German. Some of these, for example Latin and German, do not characteristically use participles in place of compound forms. In Polish, only third-person active forms of the past tense were used without an auxiliary verb²². Passive forms, which in their composition resemble our passive compound forms, were most often used in Polish with an auxiliary verb. When a passive participle without an auxiliary verb was used in a Polish text, it was almost always translated literally into Lithuanian. Thus, whether participles were used in place of present-tense compound forms depended in part on the influence of foreign languages.

²¹ In the dialects of the modern language, a fossilized remnant of this form still survives, testa (<testovi), used, like the particle tegul, to form the jussive mood, e.g.: testa krāto Drsk, testa vālgo Aps, tēsta būna Eiš.

²² Alongside these, forms with an auxiliary verb were also used. Forms of the other persons had shortened forms of the auxiliary verb; see Z. Klemensiewicz, T. Lehr-Splawiński, S. Urbańczyk, Gramatyka historyczna języka polskiego, Warszawa, 1955, p. 371—372.

6. Lietuvių kalbos gramatinė sandara

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Conclusions

1. Lithuanian compound verb forms, consisting of two (sometimes even three) words, are perceived as a single act of thought and therefore, like simple forms, belong to the system of verb inflection. Their incorporation into the system of finite forms was determined by the relationship between their meaning and that of simple forms, and by the fact that they encompassed either all verbs or at least large groups of verbs with varied meanings.

2. Lithuanian compound verb forms are not equally grammaticalized in all cases. The degree of their grammaticalization depends on the meaning of the participles: the closer it is to the meaning of a verb, the tighter the connection between the components of the compound form; conversely, the closer it is to the meaning of an adjective, the weaker the connection between the components and the less the compound form is differentiated from constructions functioning as compound predicates, with which it is historically related.

3. Participles that lack verbal properties or are used adjectivally do not form compound forms with the verb būti. The same participle may, in one case, have pronounced verbal properties and form compound forms with the verb būti, while in another it may have pronounced adjectival properties and fail to form compound verb forms with the verb būti. The boundary between compound verb forms and analogous constructions functioning as compound predicates is not strict. This indicates that Lithuanian compound verb forms have not yet fully crystallized or become differentiated from the constructions from which they originated. This situation is especially favored by the fact that the participles making up compound forms do not differ in form from attributive participles.

4. Compound passive forms are the only finite passive-voice forms in Lithuanian. They form the basis of the voice category of finite verb forms. Passive participles that are components of compound forms are the markers of the passive voice.

5. Participles used without an auxiliary verb with the meaning of present-tense compound forms should not be regarded as compound forms.

6. The compound verb forms found in old Lithuanian written monuments (16th–17th centuries) do not differ substantially in structure from modern compound forms. Compound infinitives are very rare in texts of that period, whereas forms formed with a present active participle without the affix be- are quite numerous; such forms still occur today in dialects of contemporary Lithuanian. Moreover, presumably in order to express the intended thought more precisely, or under the influence of foreign languages, participles conveying the meaning of present-tense compound forms but used without an auxiliary verb are almost entirely absent. Some differences that do occur have arisen through literal translation.

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THE STRUCTURE OF COMPOUND VERB FORMS IN THE LITHUANIAN LITERARY LANGUAGE

N. SLIZHIENE

Summary

Compound verb forms in Lithuanian are formed from a present or past participle with independent lexical meaning and inflected forms of the auxiliary verb būti ‘to be’. Active participles form compound active-voice forms, while passive participles form passive-voice forms.

Compound forms with active past single-action participles or passive past participles are called perfect forms (atliktinės), for example: esu pasiuntęs, -usi, buvau pasiuntęs, -usi, esu pasiųstas, -a, etc.

Compound forms with active present participles bearing the affix be- are called inceptive forms (pradėtinės), for example: buvau besiunčiąs, -ianti, būsiu besiunčiąs -ianti, etc.

In addition to passive perfect forms, there are also compound forms with passive present participles, for example: esu siunčiamas, -a, buvau siunčiamas, -a, etc.

The main component of compound tense forms is the participle, since it has independent lexical meaning and indicates which verb the given tense form belongs to. The voice meaning of compound forms depends on the participle, and in compound perfect forms the temporal meaning, which is associated with two temporal planes, also depends on it in part.

The participles included in compound tense forms do not differ in form from participles used in other contexts, including attributive participles. Like attributive participles, participles in compound tense forms have markers of gender, number, and case, but differ in their verbal meaning and therefore do not denote an attributive relation between subject and predicate. In combination with an auxiliary verb, participles denote not a quality of an object, but what it did, what is being done to it, and so forth. As a remnant of their qualitative meaning, alongside the meaning of an action, in many cases one can still sense the meaning of a state produced as a result of that action; this links compound tense forms to constructions that function as compound predicates in a sentence and from which they developed.

Participles display properties of both verbs and adjectives. Sometimes their adjectival properties completely obscure their verbal properties, and they become like adjectives because they no longer express verbal categories, for example: netikęs peilis ‘a defective knife’, tinkamas drabužis ‘suitable clothing’, patenkintas vaikas ‘a satisfied child’, etc. Such participles do not form compound tense forms.

In some instances, participles of certain verbs display pronounced verbal properties and form compound tense forms with the verb būti, while in other instances they have pronounced adjectival properties and do not form compound forms with the verb būti; compare: čia molis yra ištižęs ‘here the clay has softened’ and šitas žmogus yra ištižęs ‘this person is slack’. A separate chapter of this article presents certain criteria for distinguishing compound tense forms from analogous constructions consisting of a participle and the verb būti, which are not compound forms. In some cases, the boundary between them is not very clear, since Lithuanian compound tense forms have not become fully distinct from the constructions from which they developed.

The second component of compound tense forms—the auxiliary verb—has only an auxiliary function. It has no lexical meaning, but gives grammatical form to the compo-

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the form grammatically, assigning it the meanings of the grammatical categories of tense, mood, person, and number. The auxiliary verb is the principal indicator of the grammatical meaning of complex forms, but not the only one, since complex forms with the same forms of the auxiliary verb but different participle forms have different grammatical meanings. Thus, the meaning of complex forms also depends on the participle.

Complex forms of the subjunctive mood are also formed with the aid of complex perfect forms of the auxiliary verb, e.g.: būtų buvęs girdėjęs, būtų buvęs girdėtas, būtų buvęs girdimas. These forms are characterized by a marked past-tense meaning.

Thus, complex tense forms are fixed combinations of a lexical word and a function word, indistinguishable neither lexically nor grammatically. The basis of their lexical indistinguishability is the desemanticization of the auxiliary verb, since without lexical meaning it cannot function independently. Their grammatical indistinguishability follows from the fact that the grammatical meaning of complex forms is not equal to the sum of the grammatical meanings of the auxiliary verb and the participle, but constitutes a new, unified meaning. Complex tense forms belong to the system of finite verb forms, since they encompass either the entire lexical system of the verb or large groups of verbs with different lexical meanings, and their meaning correlates with that of simple tense forms (e.g.: siunčia — yra siuntęs — yra siųstas, siuntė — buvo siunčiamas, etc.). The correlation between the meaning of complex tense forms and that of simple tense forms is their principal characteristic, showing that this is not a free combination of words but a grammatical form of a word.

Finite forms of the passive voice in Lithuanian are only complex. The bearer of passive meaning is the passive participle included in their composition. Complex passive forms are characteristic of transitive verbs and some intransitive verbs. Most intransitive verbs have only active-voice forms.

All tense forms of the verb, except complex inchoative forms, may be either active or passive, e.g.: bara — yra baramas, barė — buvo baramas, yra baręs — yra bartas, išbarė — buvo išbartas, bartų — būtų baramas, būtų baręs — būtų bartas, and so on. Complex inchoative forms occur only in the active voice.

With the meaning of complex present-tense forms, especially in the third person, present or past participles are often used without an auxiliary verb, e.g.: Iš kito krašto jūs atėję “you have come from another country (lit.: having come).” Such participles are considered to correspond to present-tense forms (for example, perfect forms, and so on), but are not complex forms.

The complex verb forms used in Lithuanian writings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries do not differ essentially in structure from modern forms. Only in the writing of that period are complex inchoative forms very rare, while forms with an active present participle without the affix be- are fairly common, e.g.: būvo ėssąs, bus sėdis (“Postil” by M. Daukša). They still occur occasionally today in some dialects of the modern language.

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