Getting started = Duke filluar

Welcome to our webpage! Together we will learn the basics of Albanian language. But first let's take a look at what are we going to learn and the way we are going to do it.

Our learning program

There are 6 lessons so far, each one with a particular part of the language (check the lessons menu).
Each lesson has the theory, training exercices and videos to make the learning process more interactive.
There is also a dictionary and an Albanian keyboard you can practise with.

Now that you know what are we going to do, let's take some more information about albanian language.

Some extra info about Albanian language

Albanian language is thought to be one of the oldest languages in Balkan, Europe and wide world. It is part of the large family of Indo-European languages.

The first documents that prove the existence of the written language date at early 1462. But it is believed that spoken Illyrian, is the ancestor of this language.

Countries that speak Albanian

Albania
Kosovo
Macedonia*
Montenegro*
Serbia*
Greece*
Italy*

* shows that those countries don't have Albanian as the official language, but a considerable part of the country speaks that language (especially Macedonia and Montenegro).

If you are interested in knowing more about it, check the page: Albanian language.

Albanian alphabet = Alfabeti në gjuhën shqipe

In the first lesson, we are going to learn about Albanian alphabet and letters. There are 36 letters in total. It is quite similar to English, but there are some more and some less letters. Here we go...

Albanian Letters

Letters that are the same

You will soon realise that most of the letters are the same as in English. You can notice this from the alphabet, represented above. But the pronunciation is pretty different, though.

New letters

There are also new letters, like the doubles, created by a consonant and letter "h","j" or the same letter.

You may notice that one letter is missing. Yes, you are right. "w" is not part of Albanian alphabet.

NOTE: In Albanian, the words are read just like they are written (spelled), so you just have to learn how to spell every letter and the word reading will be as simple as possible.
Don't you worry, you will realise it while learning.

But which ones are vowels and which consonants?

Well, not too different from English, the vowels are 7:
A E Ë I O U Y

As it can easily be understood, all the other letters are consonants.

Practise watching the video

Check the following link to see a video that will help you understand better the alphabet and the pronunciation of those letters:
Albanian Alphabet

Albanian Handwriting = Shkrimi i dorës në shqip

Albanian handwriting is a common writing method used in countries that speak this language. It is widely used and taught since the first class of Elementary School. People say the writing view represents your character. And handwriting shows seriosity and authority.

We should notice that writing in this method isn't obligatory if you live in a country with Albanian as a official language, but you will come across it too often, so you would better get used of it.

This is how do handwritten letters look in Albanian.

Handwritten Capital Letters

Handwritten Lowercase Letters

Try to practise a lot with a pen and a paper. After you think you have learnt all of those, start joining letters and soon you will be able to write sentences and paragraphs as well.

Video time

To repeat the alphabet's pronunciation, watch the video to memorise the handwritten letters too. Handwritten letters-->

Numbers = Numrat

Now that you know the letters, you need to learn something very important in daily life: "numbers". You will have to ask for the price, the time and much more, so concentrate and get ready...

Numbers from 1-10

These are the numbers from 1 to 10. The pronunciation will be learned from the video, but try to make a test based on the alphabet.

1 - Një          2 - Dy         3 - Tre
4 - Katër        5 - Pesë       6 - Gjashtë
7 - Shtatë       8 - Tetë       9 - Nëntë
10 - Dhjetë

Now that you know the basic numbers, it wont be hard to learn the next part, because the root of the word will be one of the learnt numbers.

Numbers from 11 to 19

11- Njëmbëdhjetë
12- Dymbëdhjetë
13- Trembëdhjetë
14- Katërmbëdhjetë
15- Pesëmbëdhjetë
16- Gjashtëmbëdhjetë
17- Shtatëmbëdhjetë
18- Tetëmbëdhjetë
19- Nëntëmbëdhjetë

!NOTE: Every number from 11 to 19 finishes with "mbëdhjetë" and the root of the word is one number from 1 to 9. This is an easy way to memorise them.

Numbers from 20 to 100

Now you will learn a new syntax rule. Don't be affraid, it is not that hard...

20- Njëzet
21- Njëzet e një
22- Njëzet e dy
23- Njëzet e tre
...
30- Tridhjetë
40- Dyzet
50- Pesëdhjetë
60- Gjashtëdhjetë
70- Shtatëdhjetë
80- Tetëdhjetë
90- Nëntëdhjetë
100- Njëqind

!NOTE: If you want to write numbers like 23, 42, 63 etc. write the first digit+"dhjetë", add: a space, "e", another space and the second digit.
Exceptions: 20, 40

Greater numbers

Now let's take a look at numbers greater than 100.

200 - Dyqind
300 - Treqind
400 - Katërqind
500 - Pesëqind
600 - Gjashtëqind
700 - Shtatëqind
800 - Tetëqind
900 - Nëntëqind
1 000 - Një mijë
2 000 - Dy mijë...
1 000 000 - Një milion
1 000 000 000 - Një miliard

Now try to figure out the rule to name these numbers, so you can memorise them easier.

Examples

157 - Njëqind e pesëdhjetë e shtatë

5 264 - Pesë mijë e 
dyqind e gjashtëdhjetë e katër

3 417 953 - Tre milion e katërqind e 
shtatëmbëdhjetë mijë e nëntëqind e 
pesëdhjetë e tre

It may seem a bit hard, but...As you can see, it's just triples of numbers joining. So enough to know rules to name simple numbers and complicated numbers will be elementary.

Video turn

There is a video to help you with the pronunciation of numbers from 1 to 10. The rest is easy, because there are the same letters. Learn Numbers

Exercixes for Number lesson

1. Counting time

• Count from 1 to 10.
• Now try it from 10 to one.

2. Name the numbers you see

• 48
• 326
• 910
• 4 185
• 9 999
• 68 436
• 4 712 387

48- dyzet e tetë
326- treqind e njëzet e gjashtë
910- nëntëqind e dhjetë
4 185- katër mijë e njëqind e tetëdhjetë e pesë
9 999- nëntë mijë e nëntëqind e nëntëdhjetë e nëntë
68 436- gjashtëdhjetë e tetë mijë e katërqind e tridhjetë e gjashtë
4 712 387- katër milion e shtatëqind e dymbëdhjetë mijë e treqind e tetëdhjetë e shtatë

3. Find the number

a. njëzet e pesë
b. gjashtëqind e gjashtë
c. tetëmijë e treqind e shtatëdhjetë e nëntë
d. treqind e tetë mijë e dyqind e tridhjetë e shtatë
e. dy milion e pesëqind e dyzet e shtatë mijë e njëqind e gjashtëdhjetë e një

a. 25
b. 606
c. 8 379
d. 308 237
e. 2 547 161

Basic phrases = Shprehje bazike

In order to broaden your vocabulary, you have to start from the basics, I mean simple and widely used expressions. Hope you are excited and "hungry" to learn the first true Albanian phrases.

Yes or No

In every language it is important to learn these two words.

     • "Po" = Yes      • "Jo" = No

Hope yoy already have learnt the trick of pronunciating Albanian words. If not, wait for the video.

Three magic words

It is more than necessary to know these words.

• "Faleminderit" = Thank you
• "Të lutem" = Please
• "Më fal" = I'm sorry

Saying hello to others

Now let's learn how to salute others...

• "Përshëndetje" = Hello (formal)
• "Çkemi" = Hi (informal)
• "Mirëmëngjes" = Good morning
• "Mirëdita" = Good afternoon
• "Mirëmbrëma" = Good evening

Saying goodbye

• "Mirupafshim" = Goodbye
• "Shihemi më vonë" = See you later
• "Natën e mirë" = Good Night

Introducing ourselves

If you want to learn a new language, it is necessary to know how to introduce yourself...

• "Emri im është..." = My name is...
• "Si quheni?" = What is your name?
• "Kënaqësi që u njohëm" = Nice to meet you

Getting information about language

But how to tell others that you can't speak well a language or something else...

• "Unë flas shqip dhe anglisht" = I speak Albanian and English
• "Unë nuk flas frengjisht" = I don't speak French
• "A flisni shqip?" = Do you speak Albanian?
• "Më vjen keq, unë nuk flas shumë mirë anglisht" = I'm sorry, I don't speak English well

Exercices for Basic Phrases lesson

1. Complete the dialogue

- Mirëdita!
*__________
-Si quheni?
*__________ Ana. Ju?
-Unë quhem Ben.
*_____________?
-Më vjen keq, unë nuk flas mirë shqip.
*Mirupafshim!
-___________!

* Mirëdita
* Emri im është
* A flisni mirë shqip
- Mirupafshim

Pronouns and Verbs

Now that we have learnt some basic words, let's continue with some grammair. First we will mention the pronouns and then we shall start with conjugation of verbs in present.

Personal Pronouns

• "Unë" = I
• "Ti" = You (singular)
• "Ai" = He (M)
• "Ajo" = She (F)
• "Ne" = We
• "Ju" = You (plural)
• "Ata(M) /Ato(F)" = They

NOTE:
1.Albanian language has no personal pronoun "It", it uses only ai/ajo instead.
2.There are also two options for "you" pronoun, ti for singular case and ju for plural case.
3.When you want to be formal and show courtesy, you use ju instead of ti.

Verbs in Albanian

In Albanian, verbs are classified in three groups.
1. Group 1: The verbs which in infinitive finish with "j".
2. Group 2: The verbs that in infinitive finish with consonant, except "j".
3. Group 3: The verbs that in infinitive finish with a vowel (usually is a couple of vowels: "ie").

This is helpful, because the verbs of the same group are conjugated the same way.

Get ready to be familiar with a difficult part of Albanian grammair, verb conjugation. My advice: Try to memorise and fully understand the rule and endings for each group.

Present tense of first group of verbs

As we mentioned above, these verbs end with "j". Actually, most of the verbs belong to this group. Here is an example.

      ○ "Punoj" = Work
   Unë punoj    = I work
   Ti punon     = You work
   Ai, Ajo punon = He, She, It works
   Ne punojmë   = We work
   Ju punoni    = You work
   Ata, Ato punojnë    = They work

As you can see, we took the root of verb, "puno", and added the endings of the first group.

!FIRST GROUP CONJUGATION RULE!
To conjugate these verbs: 1. Take the root of the verb by removing "j" from the end of the word; 2. Add the endings of the first group: j, n, n, jmë, ni, jnë; 3. Don't forget the pronouns.

Hope you noticed that the infinitive case is the same as the first person singular. It is the same situation with every verb, no matter it's group.

There are two more examples of conjugation.

○ "Mësoj" = Learn      ○ "Bëj" = Do
Unë      mësoj               bëj
Ti       mëson               bën
Ai       mëson               bën
Ne       mësojmë             bëjmë
Ju       mësoni              bëni
Ata      mësojnë             bëjnë

It's quite notable that you just have to use the rules. It's not hard...

Conjugation of second group

This group represents some difficulties, because not all the verbs follow the same rule. This is due to phonetic issues, but there are only a couple of persons that may change.

○ "Lëviz" = Move    ○ "Flas" = Speak
Unë    lëviz                flas        
Ti     lëviz                flet
Ai     lëviz                flet
Ne     lëvizim              flasim
Ju     lëvizni              flisni
Ata    lëvizin              flasin

!SECOND GROUP RULES!
You don't have to find the root. Take the whole verb instead and add the endings for plural persons only (singular doesn't change): im, ni, in.

NOTE: Some rules to generalise the endings. 1. When the verb ends with "i + consonant" or "u + consonant", follow the example of lëviz. 2. If the verb ends with "as" or "es" follow the example of flas.
3. The case when it ends with "vowel + m", it is considered irregular case. Check the verbs jam dhe kam.

There are two of the most useful verbs of every language: to be and to have. They belong to the second grpup, but the conjugation is a little different.

○ "Jam" = To be      ○ "Kam" = Have
Unë     jam                 kam
Ti      je                  ke
Ai      është               ka
Ne      jemi                kemi
Ju      jeni                keni
Ata     janë                kanë

These verbs will be widely used at the composed tenses of the past, so pay attention to those.

Third group conjugation

It's time to learn the third group conjugation. this is the simplest and the rarest one. Let's demonstrate it.

○ "Bie" = Fall
Unë bie
Ti bie
Ai bie
Ne biem
Ju bini
Ata bien

3rd GROUP RULES
As you just saw, to form this tense we: 1. Take the whole verb and add the endings in plural tenses: m, ni, n.
2. At second plural person, for phonetical issues, drop the "e" and just follow the rule.

Well, I think you understood how to classify the verbs and how to conjugate each group following the instructions.

Exercices for Verbs lesson

1. Complete the missing words at conjugated verbs

Lexoj = Read             Pres = Wait

Unë lexoj                 Unë 
Ti  lexon                 Ti  pret
Ai               Ai  pret
Ne  lexojmë               Ne 
Ju              Ju prisni
Ata lexojnë               Ata presin

a. lexon
b. lexoni
c. pres
d. presim

2. Practice by conjugating the following verbs.

In order to make sure you have learnt the lesson, conjugate these verbs after classifying to corresponding groups.
I. gris = tear
II. shpie = send
III. kërkoj = search

I. Follow the example of the verb "lëviz" (second group).
II. Same as the verb "bie" (group 3).
III. Follow the example of "punoj" (first group).

Learn Albanian