Basic terminology

Basic terminology
In order to learn this language (or any other) a basic understanding of grammar is necessary. The following is a quick warm-up intended to remind you of some basic terminology.

Prefix, suffix, ending, etc.

A prefix creates a new word out of a pre-existing word; a prefix is just a group of letters such as un-, in-, etc. Examples from English:

un + believable = unbelievable
un + forgettable = unforgettable
ab + normal = abnormal
re + fill = refill

Similarly, a suffix may be added to a word to create a new word; the new word created in this way usually has a related meaning. Examples:

slow + ly = slowly
quick + ly = quickly
work + er = worker
compete + tion = competition

An ending is something different. An ending does not change the meaning of the word. Endings result from inflection (conjugation of verbs and declension of nouns). English does not have many endings. English endings include the 's' of third person singular of verbs, the 'ed' of the past tense and past participle, the 's' of the plural of nouns, and the 'ing' of the present participle. Examples:

I work
he work~s
I work~ed
I am work~ing
one computer
two computer~s

In Albanian a prefix is called parashtesë; a suffix is prapashtesë; and an ending is mbaresë.

Nouns

A noun is simply a label for an object, place, idea, or a person.

In English nouns can be singular or plural, definite or indefinite. They are plural if they have 's' in the end, and they are definite if they have the word 'the' in front of them. In Albanian, things are a little bit more complicated. In Albanian, a noun can be singular or plural, it can be definite or indefinite, it can be masculine, feminine, or neutral, and it can be in one of the 5 possible cases: nominative, genitive (or possessive), dative, accusative, or ablative. In theory, an Albanian noun could have 20 different endings, one for each combination of number, definite/indefinite, and case. The gender is inherent in the noun (i.e. a 'hen' is feminine and a 'rooster' is masculine; 'running' is neutral). The declension of 'libër' is shown below as an example; 'libër' happens to be a masculine noun.

Indefinite English Albanian Nominative a book një libër Genitive of a book i/e një libri Dative to a book një libri Accusative (with) a book (me) një libër Ablative ------------- (prej) një libri

Definite English Albanian Nominative the book libri Genitive of the book i/e librit Dative to the book librit Accusative (with) the book (me) librin Ablative ------------- (prej) librit

In Albanian a noun is called emër ('emër' is the singular indefinite nominative -- the representative form which can be found in an Albanian dictionary; the definite singular nominative is 'emri').

The Albanian word for 'definite form' is trajtë e shquar; the indefinite is trajtë e pashquar. The singular is called njëjës, plural in Albanian is shumës. The Albanian words for cases are emërore, gjinore, dhanore, kallëzore, and rrjedhore. The Albanian word for gender is gjini.

Verbs

A verb is a label for an action (including "actions" such as simply being alive, existing, having, possessing, etc.) Examples are 'read', 'eat', 'get', 'am', 'have'.

The Albanian verb system is complicated. An Albanian verb could be in one of the 6 possible moods: dëftore, habitore, lidhore, kushtore, dëshirore, dhe urdhërore (In English they can be translated as indicative, surprised, conjunctive, conditional, desiring, and imperative.)

Each mood has tenses, and each tense has 6 persons: 3 for singular and 3 for plural. For instance, the verb 'qenkan' is the verb 'to be' in the surprised mood, present tense, third person plural. In the first person singular of the present tense of the indicative mood this verb becomes 'jam' (the equivalent of the English 'I am').

In addition to the above, Albanian verbs can be in one of two forms: veprore, or joveprore. 'Veprore' can be translated as "acting on something" and 'joveprore' can be translated as "not acting on anything". 'Forma veprore' is used in sentences in which the subject acts on something or somebody (e.g., 'I wash my hands'). 'Forma joveprore' is used in sentences in which either the subject is passive, (as in the 'passive voice' of English; for instance, 'My hands are washed by me'), or the subject and the object of the verb are the same (in English, reflexive pronouns are used in such cases; for instance, 'My hands wash themselves'). The change from 'veprore' to 'joveprore' in the present indicative is accomplished by changing the ending to 'em' or to 'hem'. E.g., 'laj' is the equivalent of 'I wash', and 'lahem' is the equivalent of 'I am washed' or 'I am being washed' or 'I wash myself'. More about this subject later.

Obviously, Albanian verbs are complicated. The task of learning them may seem like 'mission impossible'. They can be learned however, and the system does make some sense. For instance, when you see the verb 'qenkan' there is no mistaking that (1) we are dealing with several objects (as opposed to a single one); (2) these objects are different from other similar objects; (3) the difference is suprising.

An example: The Albanian sentence

Në këtë vend, vajzat qenkan të mira.

can be translated in English in several ways. A simple translation would be:

In this country, the girls are nice.

However, this fails to convey the surprise felt by the speaker. A better translation would be:

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that girls are nice in this country.

Now it's time to learn some new terms. The Albanian word for verb is folje. The mood in Albanian is mënyrë, the tense is called kohë, the person is vetë. Singular and plural are -- just like for nouns -- njëjës and shumës. More about verbs in later lessons.

More terminology

An adverb in Albanian is ndajfolje. Adverbs are words that show how (or when, or where) something is done. Examples from English are well, badly, slowly, quickly, arrogantly, early, above, below, etc.

An adjective is called mbiemër. Adjectives are words that show qualities. Examples from English: tall, pretty, small, big, vast, enormous, tiny, etc. It is important to remember that in Albanian adjectives are placed after a noun (not before like in English). For instance, in English we say:

Pretty girl

where 'pretty' is the adjective, and 'girl' is the noun; the adjective is placed before the noun. The same sentence in Albanian is:

Vajzë e bukur

where 'e bukur' is the adjective, equivalent to the English 'pretty', and 'vajzë' is the noun, equivalent to the english 'girl'.

That which in English is called a 'possessive adjective' in Albanian is called a 'possessive pronoun' (përemër pronor).

In Albanian a pronoun is called përemër. Just like English, Albanian has personal pronouns, përemra vetorë ('përemër vetor' in singular). In Albanian they are:

English Albanian I unë you ti he/she, it ai/ajo we ne you ju they ata/ato

Albanian 'possessive pronouns' are equivalent to English 'possessive adjectives'. More about this subject at another time.

A preposition in Albanian is called parafjalë. English examples of prepositions include: in, at, on, into, at, for, with, etc.

A numeral is numëror. An interjection in Albanian is pasthirrmë.