Learn Albanian, from English.
Albanian (shqip) is spoken by around six million people in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and a worldwide diaspora. Its 36-letter Latin alphabet is refreshingly regular, and its grammar rewards pattern-spotting. This course teaches Modern Standard Albanian — step by step, with audio for selected canonical words and sentences; some grammar forms and notation are text-only.
Start here
Your recommended route through the course.
- START Learn Albanian: How to Start Begin with the big picture — what Albanian is, where it's spoken, and your first greetings with audio.
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STEP 1 Orientation & sounds Meet the language, the 36-letter alphabet, and the sounds that differ from English.
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STEP 2 Core grammar Word order, noun endings and cases, pronouns and clitics, verbs in three time-zones, and questions.
- Albanian Grammar Basics: Word Order and SentencesRead this article
- Albanian Nouns: Gender, 'the', and PluralsRead this article
- Albanian Cases and PrepositionsRead this article
- Albanian Pronouns, Clitics, and 'my'Read this article
- Present Tense: jam, kam, and the PatternsRead this article
- Past and Future in AlbanianRead this article
- No and Questions: nuk, s', mos, and the Question WordsRead this article
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STEP 3 Everyday situations Conversation, numbers and time, family and health, food and shopping, and the travel kit.
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Start
What Albanian is, where it's spoken, and how the course works.
Sounds
The 36-letter alphabet, digraphs, ë, and the contrast pairs.
Core grammar
Word order, definiteness, cases and prepositions, pronouns and clitics, the three time-zones, negation and questions.
- Albanian Grammar Basics: Word Order and Sentences SVO word order, noun-before-adjective, postposed definiteness, the i/e/të/së linking forms, subject omission, and simple copular sentences.
- Albanian Nouns: Gender, 'the', and Plurals Masculine and feminine, indefinite and definite, singular and plural — how Albanian builds 'the' onto the noun, with real examples.
- Albanian Cases and Prepositions The five cases at beginner depth, which case each common preposition wants, and the i/e/të/së genitive link — with canonical examples.
- Albanian Pronouns, Clitics, and 'my' Subject pronouns, the little clitics më/të/e/i/u/na/ju, formal ju, and the possessive forms im/ime/i saj — with real examples.
- Present Tense: jam, kam, and the Patterns Conjugate 'to be' and 'to have', the po+verb 'right now' marker, modal frames dua/mund/duhet të, and everyday verbs with audio.
- Past and Future in Albanian ishte for 'was', kam + participle for 'I did', do të for 'will', and how to recognize aorist forms like erdhi and ra.
- No and Questions: nuk, s', mos, and the Question Words nuk for statements, mos for imperatives, s' as a verbal negative (s'ka 'there isn't'), the particle a for yes/no questions, and all the wh-words.
Situations
Conversation, numbers and time, family, health, services, food, shopping, and travel.
- Basic Albanian Conversation Greetings, please/thank you, introductions, language rescue phrases, and everyday words for home, work, and hobbies.
- Numbers, Clock, Days and Dates in Albanian Count to a million, tell the time, name the days, months and seasons, and say dates and ages — selected canonical examples with real audio.
- People, Health, and Services in Albanian Family words, body parts, feeling ill, at the doctor and pharmacy, plus the bank, post office, and emergency phrases.
- Food, Restaurants, and Shopping in Albanian Food words, ordering and paying, dietary needs, shop phrases, and asking prices — with real audio throughout.
- Travel, Transport, and Accommodation in Albanian Getting around, buying tickets, asking directions, the city, and checking into a hotel — the full travel kit with real audio.