Scandinavian verbs: Now listen and learn on iOS!

Our new trio of Scandinavian Verb Blitz apps for iOS was treated to a major update today. You can now click verb tables to listen to the verb phrases spoken!

Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Verb Blitz for iOS use Apple’s text-to-speech technology to deliver the same experience as users have done in our Android apps. The audio element turns the verb tables into a much more interactive experience that engages students’ listening skills.

Look, listen and learn

When browsing the verb tables in any of the apps, simply tap on a target language phrase to listen to the spoken form. It’s a great way to engage both visual and auditory learning styles. And doing so may mean those verbs stick even faster.

You can download the apps free from the App Store via the following links:

 

 

Danish Verb Blitz now on iOS: Dansk practice for Apple users!

Another Scandinavian language joins our growing range of iOS grammar drill apps with the release of Danish Verb Blitz for iOS this week.

With well over 100 verbs to learn, review and drill, it’s a great way to hone your language skills. The featured verbs are also amongst the commonest words in the language. That makes the app is a great tool for expanding your vocabulary, too.

Danish drill

The core of the app is its verb reference engine, with a searchable list of verbs with full conjugations. But the app tackles both meaning and conjugation, with the familiar set of games:

  • Infinitive quiz / grid quiz
  • Conjugation quiz
  • Gapfill quiz

Gapfill is one of our favourites, as it really tests your knowledge of written forms – master those spellings!

As well as the activities, there’s a handy tracking system. Using a simple score tracker through the games, you can check at any point which verbs you’ve found trickiest.

Scandinavian trio

Our new dansk addition completes a trio of new apps on the App Store, representing three mainland Scandinavian languages. If you’re a fan of them all, check out Norwegian (Bokmål) Verb Blitz and Swedish Verb Blitz for iOS, too.

Not using an Apple device? All the languages are also available in our Android collection, too. Our full Android catalogue can be found here.

Danish Verb Blitz for iOS is available for free from the App Store now!

Easiest languages – from a Verb Blitz point of view!

As language nuts, we often get asked by tentative, wannabe linguaphiles: which is the easiest language to learn?

Well, we’re well-equipped to answer that.  That is, at least from the perspective of experts on one part of speech: the verb. We’ve worked tirelessly on verb drill apps for some time now. We love verbs. And it’s given us the kind of overview that language geeks like us crave.

Scandinavia has it! 🇩🇰🇳🇴🇸🇪

The verdict: the Scandinavian trio – Danish, Norwegian and Swedish – are by far the easiest languages to learn from a verbs point of view.

Why is this, you ask? Well, unusually for most European languages, verbs don’t change for person. That’s right – they’re the same all the way through I, you, he/she it, to we, you (plural) and they.

Times change…

It hasn’t always been that way. Their common parent language is Old Norse, which was chock-full of endings. It had a complex system of verb groups and endings for person, as well as tense and mood. In fact, modern Icelandic still has all those characteristic endings of Old Norse, while mainland Scandinavia has simplified them all away. And they really have simplified them to the max – even the verb ‘to be’, notoriously tricky across many languages, has just a single form per tense. Compare them in this table:

🇩🇰 🇳🇴 🇸🇪 🇬🇧🇺🇸🇦🇺🇳🇿
jeg er jeg er jag är I am
du er du er du är you are
han/hun/det er han/hun/det er han/hon/det är he/she/it is
vi er vi er vi är we are
I er dere er ni är you (plural) are
de er de er de är they are

English – usually the ‘easy grammar’ candidate – is left in the dust by the Scandies here!

Some caveats…

It’s not all plain sailing (is anything?). Like its Germanic cousins English, Dutch and German, the Scandinavian languages have a clutch of ‘strong’ verbs. These display patterns of ablaut (stem vowel change), often to indicate tense. Think of the English:

  • break – broke – broken

The past and past participle aren’t formed with the usual, regular -ed ending. Instead, the change of vowel tells us that they’re past tense forms. Likewise, in Norwegian, the same occurs:

  • brekke – brakk – brukket

However, if your native language is English, Dutch or German, you’ll be used to this system instinctually. Another reason the Scandinavian languages are easiest for verbs!

Complex can be good!

Also, let’s not discount the wonderful challenge – and logical beauty – of complex, highly inflected verb systems. There’s something deeply satisfying about getting all those Spanish / French / Polish / Hungarian endings right. Sometimes, easiest doesn’t mean more fulfilling!

Still, simplified verb systems are something that continue to make Danish, Norwegian and Swedish very attractive propositions for language learners. And of course, they have their own quirks and foibles in other parts of speech, just to ensure there’s still some level of challenge! 😁

Have a look for yourself! Try Geoglot’s free Verb Blitz apps for the Scandi languages:

Danish Verb Blitz for Android

Norwegian Verb Blitz for Android
Norwegian Verb Blitz for iOS

Swedish Verb Blitz for Android

Master Danish verbs: Danish Verb Blitz released!

Learners of dansk have been able to enjoy one of our earliest app releases, Danish Number Whizz, for some time. Now, a second app joins our Danish collection for Android, with the release of Danish Verb Blitz!

The tried-and-tested familiar format presents learners with a handy reference tool, vocabulary expander and drill machine all in one. Learn and practise Danish conjugations through the following features:

  • Infinitive quiz: what is the meaning of each Danish verb?
  • Conjugation quiz: how do you form tenses in Danish?
  • Snap quiz: do the translations match the sentences?
  • Gapfill: can you spell out the jumbled, missing words?

Danish Verb Blitz is free for Android, and available now from Google Play at this link.

Enjoy, and happy learning!

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Scandinavian trio joins the Number Whizz range

Aficionados of North Germanic languages will be excited to learn that Danish, Norwegian (Bokmål) and Swedish have been added to our range of Number Whizz apps.

Now you can learn to count in those languages on your Android device, as well as test yourself with challenging number games!

As always, the apps feature both presentation elements, games for drill and practice, and the ultra-handy Number Writer, which will spell out in the target language any whole number you care to enter between 0 and 999,999,999.

The apps are available for free (supported by ads) at the Google Play store from the following links:

Happy learning!

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