Ēezar Kurti

LEARN ALBANIAN

To my parents and my sister Bardha

 

MĖSIMI I DYTĖ - LESSON 2

 

I. NJOHJA - INTRODUCTION (I)

 

A.

Zana - Tungjatjeta! (Hello, how are you?)

Marini - Tungjatjeta! (Hello, how are you?)

Zana - Unė jam shqiptare. Mė quajnė Zana Kodra. Po ju kush jeni, ju lutem? (I am an Albanian. My name is Zana Kodra. What is your name, please?)

Marini - Unė jam shqiptar. Mė quajnė Marin Drini. (I am an Albanian. My name is Marin Drini)

Zana - Po ai kush ėshtė? (And who is he?)

Marini - Ai ėshtė amerikan, e quajnė Xhon Smith. (He is an American, his name is John Smith).

Zana - Po ajo amerikane ėshtė? (Is she an American as well?)

Marini - Po, edhe ajo ėshtė amerikane, e quajnė Ana Graham. (Yes, she is an American too, her name is Anna Graham)

Zana - Po ata kush janė? (And who are they?)

Marini - Ata janė anglezė. (They are English)

 

B.

- Tungjatjeta! (How are you?)

- Tungjatjeta! (How are you?)

- Ju jeni anglez? (Are you English?)

- Jo, unė nuk jam anglez, jam amerikan. Mė quajnė Xhon Smith. (No, I am not English, I am American. My name is John Smith.)

- Po ju, amerikane jeni? (What about you, are you American?)

- Po, edhe unė amerikane jam. Mė quajnė Ana Graham. (Yes, I am an American as well. My name is Anna Graham.)

 

 

II. GRAMMAR:

1. PERSONAL PRONOUNS (PĖREMRAT PRONORĖ)

The personal pronouns in Albanian are:

Singular (Numri njejės)                        Plural (Numri shumės)

unė       I                                               ne         we

ti          you                                           ju         you

ai          he                                             ata        they (masculine)

ajo       she                                           ato       they (feminine))

2nd person singular ti is the familiar form, used when addressing a close friend, a child, or e member of one's family. The polite form of address is 2nd person plural ju. Notice that the pronoun unė (I) is not written with a capital in Albanian.

Unlike English, the Albanian language has two different forms for the 3rd person plural, respectively, Ata, which is masculine and Ato , which is feminine.

 

2. PRESENT INDICATIVE OF THE VERB JAM (TO BE)

The present indicative of the verb jam (to be) is as follows (it is irregular and should be memorized):

Singular                                             Plural

unė jam                        I am                 ne jemi             we are

ti je                               you are             ju jeni   you are

ai ėshtė             he is                ata janė                        they are (m.)

ajo ėshtė                       she is                ato janė            they are (f.)

 

The linking verb jam is used to form the compound predicate with the nouns (predicate nominatives).

 

Singular                                                          Plural

Unė jam shqiptar (I am Albanian)                    Ne jemi shqiptarė

Ti je shqiptar                                                    Ju jeni shqiptarė

Ai ėshtė shqiptar                                               Ata janė shqiptarė

Ajo ėshtė shqiptare                                           Ato janė shqiptare

 

3. THE PLURAL OF SOME MASCULINE AND FEMININE NOUNS

The plural of some masculine nouns is formed by adding -ė to the singular, for example: shqiptar - shqiptarė, amerikan - amerikanė, anglez - anglezė, italian - italianė etc.

From some masculine nouns in Albanian, you can form the feminine, by adding -e to the masculine singular, for example:

 

Masculine gender                    Feminine gender

(Gjinia mashkullore)                  (Gjinia femrore)

Singular

shqiptar                                    shqiptare         

amerikan                                  amerikane        

anglez                           angleze           

italian                            italiane

gjerman                                    gjermane

rus                                            ruse     

Plural

shqiptarė                                  shqiptare

amerikan                                 amerikane

anglezė                         angleze

italianė                          italiane

gjermanė                                  gjermane

rusė                                          ruse

The plural feminine nouns have the same ending-e , for example: njė shqiptare - disa shqiptare (an Albanian {woman} - some Albanians {women}). Here are some other examples of plural masculine and feminine nouns:

Masculine Feminine

francezė franceze

amerikanė amerikane

anglezė angleze

italianė italiane

gjermanė gjermane

rusė ruse

 

Exercise 1.

Say the following in Albanian:

He is Albanian. She is Italian. You are American. They are Englishmen. I am German. We are Albanians.

 

 

4. INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES WITH THE INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS 

Some interrogative sentences are formed using the interrogative pronouns: Kush (Who) and Ēfarė (What), and placing the subject after the linking verb jam, for example:

A. Kush?

Unė jam Xhon Smith. Kush jam unė? (I am John Smith. Who am I?)

Ai ėshtė Marin Drini. Kush ėshtė ai? (He is Marin Drini. Who is he?)

Ajo ėshtė Zana Kodra. Kush ėshtė ajo? (She is Zana Kodra. Who is she?)

Ajo ėshtė Ana Graham. Kush ėshtė ajo? (She is Anna Graham. Who is she?)

 

B. Ēfarė ?

Marini ėshtė shqiptar. Ēfarė ėshtė Marini? (Marin is Albanian. What is Marin?)

Zana ėshtė shqiptare. Ēfarė ėshtė Zana? (Zana is an Albanian. What is she?)

Ana Graham ėshtė amerikane. Ēfarė ėshtė Ana Graham? (Anna

Graham is an American. What is Anna Graham?)

Marini ėshtė pėrkthyes. Ēfarė ėshtė Marini. (Marin is a translator.

What is Marin?)

Xhon Smithi ėshtė gazetar. Ēfarė ėshtė Xhon Smithi? (John Smith is a journalist. What is John Smith?)

 

Note: Ēfarė ? is used when asking about profession, nationality etc.

 

Exercise 2.

Change the following sentences into interrogatives:

Example: Ai ėshtė amerikan. Ēfarė ėshtė ai?

Ajo ėshtė italiane. Ata janė amerikanė. Ne jemi anglezė. Ju jeni gjermanė. Unė jam shqiptar. Ti je gazetar. Ti je Marin Drini. Ajo ėshtė Zana Kodra. Ju jeni Xhon Smithi.

 

Exercise 3.

Try to form the masculine and feminine plural from these masculine nouns in singular:

Example: anglez

anglezė, angleze

amerikan, shqiptar, rus, italian, francez, gjerman, ukrainas (Ukrainian), hungarez (Hungarian), kanadez (Canadian), europian (European).

 

5. THE AFFIRMATIVE

 

The affirmative in Albanian is expressed by the adverb po (yes), for example:

Ju jeni shqiptar? Po, unė jam shqiptar.

(Are you Albanian? Yes, I am Albanian)

Other examples:

Ata janė amerikanė? Po, ata janė amerikanė.

Ai ėshtė gazetar? Po, ai ėshtė gazetar.

Ajo ėshtė pėrkthyese? Po, ajo ėshtė pėrkthyese.

 

Exercise 4.

Answer the following questions in the affirmative:

Example: Ai ėshtė pėrkthyes? Po, ai ėshtė pėrkthyes.

Ajo ėshtė amerikane? Ju jeni anglez? Ata janė gjermanė? Ti je pėrkthyes? Ai ėshtė gazetar?

 

6. THE NEGATIVE

 

The negative in Albanian is expressed with the help of adverbs jo (no) and nuk or s’ (not). Nuk (s’) is placed before the verb and after subject.

Ai ėshtė amerikan? (He is american?)

Jo, ai nuk ėshtė amerikan. (No, he is not american).

Ajo ėshtė pėrkthyese? Jo, ajo nuk ėshtė pėrkthyese.

Ata janė gjermanė? Jo, ata nuk janė gjermanė.

Note: in spoken Albanian, nuk is often dropped from a negative sentence, the s' alone suffices to denote negation.

Ti je amerikan? Jo, unė s’jam amerikan.

Ajo ėshtė pėrkthyese? Jo, ajo s’ėshtė pėrkthyese.

Ata janė gjermanė? Jo, ata s’janė gjermanė

 

Vocabulary

mėsimi i dytė - second lesson

njohja - introduction

unė - I

ti - You (singular)

ai - He

ne - We

ju - You (plural)

ata (m.) - They

ato (f.) - They

jam - to be (I am)

shqiptar (m.) - Albanian

shqiptare (f.) - Albanian

shqiptarė (plural m.) - Albanians

shqiptare (plural f.)- Albanians

anglez - Englishman

angleze - Englishwoman

anglezė - Englishmen

angleze - Englishwomen

amerikan (m.) - American

amerikane (f.) - American

amerikanė - Americans

italian (m) - Italian

italiane (f.)- Italian

italianė - Italians

gjerman (m). - German

gjermane (f.)- German

gjermanė - Germans

francez (m.) - French

franceze (f.) - Frenchwoman

francezė - Frenchmen

franceze - Frenchwomen

mė quajnė - my name is

tė quajnė - your name is

e quajnė - his name is

Kush ėshtė ai? - Who is he?

Ēfarė ėshtė ai? - What is he?

po ju - and you?

po - yes

jo - no

Ai nuk (s’)ėshtė. - He is not (He isn’t)

pėrkthyes (m.) - translator

pėrkthyese (f.) - translator

pėrkthyesė - translators

edhe - as well, and

 

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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.