Earlier you learned the preposition iš, which means out of or from. In this lesson we will learn its "twin brother" nuo. As a twin brother, nuo also means out of or from, but there is a slight difference in meaning.

Do you remember the verbs dėti (jis deda - he puts) and imti (jis ima - he takes)?

We put things either on (ant) something or into (į) something. Therefore their position, when they are put, is either on something or in something:

Pieštukas yra ant stalo. The pencil is on the table.
Pieštukas yra knygoje. The pencil is in the book.

Jis deda pieštuką ant stalo. He is putting the pencil on the table.
Jis deda pieštuką į knygą. He is putting the pencil inside the book.

Imagine now that you want to take the thing away. You will either take it off the table or from inside the book. You will have to use different prepositions to say where you are taking the thing from:

Jis ima pieštuką nuo stalo. He is taking the pencil off the table.
Jis ima pieštuką iš knygos. He is taking the pencil from the book.