20+ Common Albanian Verbs: The Ultimate Newbie’s Guide

Do you want to be able to say to your friends: Unë flas shqip – I speak Albanian. ‘Flas’ is one of many new words you will learn today if you keep reading…In the words of Victor Hugo: ‘The word is the verb and the verb is God.’ Today we’re presenting 20+ common Albanian verbs: The ultimate newbie’s guide.

Verbs are the building blocks of sentences, the fundamental slices of comprehension. They are how kids go from nothing to mastery.

Note: This list isn’t going to be an in-depth explanation of Albanian grammar. At the moment, we’re just going to concentrate on verbs in the indicative present. Also, we’re not going to worry if they’re irregular verbs or standard. The aim is to get you looking at Albanian without attaching too much grammatical importance to it.

 

First 10 Common Albanian Verbs

Albanian Verbs
EnglishAlbanian
BeJam
HaveKam
SayThem
GoShkoj
ReadLexoj
WriteShkruaj
DrinkPi
StayRri
KnowDi
Know(alt)Njoh

Conjugating The First 3 Verbs:

Now we’re going to look at how to conjugate some verbs in the present tense.

EnglishAlbanian
To beJam
I am…Une jam…
You are… (sin)Ti je…
You are… (plu)Ju jeni…
He/She is…Ai, Ajo, eshte…
We are…Ne jemi…
They are…Ata, ato jane…

In all the examples of the above verbs, if you want to add the negative you just need to add Nuk. For example Une nuk jam – I am not…, Ti nuk je – You are not.

EnglishAlbanian
To HaveKam
I haveUne kam
You have(sin)Ti ke
She hasAi/Ajo ka
We haveNe kemi
You have(plu)Ju keni
They haveAta/Ato kane
EnglishAlbanian
To sayThem
I sayUne them
You say(sin)Te thua
He/She saysAi, Ajo thote
We sayNe themi
You say(plu)Ju thoni
They sayAta, Ato thone

 

Staying Active In Albania

Sports

Albania shook up the footballing world in 2016 by qualifying for the Euro 2016 championship, the first time in the country’s history. This feat did not come without sacrifice and innovation–the Albanian F.A changed tactics and began recruiting players from the Albanian diaspora, a concept mentioned in our previous lesson about ways to say sorry in Albanian. They also hired Italian coach Giani Di Biasi and adopted a new footballing philosophy under his tutelage. Their performance in the tournament was mixed, and they didn’t qualify, but they managed to beat rivals Romania and restore their nation’s pride along the way.

Second to football is volleyball, particularly women’s volleyball. There are currently 12 professional teams playing in the Albanian women’s volleyball league, as well as many amateur teams in various towns and cities.

 

10 More Common Albanian Verbs

Albanian Verbs
EnglishAlbanian
BecomeBëhem
Get dressedVishem
Be calledQuhem
SeeShoh
TakeMarr
GiveJap
SpeakFlas
Go outDal
OpenHap
CatchKap

 

Staying Active In Albania #2

So much of our health depends on verb-ing. Whatever verb-ing works best for you. As we talked about earlier, football and volleyball are pastimes in Albania, but Albanians enjoy a whole host of other activities.

Near the city of Berat are the Osumi canyons, where a number of operators plan rafting excursions. In total, there are 8 waterfalls at the Osumi canyons, and a trip down the river takes approximately 2 hours. If rafting doesn’t float your boat(or raft), you can hike the canyons, passing other natural features like the Crocodile Head and Devil’s gate.

60km from the Osumi canyons in the city of Permet, where a company called Funky Guest House and Adventures offers horse riding excursions. This trip is as much about history as it is about exercise. During the trek, you will cross the stone bridge of Mixha and Babos, which dates back to the Ottoman Empire.

common Albanian verbs- Rafting

Horse Riding In Albania

For a moment, let’s forget indeclinable particles and conjugational classes and instead focus on something more down to earth. Horses can tell the story of Albanian almost as well as the people. Like the Albanians themselves, the horse bloodlines stretch back to Tarpan, Turkmenian, and Mongolia. During the Ottoman Empire, there was the introduction of the Arabian horse which further changed the genetic makeup of the animals.

There are two different breeds in modern-day Albania, both reared for different purposes, the lowland horse(the Myzequa) and the mountain horse. Tour operators like Caravan Horse Riding Albania offer ‘real moments in the saddle’ and an opportunity to explore Albania the same way as ancient humans. Although these tour guides speak English, a lot of the people you meet along the way will not, and what better opportunity to practice your Albanian than in the mountain wilderness?

common Albanian verbs- Horse Riding

 

Learning Albanian With Ling

The thing that makes Ling different is the sheer amount of material on languages other platforms ignore. We have assembled a complete course, from beginner to advanced, on Albanian as well as a whole host of other languages you will not find on the larger language learning platforms.

Feel like you’re going too fast? No problem. You can review previous lessons at any stage of the process. If you’re the kind of learner that wants to skip to the next lesson, that’s no problem either. The app will move as fast or slow as you want your language learning journey to go.

Please share any thoughts in the comments about why you decided to learn Albanian with Ling and how you are progressing so far.

Until the next time.

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