Ēezar Kurti

LEARN ALBANIAN

To my parents and my sister Bardha 

 

 

MĖSIMI I TETĖ - LESSON 8

 

 

I. XHON SMITHI MĖSON SHQIP

JOHN SMITH LEARNS ALBANIAN

 

A.

Zana: Tungjatjeta, Marin!

Marini: Tungjatjeta, Zana!

Zana: Ēfarė po bėni ju kėtu?

Marini: Ja, po pres Xhonin

Zana: Pse, ku ėshtė zoti Xhon?

Marini: Ai ėshtė nė dhomė. Po shkruan njė letėr..

Zana: Si shkon mėsimi i gjuhės shqipe?

Marini: Xhoni ėshtė entuziast. Atij i pėlqen gjuha shqipe dhe mėson shumė mirė.

Zana: Ju, me siguri, e ndihmoni shumė?

Marini: Unė e ndihmoj ēdo ditė. Megjithėse ka vetėm njė javė qė jeton nė Shqipėri, ai kupton tani shumė fjalė, fjali e shprehje nė gjuhėn shqipe. Fjalėt ose shprehjet qė dėgjon i shkruan dhe i mėson pėrmendėsh. Pastaj i pėrsėrit me mua. Ai punon sistematikisht dhe lexon e dėgjon shumė. Ka dhe njė fjalor tė vogėl, ku shkruan fjalėt dhe shprehjet e reja.

Zana: Sa mirė! I bėni tė fala nga ana ime. Mirupafshim, Marin!

Marini: Mirupafshim, Zana! .

 

B. TRANSLATION

Zana: Hello, Marin.

Marin:Hello, Zana.

Zana:What are you doing here?

Marin: I am waiting for John.

Zana: Why, where is John?

Marin: He is in his room. He is writing a letter.

Zana: How are the Albanian lessons going?

Marin: John is enthusiastic. He likes the Albanian language and is doing very well.

Zana: You are probably a great help to him.

.Marin: I try to help him every day. Although he has only been living in Albania for a month, he has learned many Albanian words, sentences and expressions. The words or the expressions that he hears, he writes down and learns them by heart. Then he repeats them with me. He works systematically and is a very attentive listener. He has a little dictionary, where he writes down the new words and expressions.

Zana: How nice. Give him please my regards. Good bye, Marin.

Marin: Good bye, Zana

 

C. QUESTIONS - ANSWERS:

            - Ku ėshtė Xhoni? Where is John?

            - Ai ėshtė nė dhomė. He is in his room.

            - Ēfarė po bėn? What is he doing?

            - Ai po shkruan njė letėr. He is writing a letter.

            - Ēfarė i pėlqen atij? What does he like?

            - Atij i pėlqen gjuha shqipe. He likes the Albanian language.

            - Si mėson Xhoni? How does John study?

            - Xhoni mėson shumė mirė. John studies very well.

            - Ēfarė kupton ai tani? What does he understand now?

            - O, tani ai kupton shumė fjalė, fjali dhe shprehje shqip. Now he understands many words, sentences and expressions in Albanian.

            - Si punon ai? How does he work?

            - Ai punon sistematikisht, lexon dhe dėgjon shumė. He works systematically, reads and is very attentive.

 

 

II. GRAMMAR

A. CLASSES OF THE VERB

Like in English, verbs in Albanian may be transitive or intransitive, of active or passive voice. The intransitive verbs (including reflexive verbs) are called in albanian grammar non-active.

There are 7 moods recognized in Albanian grammar: Indicative, Subjunctive, Conditional, Imperative, Optative and Admirative (in English there are 3 - Indicative, Subjunctive and Imperative). The most used are Indicative, Subjunctive and Imperative.

Verbs are conjugated in six tenses: Present, Imperfect, Future, Aorist (Past), Present Perfect, Past Perfect (Pluperfect). Only Indicative mood has all six tenses. The Imperative has only the Present.

Verbs in Albanian do not have infinitive. There is a form, so called Paskajore (translated as infinitive), that assumes many functions of the infinitive. Besides this, albanian verbs have the Participle and the Gerund.

Verbs are listed in the vocabulary in the present first person singular of the indicative: unė punoj (Iwork) - punoj (to work). For example, punoj (to work), shkruaj (to write), shkoj (to go), ndihmoj (to help), pres (to wait), pėrsėris (to repeat), mėsoj (to learn) etc.

 

 

B. THE CONJUGATIONS OF THE VERB.

All the verbs in the Albanian language are divided into two main types of conjugations.

The verbs bė-j (to do), shkrua-j (to write), kupto-j (to understand), mėso-j (to learn), dėgjo-j (to hear), puno-j (to work), ndihmo-j (to help) that we encountered in the previous text, belong to the first type of conjugation. Their stem ends in vowel and in the first person of present indicative they take the ending -j.

The verbs pres (to wait) and pėrsėris (to repeat), that we have encountered in the text, belong to the second type of conjugation. Their stem ends in consonant and in the first person of present indicative they do not take any ending.

 

 

C. THE PRESENT OF THE INDICATIVE

In the present of the indicative the verbs of the first type are conjugated as follows:

 

                        bėj                   shkruaj                        ndihmoj

                        (to do)             (to write          )           (to help)          

Singular

            unė      bė-j                  shkrua-j                        ndihmo-j

            ti          bė-n                 shkrua-n                       ndihmo-n

            ai         bė-n                 shkrua-n                       ndihmo-n

            ajo       bė-n                 shkrua-n                       ndihmo-n

Plural

            ne        bė-jmė                         shkrua-jmė       ndihmo-jmė

            ju         bė-ni                shkrua-ni          ndihmo-ni

            ata       bė-jnė              shkrua-jnė        ndihmo-jnė

            ato       bė-jnė              shkrua-jnė        ndihmo-jnė

The first person takes-j, the second and third person singular and plural take: -n, -n, -jmė, -ni, -jnė.. Albanian verb does not have a neuter gender.

Often with theverb in the present indicative the particle po is used, indicating that the action is occurring at that particular moment, before the eyes of the speaker (the continuous present tense in English). For example:

- Ēfarė po bėn Zana? What are you doing, Zana?

- Po shkruaj njė letėr. Po ti, Marin, nuk ke me ēfarė tė merresh? I am writing a letter. And what about you Marin, don’t you have anything to do?

- Jo, nuk kam me ēfarė tė merrem. No, I have nothing to do.

- Ku po shkon? Where are you going?

- Po shkoj nė teatėr. I am going to the theater.

 

Since the verbs jam (to be) and kam (to have) play an important role in the formation of the different verbal forms, it is important to remember their conjugation:

 

                        Jam                             Kam

            unė       jam                   unė       kam

            ti          je                     ti          ke

            ai (ajo) ėshtė                ai (ajo) ka

            ne         jemi                  ne         kemi

            ju         jeni                   ju         keni

            ata (ato)           janė                  ata (ato)           kanė

 

Exercise 1

Translate into Albanian:

 

            - What are you doing, Anna?

            - I am helping Marin to study English.

            -Where are you going now, Zana?

            - I am going to my room.

 

Exercise 2.

 

Add the appropriate endings of the Present indicative to the stem of the Albanian verbs punoj to work), jetoj (to live), lexoj (to read)

             unė                  puno-               jeto-                 lexo-

             ti                     puno-               jeto-                 lexo-

             ai                     puno-               jeto-                 lexo-

             ajo                  puno-               jeto-                 lexo-

             ne                    puno-               jeto-                 lexo-

             ju                    puno-               jeto-                 lexo-

             ata                   puno-               jeto-                 lexo-

             ato                  puno-               jeto-                 lexo-

 

Exercise 3

Change the verbs according to the person:

A. Unė lexoj njė libėr (I read a book), ti ... njė libėr (You read a book) etc.

B. Unė kuptoj mirė shqip (I understand Albanian well), ti ...mirė shqip (You understand Albanian well) etc.

 

 

THE NEGATIVE

A sentence is made negativeby placing adverb nuk (s’) before the verb, for example:

Unė punoj. I work

Unė nuk punoj. Unė s’punoj I do not work.

 

D. Interrogative sentences are formed with the help of verb bėj (to do) and the interrogative pronoun ēfarė? (what?). For example:

 

            Unė punoj - Ēfarė bėj unė? I work? What do I do?

            Ti punon - Ēfarė bėn ti? You work. What do you do?

            Ai punon - Ēfarė bėn ai? He works. What does he do?-

            Ajo punon - Ēfarė bėn ajo? She works. What does she do?

            Ne punojmė - Ēfarė bėjmė ne? We work. What do we do?

            Ju punoni - Ēfarė bėni ju? You work. What do you do?

            Ata punojnė - Ēfarė bėjnė ata? They work. What do they do?

            Ato punojnė - Ēfarė bėjnė ato? They work. What do they do?

 

The interrogative sentences may be formed also by placing the subject after the verb, for example:

            Unė punoj. Punoj unė?

            I work. Do I work?

            Ti punon. Punon ti?

            You work. Do you work?

            Ai punon. Punon ai?

            He works. Does he work? etc.

Exercise 4.

Put the questions to the following sentences:

Example: Unė lexoj njė libėr - Ēfarė bėj unė?

 

Ti mėson shqip -

Ai dėgjon mėsimin -

Ne mėsojmė anglisht -

Ju ndihmoni Xhonin -

Ata dėgjojnė shokun -

Ato lexojnė njė libėr -

 

 

Vocabulary

ēfarė po bėni - what you are doing?

pres - to wait

pse - why

ku ėshtė ai? - where is he?

shkruaj - to write

letėr - letter

entuziast - enthusiastic

mėsoj - to learn

ndihmoj - to help

e ndihmoj - I help him

ka vetėm njė javė qė jeton - he has been living here only one week

Shqipėri-ja - Albania

kuptoj - understand

fjali - sentence

shprehje - expression

dėgjoj - to hear, to listen

mėsoj pėrmendėsh - to learn by heart, to memorize

pėrsėris - to repeat

me mua - with me

sistematikisht - systematically

shumė mirė - very good

lexon shumė - he reads too much

i bėni tė fala - send my regards

 

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Ēezar Kurti — "Learn Albanian — Mėsoni shqip" — Legas, (P.O. Box 040328, Brooklyn, New York 11204), 1996-2006.

Copyright©1997 by Ēezar Kurti.