How to learn Albanian by reading

Albanian is a language on its own branch of the Indo-European family tree, with no close living relatives. It’s spoken in Albania and Kosovo, by communities in North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, and by a diaspora across Europe and beyond, including the centuries-old Arbëreshë villages of southern Italy. Its literature runs from Naim Frashëri and Gjergj Fishta to Ismail Kadare, whose novels have been translated around the world.

There’s less material for learners of Albanian than for bigger languages, which makes good reading at your level, with audio, especially valuable.

The alphabet

Albanian is written in the Latin alphabet, with 36 letters and very regular spelling: once you know the letters, you can read any word aloud.

• Nine pairs that are single letters. Dh (as in “this”), gj, ll (a dark l), nj, rr (rolled), sh, th (as in “think”), xh (as in “jam”) and zh (as in “pleasure”).
• Letters that surprise. C is “ts,” ç is “ch,” q is a sound between “ch” and “ky,” x is “dz,” j is “y,” and y is like French u or German ü.
• The letter ë. A short, neutral vowel inside words, as in “about,” and often barely heard at the end of one: bukë, “bread,” is said almost as buk.

Our guide to learning a new script has general tips for learning letters by reading with audio.

What makes Albanian hard to read

• The article on the end. Mal is “mountain,” mali “the mountain”; shtëpi is “house,” shtëpia “the house.” Albanian shares this with Romanian and Bulgarian, its Balkan neighbors.
• A linking article. Adjectives and possessives are joined to their noun with a small word that agrees with it: djali i madh, “the big boy”; vajza e mirë, “the good girl”; libri i Xhimit, “Jim’s book.”
• Five cases. Nouns and articles change with their role: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and ablative. The genitive and dative often share a form, and the article does much of the work.
• Pronouns that double. Albanian repeats objects as small pronouns before the verb: e pashë Agimin, “I saw Agim,” is literally “him I-saw Agim.” Pronouns also combine: ia dhashë librin, “I gave him the book,” with ia fusing “to him” and “it.”
• Two pasts. The aorist reports single completed events (punoi, “he worked”), the imperfect describes background and habits (punonte, “he was working, used to work”).
• The subjunctive with të. “I want to go” is dua të shkoj, literally “I want that I go.” There’s no ordinary infinitive in the standard language.
• The admirative. A verb form for surprise: qenka i zgjuar, “he’s clever, it turns out,” next to the plain është i zgjuar.
• Dialects. Gheg in the north and in Kosovo, Tosk in the south. The standard written language is based mainly on Tosk and is shared across the Albanian-speaking world.

Albanian reading at each level

How the CEFR levels look in Albanian text:

• A2, elementary. Short sentences in the present, the aorist and the future with do të, definite articles on the end of nouns, the linking article, and everyday vocabulary.
• B1, intermediate. The aorist and imperfect working together, the subjunctive with të, doubled pronouns, simple passive forms with u, and the genitive and dative in common phrases.
• B2, upper intermediate. The full range of passive forms, participles used as adjectives (i fshehur, “hidden”), the admirative, and a wider, more literary vocabulary.
• C1, advanced. Close to the original text, with light condensing. C2 is the complete book.

For what the levels mean in any language, see CEFR levels explained.

Treasure Island at A2 and at B2

Two moments from Stevenson’s novel, written for this page at two levels. Albanian adapts foreign names to its own spelling, so Jim becomes Xhim:

A2

Xhimi jeton me prindërit pranë detit. Ata kanë një han të vogël. Një ditë, në han vjen një marinar i vjetër me një shenjë plage në faqe.

Jim lives with his parents by the sea. They have a small inn. One day, an old sailor with a scar on his cheek comes to the inn.

B2

Kur Xhimi, i fshehur në fuçinë e mollëve, dëgjoi Silverin që u fliste marinarëve me zë të ulët, e kuptoi se në anije po përgatitej një kryengritje.

When Jim, hidden in the apple barrel, heard Silver talking to the sailors in a low voice, he realized that a mutiny was being planned on the ship.

The A2 text shows the definite article on the end (Xhimi, prindërit) and the linking article in two forms: një han të vogël, “a small inn,” and një marinar i vjetër, “an old sailor.” The B2 sentence adds a participle with its linking article (i fshehur, “hidden”), a genitive (e mollëve, “of apples”), a dative doubled by its pronoun (u fliste marinarëve, “was talking to the sailors”), the clitic e anticipating “that…” in e kuptoi se, and a progressive passive, po përgatitej, “was being prepared.”

A daily routine for reading Albanian

1. Listen and read together. Play a section with the text highlighted as it’s read. You’ll hear ë fade at word ends, the difference between r and rr, and the rhythm of the clitic pronouns.
2. Then read it again, silently. Go over the same pages at your own pace. Articles and endings that confused you start to look familiar.
3. Tap for the base form. When an ending hides a word you might know, tap it: marinarëve leads back to marinar. Then keep going.
4. Notice the doubled pronouns. Once a week, find every e, i, u and ia before a verb on one page and ask what it refers to (an u before a past verb may instead mark the passive, as in u fsheh, “hid”). It’s the quickest way to read Albanian sentences at speed.

The audio matters, and not only for pronunciation. Webb and Chang (2015, “Second language vocabulary learning through extensive reading with audio support”) followed learners who read graded books with the audio playing; they learned a substantial share of the unknown words and kept much of that months later. For a language with few audiobooks for learners, narrated reading at your level is especially useful. See reading while listening and extensive reading for more.

Classics to start with

• Treasure Island is the ideal first novel: pirates, a map and plenty of dialogue, at A2 or B1.
• Journey to the Center of the Earth has three main characters and a story that goes mostly one way, down. Easy to follow at A2.
• The Count of Monte Cristo has an Albanian thread: the heroine Haydée is the daughter of Ali Pasha, the real ruler of Ioannina, who was born in Tepelenë in today’s Albania. A gripping read at B2.
• The Odyssey ends in the Ionian Sea, which Albania shares with Greece. Episodic and dramatic, at B1.
• Around the World in Eighty Days has short chapters and a deadline that keeps you reading.

Reading Albanian with Lexo

Albanian is fully narrated in Lexo, which matters in a language with few audiobooks for learners. The whole book is read aloud, with different voices for different characters, and the text highlights word by word as it’s read. Every word can also be played on its own, so you can hear an ë, a q or an rr as often as you like.

Tap any word and a card shows what it means in that sentence, its base form and its part of speech, which takes the guesswork out of articles and case endings: marinarëve leads back to marinar. Phrases and idioms are explained as a whole, the whole sentence is translated into English, and words worth keeping go into your Words list. When a passage needs more attention, sentence-by-sentence mode gives you one sentence at a time, with audio and translation.

Most Albanian editions don’t exist until someone asks for one. If you’re the first reader of, say, The Count of Monte Cristo in Albanian at B2, Lexo writes it for you: chapter 1 is ready in a few minutes, and you can watch its opening lines appear; the rest follows while you read, and you keep a dated “First edition” mark. Every book comes at five levels, from A2 to C2, books download for offline reading, and there’s no account to create.

Albanian’s neighbors on this site are Greek and Italian, and Romanian shares its article on the end.

Lexo is coming soon to the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Get notified at launch.