basic tense in Lithuanian which describes present or ongoing actions or, sometimes, actions without definite tense. Its forms and stress patterns are always derived from the 3rd person of the Present tense. {| class="wikitable" |- ! ! colspan=1| dìrbti – to work ! colspan=1| norė́ti – to want ! colspan=1| skaitýti – to read ! colspan=1| praũstis – to wash oneself ! colspan=1| bū́ti – to be (es- stem) ! colspan=1| bū́ti – to be (būn- stem) ! colspan=1| bū́ti – to be (būv- stem) |- |align="right"|I |dìrbu |nóriu |skaitaũ |prausiúosi |esù |būnù |būvù |- |align="right"|You (singular) |dìrbi |nóri |skaitaĩ |prausíesi |esì |būnì |būvì |- |align="right"|He/She/It |dìrba |nóri |skaĩto |praũsiasi |yrà / ẽsti |bū̃na |bū̃va |- |align="right"|We |dìrbame |nórime |skaĩtome |praũsiamės |ẽsame |bū̃name |bū̃vame |- |align="right"|You (plural) |dìrbate |nórite |skaĩtote |praũsiatės |ẽsate |bū̃nate |bū̃vate |- |align="right"|They |dìrba |nóri |skaĩto |praũsiasi |yrà / ẽsti |bū̃na |bū̃va |} E.g. dirbu = 'I work', (tu) nori = 'You want', skaitome = 'We read' (present tense). The auxiliary verb bū́ti has two conjugations in the Present tense: an irregular one (based on es-/yr- stems) and a regular one (based on the būn- / būv- stem). The difference is that the stem bū̃n-/bū̃v- has an iterative meaning (to be frequently): Mokiniaĩ yrà pasiruõšę – The pupils are ready; Mokiniaĩ bū̃na pasiruõšę – The pupils are often ready. The 3rd person form ẽsti is semantically equivalent to bū̃na or bū̃va, but is rarely used in modern Lithuanian. The bū̃v- stem is very rare in modern Lithuanian. In the -i conjugation type, the 1st person of singular loses the final stem vowel -i, but the last stem consonant becomes palatalized (the sound [ɪ] is absent in nóriu [n̪ôːrʲʊ], the letter i merely denotes palatalization). If the stem ends with a consonant -d, it becomes -dž: girdėti to hear → girdi he hears → girdžiu I hear. The accentuation of all persons always corresponds to the accentuation of the 3rd person. The only exception is when its accented syllable is penultimate (excluding the reflexive formant -si) and has a short vowel (bìjo – he is afraid) or a rising tone (skaĩto – he reads, praũsiasi – he washes himself): in that case the 1st and the 2nd persons of singular move the stress to the ending: bijaũ, bijaĩ; skaitaũ, skaitaĩ; prausiúosi, prausíesi. Past tense This is the basic tense in Lithuanian which describes past actions (ongoing or complete).