Albanian

[Passe-Cale]

1)
(unë) shkoj
(ti) shkon
(aj/ajo) shkon
(ne) shkojmë
(ju) shkomi
(ata/ato) shkojmë

2)
për ta dështuar

3)
ne shkojmë për ta shikuar

[E}{pugnator]

red devil, what do you know about Arbëreshë , spoken in Italy?

[Rikita]

1.
’për të shkuar’
(unë) shkoj
(ti) shkon
(ju) shkoni
(ai/ajo) shkon
(ne) shkojmë
(ju) shkoni
(Ata/ato) shkojnë

2. ‘për të dështuar’ - për ta dështuar

3. (Ne) shkojmë për ta shikuar

[Strigo]

This is the ideal classroom, u can cheat easily

[Klee]

Strigo - you have to go first next time then

[Strigo]

:shock: Strigo - you have to go first next time then

Lol, I didn't cheat...I swear

[Nechayev]

Maybe we should all PM red_devil our answers, and if there are corrections to be made, he'll PM us those.

That way it will feel more like a test.

[Strigo]

Maybe we should all PM red_devil our answers, and if there are corrections to be made, he'll PM us those.

That way it will feel more like a test.

Hmmm... good idea.

What about this :
We post the "tasks" in here and red_devil can make a test and that one will be sent to him as pms.

[Stan]

1. për të shkuar
(unë) shkoj
(ti) shkon
(ju) shkoni
(ai/ajo) shkon
(ne) shkojmë
(ju) shkoni
(ata/ato) shkojnë

2. për ta dështuar

3. Ne shkojmë për ta shikuar.

[CoBB]

1.

unë shkoj
ti shkon
ai/ajo shkon
ne shkojmë
ju shkoni
ata/ato shkojnë

2.

për ta dështuar

3.

Ne shkojmë për ta shikuar.

[Stan]

Red devil, can you please make a Pronunciation lesson?

[Kyr]

For example the pronunciation of "ë". Is it a mute letter? or a half voiced?

[Nechayev]

Wikipedia says that it is a short schwa sound, like alone.

[ego]

It is something between /a/ and /e/. Sometimes it is very weak. Kyr many Greek names ending in -a are changed in -ë:

Sarandë - Άγιοι Σαράντα
Vlorrë - Αυλώνα

[Klee]

like an "eugh" sound i believe. But at the end of some words it doesn't sound

ie Vajzë (girl) is pronounced like english vice - ë is not sounded (j as an english y) and Tiranë - pronounced Tiran.

Here is my pronounciation list (copied from Mesoni Shqip) except for the last bit which is personal experience - please change if you want!

VOWELS

A – like a in father
E – like e in metal
ë – like u in nurse
I – like I in imagine
O – like o in opera
U – like oo in food
Y – like ü in über (german)(Red Devil's adjustment)


CONSTANANTS

B – like b in ballard
C – like ts in tsar
ç – like ch in much
D – like d in detail
Dh – like th in their
F – like f in false
G – like g in game
Gj – there is no English sound for this – you can pronounce like gi in give
H – like h in hard
J – like y in yacht
K – like c in camera
L – like l in liver
Ll – like ll in hill
M – like m in match
N – like n in nurse
Nj – like ni in onion or ny in canyon
P – like p in partner
Q – there is no English sound for this – you can pronounce it like cky in stockyard
R – like r in robot
Rr – like rr in hurrah
S – like s in side
Sh – like sh in shop
T – like t in time
Th – like th in thief
V – like v in vague
Z – like z in zenith
Zh – like s in vision
X – like z in zebra
Xh – like j in jolly


With words like çaj(tea) and qaj (cry) there sounds to be little difference at first. The q is said with your tongue hitting the back of your mouth and the ç at the front. The difference is only slight (for us English to hear anyway). The more you practice sounding out the letters as in the words above, the easier it becomes to use them in Albanian words and the easier it is to remember them too. Remember unlike English, Albanian words are said how they are spelt. As long as you use the right pronunciation for each letter you should be saying the word right!

[Klee]

:shock: Strigo - you have to go first next time then

Lol, I didn't cheat...I swear

haha i believe you, thousands...

[Nechayev]

About Tiranë - I've also seen it spelled as "Tirana". Is it still pronounced "Tiran" in that case?

[red devil]

Pronounciation in Albanian is risk-free. Because the letters are always pronounced the same (with one important exception with the ë sound, read on)

One golden rule though. You put the stress on the penultimate syllable (the one before the last).

example: Gënjeshtër (a lie) i.e. Gë-nje-shtër. You push on the 'nje'. The last syllable is stressed very little but it must be clear.

This is pronounced as geh-nye-sht-er

If you follow the golden rule and the pronounciation guide by Klee, you should get at least 90% of it right.

There will be more lessons coming up soon, anyone who wants to contribute is welcome.


Now this thing about the ë sound. It is very important in Albanian. It is always pronounced as the 'a' in the alone, with one important exception. When it is the last letter of the word, it becomes silent, however: This doesn't meand that 'shkurt' and 'shkurtë' are pronounced the same.

shkurt is pronounced as shkuh-rt (a short uh)
shkurtë is pronounced as shkoo-rt (a long oo)

both the above words mean "short", but the usage is very different. you would use the second version whe you describe something
i.e. Kjo është shume e shkurtë (this is very short)
whereas the other you would use as a command (not exclusively though):

shkurt e shqip (short and in albanian [literally], it really means 'cut it short')

Tiranë you would pronounce as Tee-raan (long aa)
Tiran (seldom used but means a tyrant not the City) is pronounced as Tee-rahn (short ah)

[red devil]

Y – like u in use

Correction here, Y is always pronounced as the ü in über (german).

[Nechayev]

So basically, when you see ë at the end of a word after a consonant, the vowel before that consonant gets lengthened?

That idea sort of reminds me of English.
Take "mat" and "mate". The "e" in the latter isn't pronounced, but it makes the other vowel long.