Albanian language

Grammar

These are the main grammatical features of Albanian:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Constituent Order is Subject Verb Object.
• There are two genders, masculine and feminine, with traces of an old neuter, restricted to some few words.
• There are five morphological cases: nominative (in Alb. emërore) , accusative (kallëzore), genitive (gjinore), dative (dhanore) and ablative (rrjedhore). Some also include vocative. They apply both to definite and indefinite nouns, and there is also numerous cases of synchretism. The following is the declension of the masculine noun mal ("mountain"):

The next table shows the declension of the feminine noun vajzë ("girl")

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Definiteness is expressed by a system of noun suffixes, which vary with gender and case.
• For example in singular nominative, masculine nouns add -i or -u:
• mal ("mountain") / mali ("the mountain");
• libër ("book") / libri ("the book");
• zog ("bird") / zogu ("the bird").
• Feminine nouns take the suffix -(j)a:
• veturë ("car") / vetura ("the car");
• shtëpi ("house") / shtëpia ("the house");
• lule ("flower") / lulja ("the flower").
• Neuter nouns take -t.
• Negation is expressed by the particles nuk or s in front of the verb, as in:
• Goni nuk flet anglisht "Goni doesn't speak English";
• s'di "don't know".
• In imperative sentences, the particle mos is used:
• mos harro "don't forget".